MySQL Insert query doesn't work with WHERE clause

What's wrong with this query:

INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) VALUES ( 160, 145 ) WHERE id = 1;

It works without the WHERE clause. I've seemed to have forgot my SQL.

MySQL INSERT Syntax does not support the WHERE clause so your query as it stands will fail. Assuming your id column is unique or primary key:

If you're trying to insert a new row with ID 1 you should be using:

INSERT INTO Users(id, weight, desiredWeight) VALUES(1, 160, 145);

If you're trying to change the weight/desiredWeight values for an existing row with ID 1 you should be using:

UPDATE Users SET weight = 160, desiredWeight = 145 WHERE id = 1;

If you want you can also use INSERT .. ON DUPLICATE KEY syntax like so:

INSERT INTO Users (id, weight, desiredWeight) VALUES(1, 160, 145) ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE weight=160, desiredWeight=145

OR even like so:

INSERT INTO Users SET id=1, weight=160, desiredWeight=145 ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE weight=160, desiredWeight=145

It's also important to note that if your id column is an autoincrement column then you might as well omit it from your INSERT all together and let mysql increment it as normal.

You can't combine a WHERE clause with a VALUES clause. You have two options as far as I am aware-

1. INSERT specifying values

   INSERT INTO Users(weight, desiredWeight) 
   VALUES (160,145)
   

2. INSERT using a SELECT statement

   INSERT INTO Users(weight, desiredWeight) 
   SELECT weight, desiredWeight 
   FROM AnotherTable 
   WHERE id = 1
   

You use the WHERE clause for UPDATE queries. When you INSERT, you are assuming that the row doesn't exist.

The OP's statement would then become;

> UPDATE Users SET weight = 160, desiredWeight = 45 where id = 1;

In MySQL, if you want to INSERT or UPDATE, you can use the REPLACE query with a WHERE clause. If the WHERE doesn't exist, it INSERTS, otherwise it UPDATES.

EDIT

I think that Bill Karwin's point is important enough to pull up out of the comments and make it very obvious. Thanks Bill, it has been too long since I have worked with MySQL, I remembered that I had issues with REPLACE, but I forgot what they were. I should have looked it up.

That's not how MySQL's REPLACE works. It does a DELETE (which may be a no-op if the row does not exist), followed by an INSERT. Think of the consequences vis. triggers and foreign key dependencies. Instead, use INSERT...ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE.

I do not believe the insert has a WHERE clause.

Insert query doesn't support where keyword*

Conditions apply because you can use where condition for sub-select statements. You can perform complicated inserts using sub-selects.

For example:

INSERT INTO suppliers
(supplier_id, supplier_name)
SELECT account_no, name
FROM customers
WHERE city = 'Newark';

By placing a "select" in the insert statement, you can perform multiples inserts quickly.

With this type of insert, you may wish to check for the number of rows being inserted. You can determine the number of rows that will be inserted by running the following SQL statement before performing the insert.

SELECT count(*)
FROM customers
WHERE city = 'Newark';

You can make sure that you do not insert duplicate information by using the EXISTS condition.

For example, if you had a table named clients with a primary key of client_id, you could use the following statement:

INSERT INTO clients
(client_id, client_name, client_type)
SELECT supplier_id, supplier_name, 'advertising'
FROM suppliers
WHERE not exists (select * from clients
where clients.client_id = suppliers.supplier_id);

This statement inserts multiple records with a subselect.

If you wanted to insert a single record, you could use the following statement:

INSERT INTO clients
(client_id, client_name, client_type)
SELECT 10345, 'IBM', 'advertising'
FROM dual
WHERE not exists (select * from clients
where clients.client_id = 10345);

The use of the dual table allows you to enter your values in a select statement, even though the values are not currently stored in a table.

See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/545593/how-to-insert-with-where-clause

The right answer to this question will be sth like this:

a). IF want select before insert :

INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) 
  select val1 , val2  from tableXShoulatNotBeUsers
  WHERE somecondition;

b). IF record already exists use update instead of insert:

 INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) VALUES ( 160, 145 ) WHERE id = 1;

Should be

Update Users set weight=160, desiredWeight=145  WHERE id = 1;

c). If you want to update or insert at the same time

Replace Users set weight=160, desiredWeight=145  WHERE id = 1;

Note):- you should provide values to all fields else missed field in query 
        will be set to null

d). If you want to CLONE a record from SAME table, just remember you cann't select from table to which you are inserting therefore

 create temporary table xtable ( weight int(11), desiredWeight int(11) ;

 insert into xtable (weight, desiredWeight) 
    select weight, desiredWeight from Users where [condition]
 
 insert into Users (weight, desiredWeight) 
    select weight , desiredWeight from xtable;

I think this pretty covers most of the scenarios

You simply cannot use WHERE when doing an INSERT statement:

 INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) VALUES ( 160, 145 ) WHERE id = 1;

should be:

 INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) VALUES ( 160, 145 );

The WHERE part only works in SELECT statements:

SELECT from Users WHERE id = 1;

or in UPDATE statements:

UPDATE Users set (weight = 160, desiredWeight = 145) WHERE id = 1;

A way to use INSERT and WHERE is

INSERT INTO MYTABLE SELECT 953,'Hello',43 WHERE 0 in (SELECT count(*) FROM MYTABLE WHERE myID=953); In this case ist like an exist-test. There is no exception if you run it two or more times...

I think that the correct form to insert a value on a specify row is:

UPDATE table SET column = value WHERE columnid = 1

it works, and is similar if you write on Microsoft SQL Server

INSERT INTO table(column) VALUES (130) WHERE id = 1;

on mysql you have to Update the table.

Insert into = Adding rows to a table

Upate = update specific rows.

What would the where clause describe in your insert? It doesn't have anything to match, the row doesn't exist (yet)...

You can do conditional INSERT based on user input. This query will do insert only if input vars '$userWeight' and '$userDesiredWeight' are not blank

INSERT INTO Users(weight, desiredWeight )
select '$userWeight', '$userDesiredWeight'  
FROM (select 1 a ) dummy
WHERE '$userWeight' != '' AND '$userDesiredWeight'!='';

If you are looking to insert some values into a new column of an altered table in each rows by mentioning its primary key, then just-->

1. UPDATE <table_name> SET <column_name> = '<value> WHERE <primary_key> = <primary_value>

It depends on the situation INSERT can actually have a where clause.

For example if you are matching values from a form.

Consider INSERT INTO Users(name,email,weight, desiredWeight) VALUES (fred,bb@yy.com,160,145) WHERE name != fred AND email != bb@yy.com

Makes sense doesn't it?

The simplest way is to use IF to violate your a key constraint. This only works for INSERT IGNORE but will allow you to use constraint in a INSERT.

INSERT INTO Test (id, name) VALUES (IF(1!=0,NULL,1),'Test');

After WHERE clause you put a condition, and it is used for either fetching data or for updating a row. When you are inserting data, it is assumed that the row does not exist.

So, the question is, is there any row whose id is 1? if so, use MySQL UPDATE, else use MySQL INSERT.

If you are specifying a particular record no for inserting data its better to use UPDATE statement instead of INSERT statement.

This type of query you have written in the question is like a dummy query.

Your Query is :-

INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) VALUES ( 160, 145 ) WHERE id = 1;

Here , you are specifying the id=1 , so better you use UPDATE statement to update the existing record.It is not recommended to use WHERE clause in case of INSERT.You should use UPDATE .

Now Using Update Query :-

UPDATE Users SET weight=160,desiredWeight=145 WHERE id=1;

> Does WHERE-clause can be actually used with INSERT-INTO-VALUES in any > case?

The answer is definitively no.

Adding a WHERE clause after INSERT INTO ... VALUES ... is just invalid SQL, and will not parse.

The error returned by MySQL is:

mysql> INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) VALUES ( 160, 145 ) WHERE id = 1;
ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'WHERE id = 1' at line 1

The most important part of the error message is

... syntax to use near 'WHERE id = 1' ...

which shows the specific part the parser did not expect to find here: the WHERE clause.

its totall wrong. INSERT QUERY does not have a WHERE clause, Only UPDATE QUERY has it. If you want to add data Where id = 1 then your Query will be

UPDATE Users SET weight=160, desiredWeight= 145 WHERE id = 1;

No. As far as I am aware you cannot add the WHERE clause into this query. Maybe I've forgotten my SQL too, because I am not really sure why you need it anyway.

You Should not use where condition in Insert statement. If you want to do, use insert in a update statement and then update a existing record.

Actually can i know why you need a where clause in Insert statement??

Maybe based on the reason I might suggest you a better option.

I think your best option is use REPLACE instead INSERT

> REPLACE INTO Users(id, weight, desiredWeight) VALUES(1, 160, 145);

DO READ THIS AS WELL

It doesn't make sense... even literally

INSERT means add a new row and when you say WHERE you define which row are you talking about in the SQL.

So adding a new row is not possible with a condition on an existing row.

You have to choose from the following:

A. Use UPDATE instead of INSERT

B. Use INSERT and remove WHERE clause ( I am just saying it...) or if you are real bound to use INSERT and WHERE in a single statement it can be done only via INSERT..SELECT clause...

INSERT INTO Users( weight, desiredWeight ) 
SELECT FROM Users WHERE id = 1;

But this serves an entirely different purpose and if you have defined id as Primary Key this insert will be failure, otherwise a new row will be inserted with id = 1.

I am aware that this is a old post but I hope that this will still help somebody, with what I hope is a simple example:

background:

I had a many to many case: the same user is listed multiple times with multiple values and I wanted to Create a new record, hence UPDATE wouldn't make sense in my case and I needed to address a particular user just like I would do using a WHERE clause.

INSERT into MyTable(aUser,aCar)
value(User123,Mini)

By using this construct you actually target a specific user (user123,who has other records) so you don't really need a where clause, I reckon.

the output could be:

aUser   aCar
user123 mini
user123 HisOtherCarThatWasThereBefore

correct syntax for mysql insert into statement using post method is:

$sql="insert into ttable(username,password) values('$_POST[username]','$_POST[password]')";

i dont think that we can use where clause in insert statement

INSERT INTO Users(weight, desiredWeight )
SELECT '$userWeight', '$userDesiredWeight'  
FROM (select 1 a ) dummy
WHERE '$userWeight' != '' AND '$userDesiredWeight'!='';

You can't use INSERT and WHERE together. You can use UPDATE clause for add value to particular column in particular field like below code;

UPDATE Users
SET weight='160',desiredWeight ='145'  
WHERE id =1

You can do that with the below code:

INSERT INTO table2 (column1, column2, column3, ...)
SELECT column1, column2, column3, ...
FROM table1
WHERE condition

I think you should do it like this, if you want to validate table not to use email twice

Code :

INSERT INTO tablename(fullname,email) 

SELECT * FROM (SELECT 'fullnameValue' AS fullname_field,'emailValue' AS email_field) entry WHERE entry.email_field NOT IN (SELECT email FROM tablename);

All the above answers give you the plain MySQL statements.

If you are using the where condition in PHPMyAdmin to update the existing row of a table, below is the suggestion to use.

UPDATE `Table_Name` SET `row1`='[value-1]',`row2`='[value-2]',`row3`='[value-3]' WHERE 1

You can include any value between '' of each row. Not necessarily to put [] to indicate the value. Do not change anything after where. Simply click go after giving the value to update.

Example:

UPDATE `Mytable_name` SET `abc`='xyz',`def`='uvw'
 WHERE 1