SQL INSERT INTO Statement
The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records into a table.
Basic Syntax:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, ...)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);Example 1: Inserting Data into All Columns
INSERT INTO employees (employee_id, first_name, last_name, department, salary)
VALUES (101, 'John', 'Doe', 'Sales', 60000);This query inserts a new employee into the “employees” table with the specified values for each column.
Example 2: Inserting Data into Specific Columns
INSERT INTO employees (employee_id, first_name, last_name)
VALUES (102, 'Jane', 'Smith');This query inserts a new employee into the “employees” table, specifying values only for the “employee_id”, “first_name”, and “last_name” columns. The other columns will use their default values.
Example 3: Inserting Multiple Rows
INSERT INTO employees (employee_id, first_name, last_name, department, salary)
VALUES
(103, 'Alice', 'Brown', 'HR', 55000),
(104, 'Bob', 'Johnson', 'IT', 70000),
(105, 'Charlie', 'Davis', 'Marketing', 65000);This query inserts multiple new employees into the “employees” table with the specified values for each column.
Example 4: Inserting Data with a Subquery
INSERT INTO employees (employee_id, first_name, last_name, department, salary)
SELECT employee_id, first_name, last_name, 'Sales', 50000
FROM employees_archive
WHERE start_date > '2023-01-01';This query inserts new employees into the “employees” table by selecting data from the “employees_archive” table for employees who started after January 1, 2023, and setting the “department” to ‘Sales’ and “salary” to 50000.
The INSERT INTO statement is essential for adding new records to a table. It allows you to specify the values for each column directly or use a subquery to insert data from another table.