Name

Synopsis

[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ]with_query [, ...] ]INSERT INTOtable_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 firstN column names, if there are onlyN columns supplied by theVALUES clause orquery. The values supplied by theVALUES clause orquery 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 optionalRETURNING clause causesINSERT 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 theRETURNING list is identical to that of the output list ofSELECT.

You must haveINSERT privilege on a table in order to insert into it. If a column list is specified, you only needINSERT privilege on the listed columns. Use of theRETURNING clause requiresSELECT privilege on all columns mentioned inRETURNING. If you use thequery clause to insert rows from a query, you of course need to haveSELECT privilege on any table or column used in the query.

Parameters

Outputs

On successful completion, anINSERT command returns a command tag of the form

INSERToidcount

Thecount is the number of rows inserted. Ifcount is exactly one, and the target table has OIDs, thenoid is theOID assigned to the inserted row. Otherwiseoid is zero.

If theINSERT command contains aRETURNING clause, the result will be similar to that of aSELECT statement containing the columns and values defined in theRETURNING list, computed over the row(s) inserted by the command.

Examples

Insert a single row into tablefilms:

INSERT INTO films VALUES    ('UA502', 'Bananas', 105, '1971-07-13', 'Comedy', '82 minutes');

In this example, thelen 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 theDEFAULT 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 multirowVALUES 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 tablefilms from a tabletmp_films with the same column layout asfilms:

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-crossesINSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board[1:3][1:3])    VALUES (1, '{{" "," "," "},{" "," "," "},{" "," "," "}}');-- The subscripts in the above example aren't really neededINSERT INTO tictactoe (game, board)    VALUES (2, '{{X," "," "},{" ",O," "},{" ",X," "}}');

Insert a single row into tabledistributors, returning the sequence number generated by theDEFAULT 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 theRETURNING clause is aPostgreSQL extension, as is the ability to useWITH withINSERT. Also, the case in which a column name list is omitted, but not all the columns are filled from theVALUES clause orquery, is disallowed by the standard.

Possible limitations of thequery clause are documented underSELECT.