You don't actually have to specify the columns on an insert. If you don't you need to provide a value for each column in the order that they were created. However this shortcut syntax is error prone, any change to the database will probably break your code and it also stops you from using auto_increment/default columns. 
mysql> create table test (a int, b char(1));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.05 sec)

mysql> insert into test values (1, 'A');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

mysql> insert into test (a, b) values (2, 'B');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

mysql> select * from test;
+------+------+
| a    | b    |
+------+------+
|    1 | A    |
|    2 | B    |
+------+------+
2 rows in set (0.05 sec)

[download]

In reply to Re: Re: Inserting values into a MySQL database by gav^
in thread Inserting values into a MySQL database by TStanley

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.