1INSERT(7) SQL Commands INSERT(7)
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6 INSERT - create new rows in a table
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10 INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
11 { DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( { expression | DEFAULT } [, ...] ) [, ...] | query }
12 [ RETURNING * | output_expression [ [ AS ] output_name ] [, ...] ]
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16 INSERT inserts new rows into a table. One can insert one or more rows
17 specified by value expressions, or zero or more rows resulting from a
18 query.
19 The target column names can be listed in any order. If no list of col‐
21 umn names is given at all, the default is all the columns of the table
22 in their declared order; or the first N column names, if there are only
23 N columns supplied by the VALUES clause or query. The values supplied
24 by the VALUES clause or query are associated with the explicit or
25 implicit column list left-to-right.
26 Each column not present in the explicit or implicit column list will be
28 filled with a default value, either its declared default value or null
29 if there is none.
30 If the expression for any column is not of the correct data type, auto‐
32 matic type conversion will be attempted.
33 The optional RETURNING clause causes INSERT to compute and return
35 value(s) based on each row actually inserted. This is primarily useful
36 for obtaining values that were supplied by defaults, such as a serial
37 sequence number. However, any expression using the table's columns is
38 allowed. The syntax of the RETURNING list is identical to that of the
39 output list of SELECT.
40 You must have INSERT privilege on a table in order to insert into it.
42 If a column list is specified, you only need INSERT privilege on the
43 listed columns. Use of the RETURNING clause requires SELECT privilege
44 on all columns mentioned in RETURNING. If you use the query clause to
45 insert rows from a query, you of course need to have SELECT privilege
46 on any table or column used in the query.
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49 table The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table.
50 column The name of a column in table. The column name can be qualified
52 with a subfield name or array subscript, if needed. (Inserting
53 into only some fields of a composite column leaves the other
54 fields null.)
55 DEFAULT VALUES
57 All columns will be filled with their default values.
58 expression
60 An expression or value to assign to the corresponding column.
61 DEFAULT
63 The corresponding column will be filled with its default value.
64 query A query (SELECT statement) that supplies the rows to be
66 inserted. Refer to the SELECT [select(7)] statement for a
67 description of the syntax.
68 output_expression
70 An expression to be computed and returned by the INSERT command
71 after each row is inserted. The expression can use any column
72 names of the table. Write * to return all columns of the
73 inserted row(s).
74 output_name
76 A name to use for a returned column.
77
79 On successful completion, an INSERT command returns a command tag of
80 the form
81 INSERT oid count
83 The count is the number of rows inserted. If count is exactly one, and
85 the target table has OIDs, then oid is the OID assigned to the inserted
86 row. Otherwise oid is zero.
87 If the INSERT command contains a RETURNING clause, the result will be
89 similar to that of a SELECT statement containing the columns and values
90 defined in the RETURNING list, computed over the row(s) inserted by the
91 command.
92
94 Insert a single row into table films:
95 INSERT INTO films VALUES
97 ('UA502', 'Bananas', 105, '1971-07-13', 'Comedy', '82 minutes');
98 In this example, the len column is omitted and therefore it will have
101 the default value:
102 INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
104 VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, '1961-06-16', 'Drama');
105 This example uses the DEFAULT clause for the date columns rather than
108 specifying a value:
109 INSERT INTO films VALUES
111 ('UA502', 'Bananas', 105, DEFAULT, 'Comedy', '82 minutes');
112 INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
113 VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, DEFAULT, 'Drama');
114 To insert a row consisting entirely of default values:
117 INSERT INTO films DEFAULT VALUES;
119 To insert multiple rows using the multirow VALUES syntax:
122 INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind) VALUES
124 ('B6717', 'Tampopo', 110, '1985-02-10', 'Comedy'),
125 ('HG120', 'The Dinner Game', 140, DEFAULT, 'Comedy');
126 This example inserts some rows into table films from a table tmp_films
129 with the same column layout as films:
130 INSERT INTO films SELECT * FROM tmp_films WHERE date_prod < '2004-05-07';
132 This example inserts into array columns:
135 -- Create an empty 3x3 gameboard for noughts-and-crosses
137 INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[1:3][1:3])
138 VALUES (1, '{{" "," "," "},{" "," "," "},{" "," "," "}}');
139 -- The subscripts in the above example aren't really needed
140 INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board)
141 VALUES (2, '{{X," "," "},{" ",O," "},{" ",X," "}}');
142 Insert a single row into table distributors, returning the sequence
145 number generated by the DEFAULT clause:
146 INSERT INTO distributors (did, dname) VALUES (DEFAULT, 'XYZ Widgets')
148 RETURNING did;
149
152 INSERT conforms to the SQL standard, except that the RETURNING clause
153 is a PostgreSQL extension. Also, the case in which a column name list
154 is omitted, but not all the columns are filled from the VALUES clause
155 or query, is disallowed by the standard.
156 Possible limitations of the query clause are documented under SELECT
158 [select(7)].
159SQL - Language Statements 2011-09-22 INSERT(7)