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The SQL INSERT INTO Statement

The 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:

1. Specify both the column names and the values to be inserted:

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

2. 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. Here, 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');

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

Did you notice that we did not insert any number into the CustomerID field?
The CustomerID column is an field and will be generated automatically when a new record is inserted into the table.

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');

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

Insert Multiple Rows

It is also possible to insert multiple rows in one statement.

To insert multiple rows of data, we use the same INSERT INTO statement, but with multiple values:

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES
('Cardinal', 'Tom B. Erichsen', 'Skagen 21', 'Stavanger', '4006', 'Norway'),
('Greasy Burger', 'Per Olsen', 'Gateveien 15', 'Sandnes', '4306', 'Norway'),
('Tasty Tee', 'Finn Egan', 'Streetroad 19B', 'Liverpool', 'L1 0AA', 'UK');

Make sure you separate each set of values with a comma ,.

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
93 Greasy Burger Per Olsen Gateveien 15 Sandnes 4306 Norway
94 Tasty Tee Finn Egan Streetroad 19B Liverpool L1 0AA UK

Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:

Insert a new record in the Customers table.

 Customers 
CustomerName, 
Address, 
City, 
PostalCode,
Country
 
'Hekkan Burger',
'Gateveien 15',
'Sandnes',
'4306',
'Norway';


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