Ask the Expert

Getting the autonumber value

How do you get the autonumber after an insert?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

The easiest way to get the AUTO_INCREMENT value produced by an INSERT statement is to use the LAST_INSERT_ID() function.

Here's an example: 

INSERT INTO mytable(col1, col2) VALUES(NULL, 'This is a test');

#We insert a NULL into col1 as in this example col1 is an AUTO_INCREMENT column.

INSERT INTO myOtherTable(colA, colB) VALUES(LAST_INSERT_ID(), 'Another Test');
This will insert the value that was auto-generated into the second table. LAST_INSERT_ID() is connection-specific, meaning that you do not have to worry about other users making INSERTs before you can retrieve the value. It will always return the last AUTO_INCREMENT value generated by your session.

For More Information


This was first published in May 2004

Join the conversationComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.
    Back to top