Insert into when number of columns don't match number of values

Question

I have an insert sql statement, e.g.

INSERT INTO `table_a` (`col_a`, `col_b`, `col_c`, `col_d`) VALUES
(1, 2, 3, 4),
(2, 1, 6, 9),
(3, 1, 4, 5)

I want to insert this into another table, however the table I want to insert it into has a different structure to that of the sql statement (it has fewer fields) e.g.

table_b has columns 'col_a', 'col_b', 'col_d'

What do I have to do to the original sql statment so that I can get it to insert it into table_b. I guess it would be something along the lines of just ignoring the value which is in col_c and just sending this to a temp variable rather than a field.e.g.

INSERT INTO `table_b` (`col_a`, `col_b`, @temp_var, `col_d`) VALUES
(1, 2, 3, 4),
(2, 1, 6, 9),
(3, 1, 4, 5)

Answer 1

Use a temporary table:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE myTemp (
col_a integer,
col_b integer,
col_c integer,
col_d integer
);
INSERT INTO myTemp (col_a, col_b, col_c, col_d) VALUES (1, 2, 3, 4), (2, 1, 6, 9), (3, 1, 4, 5);
INSERT INTO table_a (SELECT col_a,col_b,col_d FROM myTemp);

The table gets dropped once your session ends (or you can remove it manually)