Can someone check my MySQL Syntax? Please...

Capoeirista

Hi There -

Would you mind having a look at this?*

I'm trying to take records from table1 and put them into table2.*Table 2 has a lot of data already in it.

However, table 1 has more columns than table 2, so I want to specify the columns and have it create new records on table 2. Table 2 is auto-increment, so not copying keys.

INSERT into table2 (field1, field2, field3)
SELECT field1, field2, field3 from table1;

Does this make sense? I found it on an SQL tutorial, so not sure if it's perfect syntax for MySQL.

Is there a smarter way?

Thanks!

Lee

NogDog

Yes, it is valid syntax. As to whether or not there is a smarter way, I cannot answer that without knowing what you are trying to do.

Capoeirista

Okay, here's what I'm trying to do.

There's a big db table with a thousand entries or so that I'll call 'Live', and with a key set to auto-increment.

A bunch of interns have been building excel files of similar data to be added to the Live table. There are about 500 entries right now. My new employer wants them to be added about 25 per day to the big table. (today's my first day and I haven't used MySQL in a while and I've inherited a bit of a nest.) He's thinking it's a good idea to add them one at a time.

By hand.

Yech.

And it's only going to get bigger.

I want to write a script that will pull all of them from the text file into their own table called Pending, then add 25 by running a script every day that will pick up the next 25, put them in the Live table and delete them from the Pending table. So I'd like to write a script that I can point at a table and push run and then go make myself a cup of tea.

Once I have this running smoothly, I'd like to have three tables. Live, the big one; New, for records that are less than say, three weeks old; and Pending for those records pending live publication.

But that's a little ways away. My immediate goal is not to be entering these records by hand. That would just make me crabby. With the time I save, I can build the New, Live and Pending scheme.

Also, I've never made a script file for batch processing, but it seems the way to go here.