Inserting Data into a Table (PostgreSQL)

Now that our cities table is ready, the next step is to add data into it.

We want to store information about these cities:

• Tokyo
• Delhi
• Shanghai
• Sao Paulo

Along with:

• country
• population
• area

To do this, we will use SQL again.

Using INSERT INTO

To add data into a table, PostgreSQL provides the INSERT INTO command.

The basic structure looks like this:

insert into table_name (column1, column2, ...)
values (value1, value2, ...);

Let’s apply this to our cities table.

Inserting a Single Row

Here is the SQL to insert Tokyo into the cities table:

insert into cities (name, country, population, area)
values ('Tokyo', 'Japan', 38505000, 8223);

Important things to notice

• insert into → tells PostgreSQL we want to add data
• cities → the table name
• (name, country, population, area) → columns we are providing values for
• values → keyword before actual data
• Text values use single quotes
• Numbers do not use quotes

After running this query, PostgreSQL will respond with something like:

Insert successful — 1 row added

About the Semicolon (;)

You’ll notice a semicolon at the end of the SQL statement.

Technically: