mysql> CREATE TABLE account (acct_num INT, amount DECIMAL(10,2));

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.03 sec)

mysql> CREATE TRIGGER ins_sum BEFORE INSERT ON account

    -> FOR EACH ROW SET @sum = @sum + NEW.amount;

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.06 sec)

• The keyword BEFORE indicates the trigger action time. In this case, the trigger activates before each row inserted into the table. The other permitted keyword here is AFTER.

• The keyword INSERT indicates the trigger event; that is, the type of operation that activates the trigger. In the example, INSERT operations cause trigger activation. You can also create triggers for DELETE and UPDATE operations.

• The statement following FOR EACH ROW defines the trigger body; that is, the statement to execute each time the trigger activates, which occurs once for each row affected by the triggering event. In the example, the trigger body is a simple SET that accumulates into a user variable the values inserted into the amount column. The statement refers to the column as NEW.amount which means “the value of theamount column to be inserted into the new row.”