INSERT

Use INSERT for both single- and multi-row ad hoc inserts. (When inserting many rows, use the more efficient COPY command.)

INSERT INTO <table> (column1, ...) VALUES (row_1_value_1, ...), ..., (row_n_value_1, ...);

Examples

CREATE TABLE ar (ai INT[], af FLOAT[], ad2 DOUBLE[2]); 
INSERT INTO ar VALUES ({1,2,3},{4.0,5.0},{1.2,3.4}); 
INSERT INTO ar VALUES (ARRAY[NULL,2],NULL,NULL); 
INSERT INTO ar VALUES (NULL,{},{2.0,NULL});
-- or a multi-row insert equivalent
INSERT INTO ar VALUES ({1,2,3},{4.0,5.0},{1.2,3.4}), (ARRAY[NULL,2],NULL,NULL), (NULL,{},{2.0,NULL});

You can also insert into a table as SELECT, as shown in the following examples:

INSERT INTO destination_table SELECT * FROM source_table;

INSERT INTO destination_table (id, name, age, gender) SELECT * FROM source_table;

INSERT INTO destination_table (name, gender, age, id) SELECT name, gender, age, id  FROM source_table;

INSERT INTO votes_summary (vote_id, vote_count) SELECT vote_id, sum(*) FROM votes GROUP_BY vote_id;

You can insert array literals into array columns. The inserts in the following example each have three array values, and demonstrate how you can:

Create a table with variable-length and fixed-length array columns.
Insert NULL arrays into these colums.
Specify and insert array literals using {...} or ARRAY[...] syntax.
Insert empty variable-length arrays using{} and ARRAY[] syntax.
Insert array values that contain NULL elements.

CREATE TABLE ar (ai INT[], af FLOAT[], ad2 DOUBLE[2]); 
INSERT INTO ar VALUES ({1,2,3},{4.0,5.0},{1.2,3.4}); 
INSERT INTO ar VALUES (ARRAY[NULL,2],NULL,NULL); 
INSERT INTO ar VALUES (NULL,{},{2.0,NULL});

Default Values

If you create a table with column that has a default value, or alter a table to add a column with a default value, using the INSERT command creates a record that includes the default value if it is omitted from the INSERT. For example, assume a table created as follows:

CREATE TABLE tbl (
   id INTEGER NOT NULL, 
   name TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'John Doe', 
   age SMALLINT NOT NULL);

If you omit the name column from an INSERT or INSERT FROM SELECT statement, the missing value for column name is set to 'John Doe'.

INSERT INTO tbl (id, age) VALUES (1, 36); creates the record 1|'John Doe'|36 .

INSERT INTO tbl (id, age) SELECT id, age FROM old_tbl; also sets all the name values to John Doe .

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