[SOLVED] PHP SQL statements: =s or VALUES

[xtopolis]

Hi,

 

Is there a reason for using one of the methods to form SQL statements over another?  The two I know are:

 

$sql = "INSERT INTO table SET COL1='$col1', COL2='$col2'";

 

vs

 

$sql = "INSERT INTO table (COL1, COL2) VALUES ('$col1', '$col2')";

 

Any reason, or are they just personal preference?

[revraz]

For those two examples, personal preference.  They both will do the same thing.

 

I would say the 2nd example is more widely used.

[fenway]

The 2nd method also makes it possible to use multi-valued insert statements.

[xtopolis]

I use the first way, just since that's how I learned it, seems more straight forward in my mind.

 

What do you mean by a multivalued insert statement?

[fenway]

You can used many VALUES() one after the other to insert N multiple rows... assuming you don't need the IDs of the newly created rows back, it's much faster than running N insert statements.

[xtopolis]

Ah, took me some searching but I see what you mean.  Thanks for the tip, didn't know I could just do:

<?php
$sql = "INSERT INTO table (col,col2,col3) VALUES ('1','2','3'),('4','5','6')";
?>

for multiple rows.  Thanks.

[fenway]

Performance-wise, it's a substantial improvement if you're inserting many rows.