Redshift INSERT INTO TABLE from CTE

18
votes

According to the Redshift WITH Clause documentation, you can use a WITH clause with a INSERT INTO...SELECT statement. However when testing this, I am getting the below error. Is this not possible, or do I have the syntax wrong?

CREATE TABLE TestCTEInsert (SomeTimestamp TIMESTAMP);
WITH CTE AS
(SELECT GETDATE() as SomeTimestamp)
INSERT INTO TestCTEInsert
    (SomeTimestamp) SELECT SomeTimestamp from CTE;

ERROR: 42601: syntax error at or near "insert"

Interestingly, it does support inserting into a new table i.e.

WITH CTE AS
(SELECT GETDATE() as SomeTimestamp)
INSERT SomeTimestamp INTO NewTable 
SELECT SomeTimestamp from CTE;

The command completed successfully (1 rows affected)

EDIT: Just to confirm, I get the same error when using an INTEGER column rather than TIMESTAMP: 

CREATE TABLE TestCTE (SomeInt INTEGER);
WITH CTE AS
(SELECT 1 as SomeInt)
INSERT INTO TestCTEInsert 
SELECT SomeInt from CTE;

ERROR: 42601: syntax error at or near "insert"

4
sqlamazon-web-servicescommon-table-expressionamazon-redshift
try removing (SomeTimestamp) in the insert - sagi
Thanks for your suggestion. This returns the same error: ERROR: 42601: syntax error at or near "insert" - fez
As far as i know, you cannot insert an explicit value into a timestamp column. - Akshey Bhat
Thanks @AksheyBhat but I don't think this is the problem here. I recreated this with an integer column rather than timestamp and got the same error message. - fez
The ; goes at the end of a statement not somewhere in the middle. - a_horse_with_no_name

4 Answers

37
votes

Try putting the CTE in the insert (not sure if that beats the point)

INSERT INTO TestCTEInsert
WITH CTE AS
(SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP as SomeTimestamp)
SELECT SomeTimestamp from CTE;
7
votes

The ; terminates a statement, so it needs to go at the end of the statement, not somewhere in the middle:

You can do this in two ways, either use a create table as select

create table TestCTEInsert 
as
WITH CTE AS
(  
   SELECT current_timestamp as SomeTimestamp
)
SELECT SomeTimestamp 
from CTE; -- ; only at the end

Or in two steps:

CREATE TABLE TestCTEInsert (SomeTimestamp TIMESTAMP); -- end this with a ;

insert into TestCTEInsert
WITH CTE AS
(  
   SELECT current_timestamp as SomeTimestamp
)
SELECT SomeTimestamp 
from CTE; -- ; only at the end

The above runs on a vanilla Postgres installation, I don't have access to RDS

2
votes

Change your script to this 

  CREATE TABLE TestCTE (SomeInt INTEGER)
  WITH CTE AS (SELECT 1 as SomeInt) 
  INSERT INTO TestCTE  SELECT SomeInt from CTE;
1
votes

Try this

 CREATE TABLE TestCTE (SomeInt INTEGER)
;WITH CTE AS
(SELECT 1 as SomeInt)
INSERT (SomeInt) INTO TestCTE
SELECT SomeInt FROM CTE;