How to insert more than one row of data into a table at one time

Question

I would like to populate a custom table, with more than one row of data at one time. If I delete the second array, it will insert one row of data. It won't add both rows at the same time though. How do I insert both rows at the same time? My code:

function mp_install_name_data() {
    global $wpdb;
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . "names";

    $wpdb->insert(
        $table_name,
        array(
            'id' => '1',
            'name' => 'matt',
            'age' => '20',
            'point_one' => '0.45',
            'point_two' => '0.22'     
        ),

         array(
            'id' => '2',
            'name' =>'james',
            'age' => '6',
            'point_one' => '0.27',
            'point_two' => '0.17'  
        )
    );  

         }

Answer 1

You could use a foreach loop -

function mp_install_name_data() {
    global $wpdb;
    $table_name = $wpdb->prefix . "names";

    $rows = array(
        array(
            'id' => '1',
            'name' => 'matt',
            'age' => '20',
            'point_one' => '0.45',
            'point_two' => '0.22'     
        ),
        array(
            'id' => '2',
            'name' =>'james',
            'age' => '6',
            'point_one' => '0.27',
            'point_two' => '0.17'  
        )
    );

    foreach( $rows as $row )
    {
        $wpdb->insert( $table_name, $row);  
    }
}

Answer 2

You can't insert more than one row using one call to $wpdb->insert, however you can use $wpdb to perform a raw sql query with $wpdb->query.

For MySQL syntax see docs.

Remember to use $wpdb->prepare to escape data before inserting.

$wpdb->query( $wpdb->prepare(
  "INSERT INTO $table_name (id, name, age, point_one, point_two)
  VALUES (%d, %s, %d, %s, %s), (%d, %s, %d, %s, %s);"
), 1, 'matt', 20, '0.45', '0.22', 2, 'james', 6, '0.27', '0.17', );

Tip: if you setup the id column to be AUTOINCREMENT you don't need to pass the id, it will be added automatically

Answer 3

If you are concerned by performance, you should consider adding the START TRANSACTION and COMMIT instructions:

mysql_query('START TRANSACTION');
$res1 = mysql_query('query1');
$res2 = mysql_query('query2');
If ( $res1 && $res2 )
    mysql_query('COMMIT');