MySQL® Phrasebook

Chapter 3. Storing Data

This Chapter covers the basics of the SQL and MySQL commands that are used for getting data into a table. It doesn’t cover topics such as programmatically adding data to a table (see Chapter 8, “MySQL APIs”) or updating data already in a table (see Chapter 5, “Manipulating Data”).

Adding Data to a Table

# Generic syntax
INSERT table_name (list, of, columns)
VALUES (list, of, values);

# Add one row to the book table
INSERT book (title, author, cond)
VALUES ('Where the Wild Things Are',
'Maurice Sendak',
'fine');

The INSERT command allows you to add one or more rows to an existing table. The basic syntax of the command is quite simple. Piece-by-piece, the relevant bits of syntax are

• INSERT—. Denotes the start of the command. ...