Thread: How to do this in SQL?

Let's say I had a table...
CREATE TABLE book (
   author oid,
   name text );
and...
CREATE TABLE author (
   name text );

and I wanted to create a book pointing to author with name 'Tolstoy'. I
want to do something like...

INSERT INTO book(name,author) values('War and Peace',
      (SELECT oid FROM author WHERE name = 'Tolstoy'));

but this doesn't work. What is the correct syntax?

--
Chris Bitmead
http://www.bigfoot.com/~chris.bitmead
mailto:chris.bitmead@bigfoot.com

>Let's say I had a table...
>CREATE TABLE book (
>   author oid,
>   name text );
>and...
>CREATE TABLE author (
>   name text );
>
>and I wanted to create a book pointing to author with name 'Tolstoy'. I
>want to do something like...
>
>INSERT INTO book(name,author) values('War and Peace',
>      (SELECT oid FROM author WHERE name = 'Tolstoy'));
>
>but this doesn't work. What is the correct syntax?
>

try \h insert in psql for a description of the correct syntax.

Your query becomes:

INSERT INTO book(author,name)
    SELECT oid,'War and Peace'
    FROM author
    WHERE name='Tolstoy';

Stuart.


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| Stuart Rison            | Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research |
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