SQL Server Insert Example

Question

I switch between Oracle and SQL Server occasionally, and often forget how to do some of the most trivial tasks in SQL Server. I want to manually insert a row of data into a SQL Server database table using SQL. What is the easiest way to do that?

For example, if I have a USERS table, with the columns of ID (number), FIRST_NAME, and LAST_NAME, what query do I use to insert a row into that table?

Also what syntax do I use if I want to insert multiple rows at a time?

Answer 1

To insert a single row of data:

INSERT INTO USERS
VALUES (1, 'Mike', 'Jones');

To do an insert on specific columns (as opposed to all of them) you must specify the columns you want to update.

INSERT INTO USERS (FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME)
VALUES ('Stephen', 'Jiang');

To insert multiple rows of data in SQL Server 2008 or later:

INSERT INTO USERS VALUES
(2, 'Michael', 'Blythe'),
(3, 'Linda', 'Mitchell'),
(4, 'Jillian', 'Carson'),
(5, 'Garrett', 'Vargas');

To insert multiple rows of data in earlier versions of SQL Server, use "UNION ALL" like so:

INSERT INTO USERS (FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME)
SELECT 'James', 'Bond' UNION ALL
SELECT 'Miss', 'Moneypenny' UNION ALL
SELECT 'Raoul', 'Silva'

Note, the "INTO" keyword is optional in INSERT queries. Source and more advanced querying can be found here.

Answer 2

I hope this will help you

Create table :

create table users (id int,first_name varchar(10),last_name varchar(10));

Insert values into the table :

insert into users (id,first_name,last_name) values(1,'Abhishek','Anand');

Answer 3

Here are 4 ways to insert data into a table.

1. Simple insertion when the table column sequence is known.

   INSERT INTO Table1 VALUES (1,2,...)

2. Simple insertion into specified columns of the table.

   INSERT INTO Table1(col2,col4) VALUES (1,2)

3. Bulk insertion when...

   1. You wish to insert every column of Table2 into Table1
   2. You know the column sequence of Table2
   3. You are certain that the column sequence of Table2 won't change while this statement is being used (perhaps you the statement will only be used once).

   INSERT INTO Table1 {Column sequence} SELECT * FROM Table2

4. Bulk insertion of selected data into specified columns of Table2.

.

INSERT INTO Table1 (Column1,Column2 ....)
    SELECT Column1,Column2...
       FROM Table2