MySQL AUTO INCREMENT Field

What Is An AUTO INCREMENT Field?

Auto-increment allows a unique number to be generated automatically when a new record is inserted into a table.

Often this is the primary key field that we would like to be created automatically every time a new record is inserted.

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MySQL AUTO_INCREMENT Keyword

MySQL uses the AUTO_INCREMENT keyword to perform an auto-increment feature.

By default, the starting value for AUTO_INCREMENT is 1, and it will increment by 1 for each new record.

The following SQL statement defines the "Personid" column to be an auto-increment primary key field in the "Persons" table:
 

To let the AUTO_INCREMENT sequence start with another value, use the following SQL statement:
 
When we insert a new record into the "Persons" table, we do NOT have to specify a value for the "Personid" column (a unique value will be added automatically):
 
The SQL statement above would insert a new record into the "Persons" table. The "Personid" column would be assigned a unique value automatically. The "FirstName" column would be set to "Lars" and the "LastName" column would be set to "Monsen".
 

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