INSERT INTO with SubQuery MySQL - mysql

Question

I have this Statement:
INSERT INTO qa_costpriceslog (item_code, invoice_code, item_costprice)
VALUES (1, 2, (SELECT item_costprice FROM qa_items WHERE item_code = 1));
I'm trying to insert a value copy the same data of item_costprice, but show me the error:
Error Code: 1136. Column count doesn't match value count at row 1
How i can solve this?

Answer 1

Use numeric literals with aliases inside a SELECT statement. No () are necessary around the SELECT component.
INSERT INTO qa_costpriceslog (item_code, invoice_code, item_costprice)
SELECT
/* Literal number values with column aliases */
1 AS item_code,
2 AS invoice_code,
item_costprice
FROM qa_items
WHERE item_code = 1;
Note that in context of an INSERT INTO...SELECT, the aliases are not actually necessary and you can just SELECT 1, 2, item_costprice, but in a normal SELECT you'll need the aliases to access the columns returned.

Answer 2

You can just simply e.g.
INSERT INTO modulesToSections (fk_moduleId, fk_sectionId, `order`) VALUES
((SELECT id FROM modules WHERE title="Top bar"),0,-100);

Answer 3

I was disappointed at the "all or nothing" answers. I needed (again) to INSERT some data and SELECT an id from an existing table.
INSERT INTO table1 (id_table2, name) VALUES ((SELECT id FROM table2 LIMIT 1), 'Example');
The sub-select on an INSERT query should use parenthesis in addition to the comma as deliminators.
For those having trouble with using a SELECT within an INSERT I recommend testing your SELECT independently first and ensuring that the correct number of columns match for both queries.

Answer 4

Your insert statement contains too many columns on the left-hand side or not enough columns on the right hand side. The part before the VALUES has 7 columns listed, but the second part after VALUES only has 3 columns returned: 1, 2, then the sub-query only returns 1 column.
EDIT: Well, it did before someone modified the query....

Answer 5

As a sidenote to the good answer of Michael Berkowski:
You can also dynamically add fields (or have them prepared if you're working with php skripts) like so:
INSERT INTO table_a(col1, col2, col3)
SELECT
col1,
col2,
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()
FROM table_B
WHERE b.col1 = a.col1;
If you need to transfer without adding new data, you can use NULL as a placeholder.

Answer 6

If you have multiple string values you want to add, you can put them into a temporary table and then cross join it with the value you want.
-- Create temp table
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE NewStrings (
NewString VARCHAR(50)
);
-- Populate temp table
INSERT INTO NewStrings (NewString) VALUES ('Hello'), ('World'), ('Hi');
-- Insert desired rows into permanent table
INSERT INTO PermanentTable (OtherID, NewString)
WITH OtherSelect AS (
SELECT OtherID AS OtherID FROM OtherTable WHERE OtherName = 'Other Name'
)
SELECT os.OtherID, ns.NewString
FROM OtherSelect os, NewStrings ns;
This way, you only have to define the strings in one place, and you only have to do the query in one place. If you used subqueries like I initially did and like Elendurwen and John suggest, you have to type the subquery into every row. But using temporary tables and a CTE in this way, you can write the query only once.