/usr/man2/cat.l/insert.l.Z(/usr/man2/cat.l/insert.l.Z)

NAME

       INSERT - create new rows in a table

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

       INSERT  inserts  new  rows  into  a table.  One can insert a single row
       specified by value expressions, or several rows as a result of a query.

       The  target column names may be listed in any order. If no list of col-
       umn 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, auto-
       matic 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.  The column name can be qualified
              with a subfield name or array subscript, if  needed.  (Inserting
              into  only  some  fields  of a composite column leaves the other
              fields null.)

       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  (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 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');

       To insert a row consisting entirely of default values:

       INSERT INTO films DEFAULT VALUES;

       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
       -- (these commands create the same board)
       INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[1:3][1:3])
           VALUES (1,'{{"","",""},{"","",""},{"","",""}}');
       INSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board)
           VALUES (2,'{{,,},{,,},{,,}}');

COMPATIBILITY

       INSERT  conforms  to  the SQL standard. 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
       [select(l)].

SQL - Language Statements         2005-11-05                          INSERT()