How to Insert Values in SQL

Last Updated: October 25, 2021

This wikiHow teaches you how to insert values into a database using SQL. SQL is a programming language used to communicate with a SQL database. SQL databases store data in tables. Each table has a set of rows and columns that represent data. You can use an insert statement to add new data to a SQL database.

Steps

1
Connect to your database. You can connect to your database using a variety of programs. This includes MySQL Workbench, Java, the command prompt or terminal, or a text document that you intend to upload to a server later on.
2
Type INSERT INTO. This statement indicates that you are inserting new data into a table.^{[1]
X
Research source}

Advertisement
3
Type the table name after the "INSERT INTO" command. For example, the table name is "Customers", you would type INSERT INTO Customers.
4
Type the column names in parentheses after the command. If you have a database of all your customers, column names may include "First_Name", "Last_Name", "Email", "Phone", "Address". Separate each column name with a comma. In this example, your first statement would look something like this: INSERT INTO Customers (First name, Last name, Email, Phone)
- If you are adding data to every row in a table, you do not need to list the column names after the "INSERT INTO table_name" statement.
5
Press ↵ Enter. This creates a new line below your first statement.
6
Type VALUES. This second line is where you will input the actual data for each column in the table.
7
Type the data for each column in parentheses. This data is the values. Place each value with apostrophes. Separate each value with a comma. Your entire Insert statement should look something like this:^{[2]
X
Research source}
```
  INSERT INTO Customers (First_Name, Last_Name, Email, Phone)
  VALUES ('John', 'Doe', 'Johndoe@email.com', '1-999-123-4567')
```
Advertisement