DEFAULT Definitions

Each column in a record must contain a value, even if that value is NULL. There may be situations when you must load a row of data into a table but you do not know the value for a column, or the value does not yet exist. If the column allows for null values, you can load the row with a null value. Because nullable columns may not be desirable, a better solution could be to define, where appropriate, a DEFAULT definition for the column. For example, it is common to specify zero as the default for numeric columns, or N/A as the default for string columns when no value is specified.

When you load a row into a table with a DEFAULT definition for a column, you implicitly instruct the Database Engine to insert a default value in the column when a value is not specified for it.

Note
You can also use the DEFAULT VALUES clause of the INSERT STATEMENT to explicitly instruct the Database Engine to insert a default value for a column.

If a column does not allow for null values and does not have a DEFAULT definition, you must explicitly specify a value for the column, or the Database Engine returns an error that states that the column does not allow null values.

The value inserted into a column that is defined by the combination of the DEFAULT definition and the nullability of the column can be summarized as shown in the following table.