Generating a range of numbers in MySQL

Question

How do I generate a range of consecutive numbers (one per line) from a MySQL query so that I can insert them into a table?

For example:

nr
1
2
3
4
5
         


        

Answer 1

Let's say you want to insert numbers 1 through 100 into your table. As long as you have some other table that has at least that many rows (doesn't matter the content of the table), then this is my preferred method:

INSERT INTO pivot100 
SELECT @ROW := @ROW + 1 AS ROW
 FROM someOtherTable t
 join (SELECT @ROW := 0) t2
 LIMIT 100
;

Want a range that starts with something other than 1? Just change what @ROW gets set to on the join.