SQL INSERT INTO Statement

-- insert a row in the Customers table
INSERT INTO Customers(customer_id, first_name, last_name, age, country)
VALUES
(7, 'Ron', 'Weasley', 31, 'UK');

INSERT INTO Syntax

The syntax of the SQL INSERT INTO statement is:

INSERT INTO table_name(column1, column2, column3, ...)
VALUES
(value11, value12, value13, ...)
(value21, value22, value23, ...)
... ;

Here,

• table_name is the name of the table into which the rows are to be inserted
• column1, column2, column3, ... are the names of columns where the values are to be inserted
• value11, value12, value13, ..., value21, value22, value23, ... are the values to be inserted

Insert Row Into a Table

In SQL, the INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new row(s) into a database table.

For example,

-- insert a row in the Customers table
INSERT INTO Customers(customer_id, first_name, last_name, age, country)
VALUES
(5, 'Harry', 'Potter', 31, 'USA');

Here, the SQL command inserts a new row into the Customers table with the given values.

Skip Auto Incremented Fields While Inserting a Row

In a database table, the ID field is usually unique and auto incremented. In such cases, we can omit the value for that column during row insertion. For example,

-- insert a row to Customers table
-- skip auto incremented customer_id column
INSERT INTO Customers(first_name, last_name, age, country)
VALUES
('James', 'Bond', 48, 'USA');

Here, the SQL command automatically sets the new customer_id for the new row and inserts it in a table.

Note: If we want to insert data from any other existing table, we can use the SQL INSERT INTO SELECT statement.

Insert Multiple Rows at Once in SQL

It's also possible to insert multiple rows to a database table at once. For example,

INSERT INTO Customers(first_name, last_name, age, country)
VALUES
('Harry', 'Potter', 31, 'USA'),
('Chris', 'Hemsworth', 43, 'USA'),
('Tom', 'Holland', 26, 'UK');

Here, the SQL command inserts three rows to the Customers table.

INSERT INTO Customers
VALUES
(5, 'Chris', 'Evans', 42, 'USA');

INSERT INTO Customers(first_name, last_name, age)
VALUES
('Brad', 'Pitt', 58);