SQL INSERT INTO Statement

SQL

SQL INSERT INTO Statement : SQL INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.

INSERT INTO Syntax

  • It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two ways.
  • The first way specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, …)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, …);

  • If you are adding values for all the columns of the table, you do not need to specify the column names in the SQL query.
  • However, make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the columns in the table.
  • The INSERT INTO syntax would be as follows:

INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, …);

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the “Customers” table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
89 White Clover Markets Karl Jablonski 305 – 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B Seattle 98128 USA
90 Wilman Kala Matti Karttunen Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland

INSERT INTO Example

The following SQL statement inserts a new record in the “Customers” table:

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES (‘Cardinal’, ‘Tom B. Erichsen’, ‘Skagen 21’, ‘Stavanger’, ‘4006’, ‘Norway’);

Output

The selection from the “Customers” table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
89 White Clover Markets Karl Jablonski 305 – 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B Seattle 98128 USA
90 Wilman Kala Matti Karttunen Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland
92 Cardinal Tom B. Erichsen Skagen 21 Stavanger 4006 Norway

 

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

It is also possible to only insert data in specific columns.

The following SQL statement will insert a new record, but only insert data in the “CustomerName”, “City”, and “Country” columns (CustomerID will be updated automatically):

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
VALUES (‘Cardinal’, ‘Stavanger’, ‘Norway’);

Output

The selection from the “Customers” table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
89 White Clover Markets Karl Jablonski 305 – 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B Seattle 98128 USA
90 Wilman Kala Matti Karttunen Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland
92 Cardinal null null Stavanger null Norway