INSERT statement

An INSERT statement creates a row or rows and stores them in the named table. The number of values assigned in an INSERT statement must be the same as the number of specified or implied columns.

Whenever you insert into a table which has generated columns, Derby calculates the values of those columns.

Syntax

INSERT INTO tableName
    [ ( simpleColumnName [ , simpleColumnName ]* ) ]
          query [ ORDER BY clause ]
                [ result offset clause ]
                [ fetch first clause ]
The query can be:
  • A selectExpression
  • A single-row or multiple-row VALUES expression

    Single-row and multiple-row VALUES expressions can include the keyword DEFAULT. Specifying DEFAULT for a column inserts the column's default value into the column. Another way to insert the default value into the column is to omit the column from the column list and only insert values into other columns in the table. For more information, see VALUES expression.

    The DEFAULT literal is the only value which you can directly insert into a generated column.

  • UNION expressions

When you want insertion to happen with a specific ordering (for example, in conjunction with auto-generated keys), it can be useful to specify an ORDER BY clause on the result set to be inserted.

If the query is a VALUES expression, it cannot contain or be followed by an ORDER BY, result offset, or fetch first clause. However, if the VALUES expression does not contain the DEFAULT keyword, the VALUES clause can be put in a subquery and ordered, as in the following statement:

INSERT INTO t SELECT * FROM (VALUES 'a','c','b') t ORDER BY 1;

Examples

INSERT INTO COUNTRIES
      VALUES ('Taiwan', 'TW', 'Asia')

-- Insert a new department into the DEPARTMENT table,
-- but do not assign a manager to the new department
INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT (DEPTNO, DEPTNAME, ADMRDEPT)
	VALUES ('E31', 'ARCHITECTURE', 'E01')
-- Insert two new departments using one statement 
-- into the DEPARTMENT table as in the previous example, 
-- but do not assign a manager to the new department.
INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT (DEPTNO, DEPTNAME, ADMRDEPT)
	VALUES ('B11', 'PURCHASING', 'B01'),
	('E41', 'DATABASE ADMINISTRATION', 'E01')
--  Create a temporary table MA_EMP_ACT with the 
-- same columns as the EMP_ACT table. 
-- Load MA_EMP_ACT with the rows from the EMP_ACT
-- table with a project number (PROJNO) 
-- starting with the letters 'MA'.
CREATE TABLE MA_EMP_ACT 
    (
	EMPNO CHAR(6)  NOT NULL, 
	PROJNO CHAR(6)  NOT NULL, 
	ACTNO SMALLINT  NOT NULL, 
	EMPTIME DEC(5,2), 
	EMSTDATE DATE, 
	EMENDATE  DATE
    );

INSERT INTO MA_EMP_ACT
	SELECT * FROM EMP_ACT
	WHERE SUBSTR(PROJNO, 1, 2) = 'MA';
-- Insert the DEFAULT value for the LOCATION column
INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT
      VALUES ('E31', 'ARCHITECTURE', '00390', 'E01', DEFAULT)

-- Create an AIRPORTS table and insert into it
-- some of the fields from the CITIES table, with the airport
-- codes sorted alphabetically
CREATE TABLE AIRPORTS (
  AIRPORT_ID INTEGER NOT NULL GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY
    PRIMARY KEY,
  AIRPORT VARCHAR(3),
  CITY VARCHAR(24) NOT NULL,
  COUNTRY VARCHAR(26) NOT NULL
);

INSERT INTO AIRPORTS (AIRPORT, CITY, COUNTRY)
  SELECT AIRPORT, CITY_NAME, COUNTRY FROM CITIES
  ORDER BY AIRPORT;

Statement dependency system

The INSERT statement depends on the table being inserted into, all of the conglomerates (units of storage such as heaps or indexes) for that table, and any other table named in the statement. Any statement that creates or drops an index or a constraint for the target table of a prepared INSERT statement invalidates the prepared INSERT statement.

Parent topic: Statements