INSERT(7) PostgreSQL 9.1.9 Documentation INSERT(7)NAMEINSERT - create new rows in a table
SYNOPSIS
[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ] with_query [, ...] ]
INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
{ DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( { expression | DEFAULT } [, ...] ) [, ...] | query }
[ RETURNING * | output_expression [ [ AS ] output_name ] [, ...] ]
DESCRIPTIONINSERT 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 INSERT privilege on a table in order to insert into it.
If a column list is specified, you only need INSERT privilege on the
listed columns. Use of the RETURNING clause requires SELECT privilege
on all columns mentioned in RETURNING. If you use the query clause to
insert rows from a query, you of course need to have SELECT privilege
on any table or column used in the query.
PARAMETERS
with_query
The WITH clause allows you to specify one or more subqueries that
can be referenced by name in the INSERT query. See Section 7.8,
“WITH Queries (Common Table Expressions)”, in the documentation and
SELECT(7) for details.
It is possible for the query (SELECT statement) to also contain a
WITH clause. In such a case both sets of with_query can be
referenced within the query, but the second one takes precedence
since it is more closely nested.
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(7) statement for a description of the syntax.
output_expression
An expression to be computed and returned by the INSERT command
after each row is inserted. The expression can use any column names
of the table. Write * to return all columns of the inserted row(s).
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 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;
To 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 table distributors, 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;
COMPATIBILITYINSERT 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(7).
PostgreSQL 9.1.9 2013-04-01 INSERT(7)
