INSERT
Creates new rows in a table.
Synopsis
[WITH [ RECURSIVE ] <with_query> [, ...]]
INSERT INTO <table_name> [( <column_name> [, ...] )]
{DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( {<expression> | DEFAULT} [, ...] ) [, ...] | <query>}
[RETURNING * | <output_expression> [[AS] <output_name> ] [, ...]]Description
INSERT inserts new rows into a table. One can insert one or more rows specified by value expressions, or zero or more rows resulting from a query.
The target column names can be listed in any order. If no list of column names is given at all, the default is all the columns of the table in their declared order; or the first N column names if there are only N columns supplied by the VALUES clause or query. The values supplied by the VALUES clause or query are associated with the explicit or implicit column list left-to-right.
Each column not present in the explicit or implicit column list will be filled with a default value, either its declared default value or null if there is none.
If the expression for any column is not of the correct data type, automatic type conversion will be attempted.
The optional RETURNING clause causes INSERT to compute and return value(s) based on each row actually inserted. This is primarily useful for obtaining values that were supplied by defaults, such as a serial sequence number. However, any expression using the table’s columns is allowed. The syntax of the RETURNING list is identical to that of the output list of SELECT.
You must have the INSERT privilege on a table in order to insert into it. If a column list is specified, you only need the INSERT privilege on the listed columns. Use of the RETURNING clause requires the SELECT privilege on all columns mentioned in RETURNING. If you use the query clause to insert rows from a query, you should have the SELECT privilege on any table or column used in the query.
Parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
with_query |
The It is possible for the query ( |
table_name |
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table |
column_name |
The name of a column in the table named by |
DEFAULT VALUES |
All columns will be filled with their default values |
expression |
An expression or value to assign to the corresponding column |
DEFAULT |
The corresponding column will be filled with its default value |
query |
A query ( |
output_expression |
An expression to be computed and returned by the |
output_name |
A name to use for a returned column |
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.
If the INSERT command contains a RETURNING clause, the result will be similar to that of a SELECT statement containing the columns and values defined in the RETURNING list, computed over the row(s) inserted by the command.
Examples
Insert a single row into the films table:
INSERT INTO films
VALUES ('UA502', 'Bananas', 105, '1971-07-13', 'Comedy', '82 minutes');In this example, the len column is omitted and therefore it will have the default value:
INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
VALUES ('T_601', 'Yojimbo', 106, '1961-06-16', 'Drama');This 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');Insert a row consisting entirely of default values:
INSERT INTO films DEFAULT VALUES;Insert multiple rows using the multirow VALUES syntax:
INSERT INTO films (code, title, did, date_prod, kind)
VALUES ('B6717', 'Tampopo', 110, '1985-02-10', 'Comedy'),
('HG120', 'The Dinner Game', 140, DEFAULT, 'Comedy');This example inserts some rows into table films from a table tmp_films with the same column layout as films:
INSERT INTO films
SELECT *
FROM tmp_films
WHERE date_prod < '2004-05-07';This example inserts into array columns:
-- Create an empty 3x3 gameboard for noughts-and-crosses
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[1 : 3][1 : 3])
VALUES (1, '{{" "," "," "},{" "," "," "},{" "," "," "}}');
-- The subscripts in the above example aren't really needed
INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board)
VALUES (2, '{{X," "," "},{" ",O," "},{" ",X," "}}');Insert a single row into the distributors table, returning the sequence number generated by the DEFAULT clause:
INSERT INTO distributors (did, dname)
VALUES (DEFAULT, 'XYZ Widgets')
RETURNING did;Increment the sales count of the salesperson who manages the account for Acme Corporation, and record the whole updated row along with current time in a log table:
WITH upd AS (UPDATE employees SET sales_count = sales_count + 1
WHERE id = (SELECT sales_person FROM accounts WHERE name = 'Acme Corporation')
RETURNING *)
INSERT
INTO employees_log
SELECT *, current_timestamp
FROM upd;Compatibility
INSERT conforms to the SQL standard, except that the RETURNING clause is a PostgreSQL extension, as is the ability to use WITH with INSERT. Also, the case in which a column name list is omitted, but not all the columns are filled from the VALUES clause or query, is disallowed by the standard.
Possible limitations of the query clause are documented under SELECT.