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INSERT

Name

INSERT — Inserts new rows into a table
INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
    { VALUES ( expression [, ...] ) | SELECT query }

Inputs

table

The name of an existing table.

column

The name of a column in table.

expression

A valid expression or value to assign to column.

query

A valid query. Refer to the SELECT statement for a further description of valid arguments.

Outputs

INSERT oid 1

Message returned if only one row was inserted. oid is the row identifier.

INSERT 0 #

Message returned if more than one rows were inserted. # is the number of rows inserted.

Description

INSERT allows one to insert new rows into a table. One can insert a single row at time or several rows as a result of a query. The columns in the target list may be listed in any order. In every column not present in the target list will be inserted the default value, if column has not a declared default value it will be assumed as NULL. If the expression for each column is not of the correct data type, automatic type coercion will be attempted.

You must have insert privilege to a table in order to append to it, as well as select privilege on any table specified in a WHERE clause.

Usage

--Insert a single row into table films;
--(in the second example the column date_prod is omitted 
--therefore will be stored in it a default value of NULL):
--
INSERT INTO films VALUES
    ('UA502','Bananas',105,'1971-07-13','Comedy',INTERVAL '82 minute');

INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
    VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, DATE '1961-06-16', 'Drama');
--Insert a single row into table distributors, note that
--only column "name" is specified, to the non specified
--column "did" will be assigned its default value:
--
INSERT INTO distributors (name) VALUES ('British Lion');
--Insert several rows into table films from table tmp:
--
INSERT INTO films
    SELECT * FROM tmp;
--Insert into arrays:
--Create an empty 3x3 gameboard for noughts-and-crosses
--(all of these queries create the same board attribute)
--(Refer to the PostgreSQL User's Guide for further
--information about arrays).

INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[1:3][1:3])
    VALUES (1,'{{"","",""},{},{"",""}}');
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[3][3])
    VALUES (2,'{}');
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board)
    VALUES (3,'{{,,},{,,},{,,}}');

Compatibility

SQL92

The INSERT statement is fully compatible with SQL92. Possible limitations in features of the query clause are documented for the SELECT statement.