SQL INSERT INTO VALUES — Adding Rows to a Table

Inserting Data with INSERT

The INSERT INTO statement adds new rows to a table. You can insert a single row, multiple rows, or rows derived from a subquery.

Single Row Insert

INSERT INTO employees (name, email, department_id, salary)
VALUES ('Alice Smith', 'alice@example.com', 3, 95000);

Multi-Row Insert

INSERT INTO employees (name, email, department_id, salary)
VALUES
  ('Bob Jones', 'bob@example.com', 2, 87000),
  ('Carol White', 'carol@example.com', 3, 82000),
  ('Dave Brown', 'dave@example.com', 1, 76000);

INSERT from SELECT

INSERT INTO archived_employees (name, email, salary)
SELECT name, email, salary
FROM employees
WHERE is_active = false;

UPSERT (Insert or Update)

PostgreSQL:

INSERT INTO employees (email, name, salary)
VALUES ('alice@example.com', 'Alice S.', 96000)
ON CONFLICT (email)
DO UPDATE SET name = EXCLUDED.name, salary = EXCLUDED.salary;

MySQL:

INSERT INTO employees (email, name, salary)
VALUES ('alice@example.com', 'Alice S.', 96000)
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE name = VALUES(name), salary = VALUES(salary);

SQLite:

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO employees (email, name, salary)
VALUES ('alice@example.com', 'Alice S.', 96000);

Returning Inserted Data (PostgreSQL)

INSERT INTO employees (name, email, salary)
VALUES ('New Hire', 'new@example.com', 60000)
RETURNING id, name, created_at;

This is particularly useful when you need the auto-generated id of the newly inserted row.