Import data with the INSERT statement

Use the INSERT statement to add rows to the database. Because the import data for your destination table is included in the INSERT statement, it is considered interactive input. You can also use the INSERT statement with remote data access to import data from another database rather than a file.

Use the INSERT statement to import data when you:

want to import small amounts of data into a single table
are flexible with your file formats
want to import remote data from an external database rather than from a file

The INSERT statement provides an ON EXISTING clause to specify the action to take if a row you are inserting is already found in the destination table. However, if you anticipate many rows qualifying for the ON EXISTING condition, consider using the MERGE statement instead. The MERGE statement provides more control over the actions you can take for matching rows. It also provides a more sophisticated syntax for defining what constitutes a match. See MERGE statement.

Considerations for materialized views

For immediate views, an error is returned when you attempt to bulk load data into an underlying table. You must truncate the data in the view first, and then perform the bulk load operation.

For manual views, you can bulk load data into an underlying table; however, the data in the view becomes stale until the next refresh.

Consider truncating data in dependent materialized views before attempting a bulk load operation such as INSERT on a table. After you have loaded the data, refresh the view. See TRUNCATE statement, and REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW statement.

Ensure that the destination table exists.

Execute an INSERT statement. For example,

The following example inserts a new row into the Departments table in the SQL Anywhere sample database.

INSERT
INTO Departments ( DepartmentID, DepartmentName, DepartmentHeadID )
VALUES ( 700, 'Training', 501)
SELECT * FROM Departments;

Inserting values adds the new data to the existing table.

Import data with the INSERT statement

Considerations for materialized views

Considerations for text indexes

Impact on the database

To import data (INSERT statement)

See also