MySQL INSERT INTO

The MySQL INSERT INTO Statement

The INSERT INTO statement is utilized to add new records to a table.

INSERT INTO Syntax

You can write the INSERT INTO statement in two ways:

Specify both the column names and the corresponding values to be inserted:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, …)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, …);
When inserting values into all columns of a table, you don’t need to explicitly list the column names in the SQL query. Ensure that the values are provided in the same order as the columns in the table. Here is the INSERT INTO syntax for this scenario:

INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, …);

Demo Database

Here is an excerpt from the “Customers” table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
89	White Clover Markets	Karl Jablonski	305 – 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B	Seattle	98128	USA
90	Wilman Kala	Matti Karttunen	Keskuskatu 45	Helsinki	21240	Finland
91	Wolski	Zbyszek	ul. Filtrowa 68	Walla	01-012	Poland

INSERT INTO Example

The following SQL statement adds a new record to the “Customers” table:

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES (‘Cardinal’, ‘Tom B. Erichsen’, ‘Skagen 21’, ‘Stavanger’, ‘4006’, ‘Norway’);

The “Customers” table selection will now appear as follows:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
89	White Clover Markets	Karl Jablonski	305 – 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B	Seattle	98128	USA
90	Wilman Kala	Matti Karttunen	Keskuskatu 45	Helsinki	21240	Finland
91	Wolski	Zbyszek	ul. Filtrowa 68	Walla	01-012	Poland
92	Cardinal	Tom B. Erichsen	Skagen 21	Stavanger	4006	Norway

Did you notice that we did not insert any number into the CustomerID field?

The CustomerID column is automatically generated as an auto-increment field when inserting a new record into the table.

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

You can also insert data into specific columns.

The following SQL statement inserts a new record, providing data only for the “CustomerName”, “City”, and “Country” columns (CustomerID will be generated automatically):

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
VALUES (‘Cardinal’, ‘Stavanger’, ‘Norway’);

The “Customers” table selection will now appear as follows:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
89	White Clover Markets	Karl Jablonski	305 – 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B	Seattle	98128	USA
90	Wilman Kala	Matti Karttunen	Keskuskatu 45	Helsinki	21240	Finland
91	Wolski	Zbyszek	ul. Filtrowa 68	Walla	01-012	Poland
92	Cardinal	null	null	Stavanger	null	Norway