Inserting Data

INSERT INTO

The INSERT INTO statement adds new rows to a table:

INSERT INTO products (name, price, category)
VALUES ('Mouse', 29.99, 'Electronics');

You list the target columns in parentheses, then provide matching values. Columns you omit will use their default values (or NULL if no default is set).

Inserting Multiple Rows

Insert multiple rows in a single statement — more efficient than one INSERT per row:

INSERT INTO products (name, price, category) VALUES
  ('Monitor', 299.99, 'Electronics'),
  ('Keyboard', 49.99, 'Electronics'),
  ('Mouse Pad', 9.99, 'Accessories');

INSERT OR REPLACE

If the new row would violate a UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraint, INSERT OR REPLACE deletes the conflicting row and inserts the new one:

-- If a product with id=1 already exists, delete it and insert this row
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO products (id, name, price, category)
VALUES (1, 'Laptop Pro', 1299.99, 'Electronics');

This is equivalent to the SQL standard INSERT ... ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE (which SQLite also supports as UPSERT).

INSERT OR IGNORE

If the new row would violate a constraint, silently skip the insert:

-- If a user with this email already exists, do nothing
INSERT OR IGNORE INTO users (name, email)
VALUES ('Alice', 'alice@example.com');

This is useful for idempotent data loading — run it multiple times without errors.

LAST_INSERT_ROWID()

After an insert, get the ID of the last inserted row:

INSERT INTO products (name, price, category) VALUES ('Stylus', 19.99, 'Accessories');
SELECT LAST_INSERT_ROWID();

Each database connection has its own last_insert_rowid — concurrent connections do not interfere.

INSERT ... SELECT

Insert rows from a query:

-- Copy all Electronics to an archive table
INSERT INTO product_archive (name, price, category)
SELECT name, price, category FROM products WHERE category = 'Electronics';

Your Task

Insert a new product into the products table:

• name: 'Tablet'
• price: 349.99
• category: 'Electronics'

Then select all products to verify the insert.