Re: Why forbid "INSERT INTO t () VALUES ();"

Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> writes:

> Fabien COELHO <coelho(at)cri(dot)ensmp(dot)fr> writes:
>>>> INSERT INTO t() VALUES ();
>
>> I'm still unclear why it would be forbidden though, it seems logical to
>> try that, whereas the working one is quite away from the usual syntax.
>
> It's forbidden because the SQL standard forbids it.
>
> We allow zero-column syntaxes in some other places where SQL forbids
> them, but that's only because there is no reasonable alternative.
> In this case, there's a perfectly good, standards-compliant alternative.
> So why encourage people to write unportable code?

FWIW, MySQL (and MariaDB) only support INSERT INTO t () VALUES (), not
DEFAULT VALUES. We have added syntax for MySQL compatibility in the
past, e.g. the CONCAT() function.

- ilmari
--
"A disappointingly low fraction of the human race is,
at any given time, on fire." - Stig Sandbeck Mathisen