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Databases Modifying Data with SQL Adding Data to a Database Adding a Row to a Table

Auto incrementing a column example please!

I was wondering if someone could provide me with an example of EXACTLY how to use NULL to auto increment a column.

1 Answer

Umesh Ravji
Umesh Ravji
42,386 Points

Hi Abram, this is simply done by providing the column with the value of NULL when performing the insertion. I'm just going to use the books table from workspaces.

INSERT INTO books VALUES(NULL, 'A Game of Thrones', 'George R. R. Martin', 'Fantasy', '1996');

Alternatively, you an specify the columns and skip the auto increment column.

INSERT INTO books (title, author, genre, first_published) VALUES('A Clash of Kings', 'George R. R. Martin', 'Fantasy', '1998');

Thank you!