SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide

Inserting Rows with INSERT

The INSERT statement adds new rows to a table. In this section, I’ll explain how to use several variations of INSERT to:

• Insert a row by using column positions (INSERT VALUES)

• Insert a row by using column names (INSERT VALUES)

• Insert rows from one table into another table (INSERT SELECT)

The important characteristics of INSERT are:

• In a positional insert, you insert ordered values into a new row in the same sequence as the columns appear in a table (see “To insert a row by using column positions” later in this section). In a named-column insert, you name the specific column into which each value is inserted in the new row (see “To insert a row by using column names” later in this section).

  You always should use a named-column ...