How to insert default values in SQL table?

Question

I have a table like this:

create table1 (field1 int,
               field2 int default 5557,
               field3 int default 1337, 
               field4 int default 1337)

I want to insert a row which has the default values for field2 and field4.

I've tried insert into table1 values (5,null,10,null) but it doesn't work and ISNULL(field2,default) doesn't work either.

How can I tell the database to use the default value for the column when I insert a row?

Answer 1

Best practice it to list your columns so you're independent of table changes (new column or column order etc)

insert into table1 (field1, field3)  values (5,10)

However, if you don't want to do this, use the DEFAULT keyword

insert into table1 values (5, DEFAULT, 10, DEFAULT)

Answer 2

This works if all the columns have associated defaults and one does not want to specify the column names:

insert into your_table
default values

Answer 3

Try it like this

INSERT INTO table1 (field1, field3) VALUES (5,10)

Then field2 and field4 should have default values.

Answer 4

If your columns should not contain NULL values, you need to define the columns as NOT NULL as well, otherwise the passed in NULL will be used instead of the default and not produce an error.

If you don't pass in any value to these fields (which requires you to specify the fields that you do want to use), the defaults will be used:

INSERT INTO 
  table1 (field1, field3) 
VALUES   (5,10)

Answer 5

I had a case where I had a very simple table, and I basically just wanted an extra row with just the default values. Not sure if there is a prettier way of doing it, but here's one way:

This sets every column in the new row to its default value:

INSERT INTO your_table VALUES ()

Note: This is extra useful for MySQL where INSERT INTO your_table DEFAULT VALUES does not work.

Answer 6

You can write in this way

GO
ALTER TABLE Table_name  ADD
column_name decimal(18, 2) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT Constant_name DEFAULT 0
GO
ALTER TABLE Table_name SET (LOCK_ESCALATION = TABLE)
GO
COMMIT

Answer 7

To insert the default values you should omit them something like this :

Insert into Table (Field2) values(5)

All other fields will have null or their default values if it has defined.

Answer 8

CREATE TABLE #dum (id int identity(1,1) primary key, def int NOT NULL default(5), name varchar(25))

-- this works
INSERT #dum (def, name) VALUES (DEFAULT, 'jeff')

SELECT * FROM #dum;

DECLARE @some int 

-- this *doesn't* work and I think it should
INSERT #dum (def, name)
VALUES (ISNULL(@some, DEFAULT), 'george')

SELECT * FROM #dum;