Jithendra Yenugula

013-sql-update-statements

5 min read

UPDATE statements in SQL

The UPDATE statement in SQL is used to modify the existing data in a table. It allows you to change one or more rows based on certain conditions.

Basic Syntax:

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2, ...
WHERE condition;
  • table_name: The name of the table in which you want to update the data.
  • SET: Specifies the columns to update and their new values.
  • WHERE: Defines the condition(s) that determine which rows are updated. If no WHERE clause is provided, all rows in the table will be updated.

Important: Always use the WHERE clause to avoid accidentally updating all rows in a table.

Examples and Scenarios

1. Updating a Single Column

You can update a single column for rows that meet a specific condition.

Scenario: Increase the salary of employees with a salary less than 40,000.

UPDATE Employees
SET salary = salary + 5000
WHERE salary < 40000;

2. Updating Multiple Columns

You can update multiple columns in a single query.

Scenario: Update both the salary and age of an employee with a specific id.

UPDATE Employees
SET salary = 60000, age = 35
WHERE id = 101;

3. Using UPDATE with Subqueries

You can use a subquery in the SET or WHERE clause to update rows based on data from another table or a calculation.

Scenario: Increase the salary of employees who earn less than the average salary in their department.

UPDATE Employees
SET salary = salary * 1.10
WHERE salary < (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM Employees);

4. Updating Rows Using a Join

You can update rows in one table based on conditions from another table by using JOIN in the UPDATE statement.

Scenario: Increase the salary of all employees in the “Finance” department by 10%.

UPDATE Employees e
SET e.salary = e.salary * 1.10
FROM Departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.id
AND d.department_name = 'Finance';

5. Conditional Updates with CASE

You can use CASE within an UPDATE statement to apply different updates based on certain conditions.

Scenario: Provide a 10% raise to employees in the “IT” department and a 5% raise to those in the “HR” department.

UPDATE Employees e
SET e.salary = CASE 
                 WHEN d.department_name = 'IT' THEN e.salary * 1.10
                 WHEN d.department_name = 'HR' THEN e.salary * 1.05
              END
FROM Departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.id
AND d.department_name IN ('IT', 'HR');

6. Updating All Rows in a Table

If no WHERE clause is specified, all rows in the table will be updated.

Scenario: Reset the performance bonus of all employees to zero.

UPDATE Employees
SET bonus = 0;

7. Updating with a LIMIT (Vendor-specific)

Some database systems (like MySQL) allow you to update a limited number of rows using the LIMIT clause.

Scenario: Update the salaries of the first 5 employees based on their hire date.

UPDATE Employees
SET salary = salary * 1.05
ORDER BY hire_date
LIMIT 5;

(Note: LIMIT is not standard SQL and may not work in some databases like PostgreSQL, but MySQL and some others support it. In PostgreSQL, there is no direct LIMIT support in an UPDATE statement.)

WITH cte AS (
    SELECT id
    FROM Employees
    ORDER BY hire_date
    LIMIT 5
)
UPDATE Employees
SET salary = salary * 1.05
WHERE id IN (SELECT id FROM cte);

8. Updating Data Using a Calculated Value

You can use calculations in the SET clause.

Scenario: Update the age column to reflect the actual age of employees, calculated from their birth year.

UPDATE Employees
SET age = YEAR(CURDATE()) - birth_year;

9. Updating Rows with NULL Values

You can target rows with NULL values and update them.

Scenario: Update the department_id to a default value (e.g., 999) for all employees who do not have a department assigned (NULL value).

UPDATE Employees
SET department_id = 999
WHERE department_id IS NULL;

10. Updating Based on Aggregates

You can update rows based on aggregate values calculated over a set of rows.

Scenario: Increase the salary of employees in departments with more than 10 employees by 5%.

UPDATE Employees
SET salary = salary * 1.05
WHERE department_id IN (
    SELECT department_id 
    FROM Employees
    GROUP BY department_id
    HAVING COUNT(*) > 10
);

Important Considerations for UPDATE Queries

  1. Transaction Management: For critical updates, always consider wrapping your UPDATE statement in a transaction. This allows you to rollback in case something goes wrong.

  2. Performance: Updating a large number of rows can be performance-intensive. If you need to update a massive dataset, consider breaking the update into smaller batches.

  3. Locking: The UPDATE statement will typically lock the rows being updated. Make sure that this won’t lead to deadlocks or other locking issues in a concurrent environment.

  4. Testing Before Running: It’s always a good idea to run a SELECT query with the same WHERE clause first to check which rows are affected before running the actual UPDATE.

  5. Backing Up Data: Especially when making significant updates, it is crucial to have a backup of the data in case something goes wrong.

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