The PostgreSQL INSERT
statement is used to add new rows of data into a table. This statement is essential for inserting new records and populating tables with initial data.
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, ...)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);
The INSERT
statement has the following components:
table_name
: The name of the table where the data will be inserted.column1, column2, column3, ...
: The columns in the table where the data will be inserted.value1, value2, value3, ...
: The values to be inserted into the specified columns.Let's look at some examples of PostgreSQL INSERT
statement queries:
INSERT INTO employees (id, first_name, last_name, email)
VALUES (1, 'John', 'Doe', 'john.doe@example.com');
This query inserts a new row into the employees
table. The result will be that the employees
table now contains the new row with the specified values.
INSERT INTO employees (id, first_name, last_name, email)
VALUES (2, 'Jane', 'Smith', 'jane.smith@example.com'),
(3, 'Jim', 'Brown', 'jim.brown@example.com');
This query inserts multiple rows into the employees
table. The result will be that the employees
table now contains the new rows with the specified values.
INSERT INTO employees (first_name, last_name, email)
VALUES ('Alice', 'Johnson', 'alice.johnson@example.com');
This query inserts a new row into the employees
table, omitting the id
column, which may be set to auto-increment or a default value. The result will be that the employees
table now contains the new row with the specified values.
Let's go through a complete example that includes creating a table, inserting data, and querying the table.
This step involves creating a new table named employees
to store employee data.
CREATE TABLE employees (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
first_name VARCHAR(50),
last_name VARCHAR(50),
email VARCHAR(100)
);
In this example, we create a table named employees
with columns for id
, first_name
, last_name
, and email
.
This step involves inserting some sample data into the employees
table.
INSERT INTO employees (first_name, last_name, email)
VALUES ('John', 'Doe', 'john.doe@example.com');
INSERT INTO employees (first_name, last_name, email)
VALUES ('Jane', 'Smith', 'jane.smith@example.com');
INSERT INTO employees (first_name, last_name, email)
VALUES ('Jim', 'Brown', 'jim.brown@example.com');
Here, we insert data into the employees
table.
This step involves selecting the data from the employees
table to view the inserted records.
SELECT * FROM employees;
This query retrieves all the rows from the employees
table. The result will be:
The PostgreSQL INSERT
statement is a fundamental tool for adding new rows of data into a table. Understanding how to use the INSERT
statement and its syntax is essential for effective data management and manipulation in PostgreSQL databases.