por In the world of Data Manipulation Language (DML), the INSERT command is tremendously useful for saving your data. DML or Data Manipulation Language is a part of the SQL language that is used to manipulate data, although it is not the only basic statement that exists. Among the four basic DML statements (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE), here we will focus on INSERT.
What is INSERT command in DML?
The INSERT command in SQL, which is the standard language for managing data in databases, is essentially the means by which we tell our database manager that we want to insert new data into a specific table. By using the INSERT command, we can add new rows of data to our table, so that we can continue to expand and update our database according to our needs. In other words, the INSERT command is our boarding pass to take our database to new heights.
The structure of the INSERT statement
To understand it better, we leave you a practical example. The basic skeleton of the INSERT statement looks like this:
INSERT INTO table_name (column_name1, column_name2, …, column_nameN) VALUES (value1, value2, …, valueN);
What is the code you just saw about? First we use INSERT INTO to indicate which table we want to insert data into, then we specify the column names in parentheses and, finally, we provide the values corresponding to each column within the clause VALUES.
Although it is simple to understand, you must ask yourself what happens if we want to insert data into all the columns of our table. No problem! We can omit the column names and SQL will understand that we want to add data to all the columns, in the same order in which they have been defined.
Be careful with input data
When you are inserting data into your table, there are two key aspects to consider: the number of columns and the data type.
Number of columns and values: In an INSERT statement, the number of columns specified and the number of values provided must match. So if you have 3 columns, you will need to provide 3 values.
Type of data: SQL is very particular when it comes to data types. If you try to insert a text string into an integer field, for example, SQL will return an error.
Data from another table: INSERT SELECT
What happens if we want to insert data from another table into ours? This is where the INSERT SELECT command comes into play. With this command, you can select data from another table and insert it into yours.
INSERT INTO table1 (column1, column2, …) SELECT column1, column2, … FROM table2;
This command is incredibly useful when we want to copy data between tables.
Remember: the INSERT statement in SQL Server
Although the basic principles of the INSERT statement are the same in all versions of SQL, there are slight variations depending on the database management system (DBMS) you are using. In SQL Server, for example, the syntax and some functionality may vary slightly, so always be sure to check the documentation for the DBMS you are using.
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