INSERT
INSERT
Synopsis
INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
{ DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( { expression | DEFAULT } [, ...] ) | SELECT query }
Inputs
- table
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table.
- column
The name of a column in table.
- DEFAULT VALUES
All columns will be filled by null values or by values specified when the table was created using DEFAULT clauses.
- expression
A valid expression or value to assign to column.
- DEFAULT
This column will be filled in by the column DEFAULT clause, or NULL if a default is not available.
- query
A valid query. Refer to the SELECT statement for a further description of valid arguments.
Description
INSERT allows one to insert new rows into a table. One can insert a single row at a time or several rows as a result of a query. The columns in the target list may be listed in any order.
Each column not present in the target list will be inserted using a default value, either a declared DEFAULT value or NULL. PostgreSQL will reject the new column if a NULL is inserted into a column declared NOT 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:
INSERT INTO films VALUES
('UA502','Bananas',105,'1971-07-13','Comedy',INTERVAL '82 minute');
In this second example the last column len is omitted and therefore it will have the default value of NULL:
INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, DATE '1961-06-16', 'Drama');
In the third example, we use the DEFAULT values for the date columns rather than specifying an entry.
INSERT INTO films VALUES
('UA502','Bananas',105,DEFAULT,'Comedy',INTERVAL '82 minute');
INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, DEFAULT, 'Drama');
Insert a single row into table distributors; note that only column name is specified, so the omitted 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 (refer to the PostgreSQL User's Guide for further information about arrays):
-- Create an empty 3x3 gameboard for noughts-and-crosses
-- (all of these queries create the same board attribute)
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
INSERT is fully compatible with SQL92. Possible limitations in features of the query clause are documented for SELECT.