Update (SQL)

An SQL UPDATE statement changes the data of one or more records in a table. Either all the rows can be updated, or a subset may be chosen using a condition.

The UPDATE statement has the following form:

:UPDATE ''table_name'' SET ''column_name'' = ''value'' ''column_name'' = ''value ...'' ''WHERE ''condition''
For the UPDATE to be successful, the user must have data manipulation privileges (UPDATE privilege) on the table or column and the updated value must not conflict with all the applicable constraints (such as primary keys, unique indexes, CHECK constraints, and NOT NULL constraints).

In some databases, such as PostgreSQL, when a FROM clause is present, what essentially happens is that the target table is joined to the tables mentioned in the fromlist, and each output row of the join represents an update operation for the target table. When using FROM, one should ensure that the join produces at most one output row for each row to be modified. In other words, a target row shouldn't join to more than one row from the other table(s). If it does, then only one of the join rows will be used to update the target row, but which one will be used is not readily predictable.

Because of this indeterminacy, referencing other tables only within sub-selects is safer, though often harder to read and slower than using a join.

MySQL does not conform to ANSI standard.

Examples

Set the value of column ''C1'' in table ''T'' to 1, only in those rows where the value of column ''C2'' is "a".

UPDATE T
SET C1 = 1
WHERE C2 = 'a'

In table ''T'', set the value of column ''C1'' to 9 and the value of ''C3'' to 4 for all rows for which the value of column ''C2'' is "a".

UPDATE T
SET C1 = 9,
C3 = 4
WHERE C2 = 'a'

Increase value of column ''C1'' by 1 if the value in column ''C2'' is "a".

UPDATE T
SET C1 = C1 + 1
WHERE C2 = 'a'

Prepend the value in column ''C1'' with the string "text" if the value in column ''C2'' is "a".

UPDATE T
SET C1 = 'text' , , C1
WHERE C2 = 'a'

Set the value of column ''C1'' in table ''T1'' to 2, only if the value of column ''C2'' is found in the sublist of values in column ''C3'' in table ''T2'' having the column ''C4'' equal to 0.

UPDATE T1
SET C1 = 2
WHERE C2 IN ( SELECT C3
FROM T2
WHERE C4 = 0)

One may also update multiple columns in a single update statement:

UPDATE T
SET C1 = 1,
C2 = 2

Complex conditions and JOINs are also possible:

UPDATE T
SET A = 1
WHERE C1 = 1
AND C2 = 2

Some databases allow the non-standard use of the FROM clause:

UPDATE a
SET a. pdated_column= updatevalue
FROM articles a
JOIN classification c
ON a.articleID = c.articleID
WHERE c.classID = 1

Or on Oracle systems (assuming there is an index on classification.articleID):

UPDATE
(
SELECT *
FROM articles
JOIN classification
ON articles.articleID = classification.articleID
WHERE classification.classID = 1
)
SET pdated_column= updatevalue

With long name of table:

UPDATE MyMainTable AS a
SET a.LName = Smith
WHERE a.PeopleID = 1235

Potential issues

* See Halloween Problem. It is possible for certain kinds of UPDATE statements to become an infinite loop when the WHERE clause and one or more SET clauses may utilize an intertwined index.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Update (Sql)
SQL keywords
Articles with example SQL code