Simple insert query

[johno77]

Hello

my work doesnt normally bring me into contact with databases so consequently i do not know an awful lot. What i am trying to do is insert values into a table but some of my fields will be entered at a later date - how do i code this i.e. will the following work

insert into programming values('whatever,'yadayada','null');

or should i code using this statement

insert into programming values('whatever,'yadayada','');

thanks

 

[hos2]

insert into programming (fieldname1,fieldname2,fieldname3) values('whatever,'yadayada','');

[code]

you forgot the fieldnames ;)

and it's a personal choice of what you want but I believe that with null you don't need the single quotes.

 

[r937]

hos2, it is not personal choice

if null has quotes around it, it is not null, it is a character string that says null

NULL is a keyword, and cannot have quotes around it


rudy

 

[hos2]

it was more the choice between NULL or an empty string '' that I meant

 

[r937]

that's not a personal choice either

NULL is null

'' is an empty string and is not null

they are not the same thing at all

;-)

 

[hos2]

yep and that's also what I meant that it's a personal choiche if you want to have NULL or an empty string in the field. thought that I made that clear the second time.

 

[rzs0502]

Whichever you use, empty string ('') or NULL, be consistent as it could cause grief for people down the line.
I've seen people getting incorrect results when doing something like a SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE field2 IS NULL because some people used '' for null values;

Common practice however, is to use null.