12.9. Other Functions

Returns the first automatically generated value that was set for an AUTO_INCREMENT column by the most recent INSERT or UPDATE statement to affect such a column.

mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();
        -> 195

The ID that was generated is maintained in the server on a per-connection basis. This means that the value returned by the function to a given client is the first AUTO_INCREMENT value generated for most recent statement affecting an AUTO_INCREMENT column by that client. This value cannot be affected by other clients, even if they generate AUTO_INCREMENT values of their own. This behavior ensures that each client can retrieve its own ID without concern for the activity of other clients, and without the need for locks or transactions.

The value of LAST_INSERT_ID() is not changed if you set the AUTO_INCREMENT column of a row to a non-“magic” value (that is, a value that is not NULL and not 0).

Important: If you insert multiple rows using a single INSERT statement, LAST_INSERT_ID() returns the value generated for the first inserted row only. The reason for this is to make it possible to reproduce easily the same INSERT statement against some other server.

For example:

mysql> USE test;
Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE t (
    ->   id INT AUTO_INCREMENT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    ->   name VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL
    -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.09 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO t VALUES (NULL, 'Bob');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM t;
+----+------+
| id | name |
+----+------+
|  1 | Bob  |
+----+------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();
+------------------+
| LAST_INSERT_ID() |
+------------------+
|                1 |
+------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO t VALUES
    -> (NULL, 'Mary'), (NULL, 'Jane'), (NULL, 'Lisa');
Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> SELECT * FROM t;
+----+------+
| id | name |
+----+------+
|  1 | Bob  |
|  2 | Mary |
|  3 | Jane |
|  4 | Lisa |
+----+------+
4 rows in set (0.01 sec)

mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();
+------------------+
| LAST_INSERT_ID() |
+------------------+
|                2 |
+------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Although the second INSERT statement inserted three new rows into t, the ID generated for the first of these rows was 2, and it is this value that is returned by LAST_INSERT_ID() for the following SELECT statement.

If you use INSERT IGNORE and the row is ignored, the AUTO_INCREMENT counter is not incremented and LAST_INSERT_ID() returns 0, which reflects that no row was inserted.

If expr is given as an argument to LAST_INSERT_ID(), the value of the argument is returned by the function and is remembered as the next value to be returned by LAST_INSERT_ID(). This can be used to simulate sequences:

You can generate sequences without calling LAST_INSERT_ID(), but the utility of using the function this way is that the ID value is maintained in the server as the last automatically generated value. It is multi-user safe because multiple clients can issue the UPDATE statement and get their own sequence value with the SELECT statement (or mysql_insert_id()), without affecting or being affected by other clients that generate their own sequence values.

Note that mysql_insert_id() is only updated after INSERT and UPDATE statements, so you cannot use the C API function to retrieve the value for LAST_INSERT_ID(expr) after executing other SQL statements like SELECT or SET.