PostgreSQL 7.4 Documentation
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INSERT

Name

INSERT -- create new rows in a table

Synopsis

INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
    { DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( { expression | DEFAULT } [, ...] ) | query }

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 its declared default value or null.

If the expression for each column is not of the correct data type, automatic type conversion will be attempted.

You must have INSERT privilege to a table in order to insert into it. If you use the query clause to insert rows from a query, you also need to have SELECT privilege on any table used in the query.

Parameters

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 with their default values.

expression

An expression or value to assign to column.

DEFAULT

This column will be filled with its default value.

query

A query (SELECT statement) that supplies the rows to be inserted. Refer to the SELECT statement for a description of the syntax.

Outputs

On successful completion, an INSERT command returns a command tag of the form 

INSERT oid count

The count is the number of rows inserted. If count is exactly one, and the target table has OIDs, then oid is the OID assigned to the inserted row. Otherwise oid is zero.

Examples

Insert a single row into table films: 

INSERT INTO films VALUES
    ('UA502', 'Bananas', 105, '1971-07-13', 'Comedy', '82 minutes');

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, '1961-06-16', 'Drama');

The third example uses the DEFAULT clause for the date columns rather than specifying a value: 

INSERT INTO films VALUES
    ('UA502', 'Bananas', 105, DEFAULT, 'Comedy', '82 minutes');
INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
    VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, DEFAULT, 'Drama');

This examples inserts several rows into table films from table tmp: 

INSERT INTO films SELECT * FROM tmp;

This example inserts into array columns: 

-- Create an empty 3x3 gameboard for noughts-and-crosses
-- (all of these commands create the same board)
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

INSERT conforms fully to the SQL standard. Possible limitations of the query clause are documented under SELECT.

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