How to insert N rows of default values into a table

Question

I have a table containing an identity column as well as a column representing the creation date:

CREATE TABLE dbo.OrderStatus
(
    OrderStatusId int IDENTIT         


        

Answer 1

You can use your original definition and just use a while loop, for example

DECLARE  @OrderStatus TABLE
(
    OrderStatusId int IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL,
    CreationDate datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT GETDATE()
    --CONSTRAINT PK_OrderStatus PRIMARY KEY(OrderStatusId) -- this can be uncommented if creating a real table.
)


DECLARE @i int = 0;

WHILE @i < 100 -- insert 100 rows.  change this value to whatever you want.
BEGIN

INSERT @OrderStatus DEFAULT VALUES
SET @i = @i + 1;

END

SELECT * FROM @OrderStatus

Here's how to do it using a recursive CTE:

;with cteNums(n) AS
(
    SELECT 1
    UNION ALL
    SELECT n + 1
    FROM cteNums WHERE n < 100 -- how many times to iterate
)
INSERT @OrderStatus 
SELECT * FROM cteNums

Just note that for the CTE you'd have to specify OPTION(MAXRECURSION ...) if it's greater than 100. Also note that even though you're selecting a list of numbers from the CTE, they don't actually get inserted into the table.