DML: INSERT

The INSERT INTO statement in SQL inserts new records in a table.

Basic Syntax

There are two ways to use the INSERT INTO statement:

1. Insert data in all columns:

   INSERT INTO table_name
   VALUES (value1, value2, ...);

   Here, you must insert values in the same order as the table’s columns.

2. Insert data in specific columns:

   INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ...)
   VALUES (value1, value2, ...);

   In this case, you don’t need to insert values for all columns. Insert values in the specified columns in the same order.

Example 1 - Insert into all columns

For the “customer” table:

If we want to add a new customer, Sally from the UK, to the “customer” table, we can use the following SQL:

INSERT INTO customer
VALUES (4, 'Sally', 'UK');

The “customer” table would now look like this:

Example 2 - Insert into specific columns

For the “product” table:

If we want to add a new product, Dates, with a price of $3.00, to the “product” table, we can use the following SQL:

INSERT INTO product (product_name, price)
VALUES ('Dates', 3.00);

The “product” table would now look like this:

Here, product_id is assumed to be auto-incremented by the database itself, so we didn’t need to insert it.

1. SQL INSERT INTO Statement - W3Schools
2. Inserting rows into a table - Microsoft Docs