INSERT INTO SQL FUNCTION

What is the INSERT INTO function?

The INSERT INTO function inserts new records into a table. 

When to use INSERT INTO

INSERT INTO is useful when new rows need to be added to a table on an ad-hoc basis. 

To execute the INSERT INTO function, you must have write access to the underlying table. You can request write access from your database administrator. 

INSERT INTO syntax

The INSERT INTO syntax includes the column names and the values to be inserted. 

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

The column names are optional if the row to be inserted contains values for all columns. The following syntax will add the values value1, value2, value3,..., valueN in the same order as the columns of the table. 

INSERT INTO table_name 
VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...valueN);

You can also insert rows from another table. The syntax is as follows. Again, the column names are optional if the row to be inserted contains values for all columns. 

INSERT INTO table_1 (column1, column2, …, columnN)
   SELECT column1, column2, …, columnN
   FROM table_2;

In some versions of SQL like Transact-SQL, you can also display the inserted values with the OUTPUT clause.

INSERT INTO table_1 (column1, column2, …, columnN)
   OUTPUT inserted.column1
   VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...valueN);

Once successfully executed, the following message will tell you that you have successfully added n rows to the database.

You have made changes to the database. Rows affected: n

INSERT INTO examples

Consider the employees table that has 5 columns. 

Source: Microsoft's Northwind Database

Example 1. Adding one row to the employees table

INSERT INTO employees ('EmployeeID','FirstName','LastName')
VALUES (11, 'Travis', 'Tang');
SELECT * FROM employees;

Example 2. Adding rows with no null values.

Since the row contains values from all columns, there is no need to specify the name of the columns. 

INSERT INTO employees 
VALUES (11, 'Tang','Travis',  '1900-01-01', 'travis.jpeg');
SELECT * FROM employees;

Example 3. Insert multiple rows 

INSERT INTO employees ('EmployeeID','FirstName','LastName','BirthDate')
VALUES 
   (11, 'Travis', 'Tang','1909-01-01'),
   (12, 'Ariana', 'Venti', '1901-01-01');
SELECT * FROM employees;

Example 4. Insert rows from one table to another

Consider this scenario. A company engaged the services of a part-time contractor who has just become a full-time employee of the company. We can use INSERT INTO to add the row of the contractor (named Kanye East) from the contractor table to the employee table.

INSERT INTO employees (LastName, FirstName, BirthDate, Photo)
   SELECT 
      13 as EmployeeID, 
      LastName, 
      FirstName, 
      BirthDate,
      Photo
   FROM Contractor 
   WHERE ContractorID = 500;

SELECT * FROM employees 
WHERE EmployeeID = 13;

Technical requirements

INSERT INTO is available to all versions of SQL.

See also

• COALESCE() SQL Function
• FORMAT() SQL Function
• DATEDIFF() SQL Function
• COUNT() SQL Function

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