Postgresql – way to insert multiple rows into a table with default values for all columns

default valuepostgresqlpostgresql-9.4

I can insert multiple rows into a table with default values for all columns the RBAR way:

create table course(course_id serial primary key);

do $$
begin
  for i in 1..100000 loop
    insert into course default values;
  end loop;
end;$$;

Is there a way of doing the same with a single SQL statement?

Best Answer

Using generate_series() and ctes. Tested in rextester.com:

create table t
( tid serial primary key,
  i int default 0,
  name text default 'Jack'
) ;


with ins as
  (insert into t (i, name)               -- all the columns except any serial
   values (default, default)
   returning i, name
  )
insert into t 
  (i, name)
select 
  ins.i, ins.name
from 
  ins cross join generate_series(1, 9);  -- one less than you need

For the case when there is only one column and it's a serial, I see no way to use the default. Using the generate_series is straight-forward:

insert into course
  (course_id)
select
  nextval('course_course_id_seq')
from
  generate_series(1, 10);

If there are other, more "peculiar" default values, like a UUID function or the non-standard clock_timestamp(), the statement will have to be adjusted accordingly, like the serial case.

Related Solutions

Postgresql – Possible to have nested inserts in Postgres 8.4

You should be able to do something like this with a writable CTE:

WITH i AS (
   INSERT INTO host (hostname, hostrole) VALUES ('foobar', 'Virtual') RETURNING id
)
INSERT INTO interface (name, mac, host)
SELECT 'eth0', '00:50:56:9d:34:d4', id
FROM i

(untested, but it should be something like that)

Writable CTE is in PostgreSQL 9.1 and up.

Postgresql – Unnest multiple arrays into rows

This would do what you desire:

WITH p AS (
    INSERT INTO parent_table (column_1) 
    SELECT $1 
    RETURNING id) 
INSERT INTO child_table (parent_table_id, column_a, column_b) 
SELECT p.id, t.a, t.b 
FROM   p, (SELECT unnest($2::text[]) AS a, unnest($3::bigint[]) AS b) t

The subtle difference here is that unnest() calls in the same SELECT list are unnested in parallel if the number of elements is identical. Careful though: In Postgres 9.6 or older, if the number is not the same, it results in a Cartesian product instead. The behavior was sanitized in Postgres 10. See:

You could use a cleaner form with generate_subscripts() or other techniques, but those would be much more verbose. Details in this related question:

How to preserve the original order of elements in an unnested array?

Postgres 9.4

The new WITH ORDINALITY in Postgres 9.4 allows a much cleaner (and only moderately more verbose) form for this:

WITH p AS (...)
INSERT INTO child_table (...)
SELECT p.id, ta.a, tb.b 
FROM   p
     , unnest($2::text[]) WITH ORDINALITY AS ta(a, rn)
JOIN   unnest($3::bigint[]) WITH ORDINALITY AS tb(b, rn) USING (rn);

And this special case can be even simpler with the new form of unnest() that accepts multiple arrays:

WITH p AS (...)
INSERT INTO child_table (...)
SELECT p.id, t.a, t.b 
FROM   p, unnest($2::text[], $3::bigint[]) AS t(a, b);

Example in this related answer.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Postgresql – Possible to have nested inserts in Postgres 8.4

Postgresql – Unnest multiple arrays into rows

Postgres 9.4

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