Index for Section 5

Alphabetical listing for U

Bottom of page

UPDATE(5)
NAME
  UPDATE - update rows of a table

SYNOPSIS
  UPDATE [ ONLY ] table SET col = expression [, ...]
      [ FROM fromlist ]
      [ WHERE condition ]

  INPUTS

  table
       The name of an existing table.

  column
       The name of a column in table.

  expression
       A valid expression or value to assign to column.

  fromlist
       A PostgreSQL non-standard extension to allow columns from other tables
       to appear in the WHERE condition.

  condition
       Refer to the SELECT statement for a further description of the WHERE
       clause.

  OUTPUTS

  UPDATE #
       Message returned if successful.	The # means the number of rows
       updated.	 If # is 0 no rows are updated.

DESCRIPTION
  UPDATE changes the values of the columns specified for all rows which
  satisfy condition. Only the columns to be modified need appear as columns
  in the statement.

  Array references use the same syntax found in SELECT [select(5)].  That is,
  either single array elements, a range of array elements or the entire array
  may be replaced with a single query.

  You must have write access to the table in order to modify it, as well as
  read access to any table whose values are mentioned in the WHERE condition.

  By default UPDATE will update tuples in the table specified and all its
  sub-tables. If you wish to only update the specific table mentioned, you
  should use the ONLY clause.

USAGE
  Change word Drama with Dramatic on column kind:

  UPDATE films
  SET kind = 'Dramatic'
  WHERE kind = 'Drama';
  SELECT *
  FROM films
  WHERE kind = 'Dramatic' OR kind = 'Drama';

   code	 |     title	 | did | date_prod  |	kind   | len
  -------+---------------+-----+------------+----------+-------
   BL101 | The Third Man | 101 | 1949-12-23 | Dramatic | 01:44
   P_302 | Becket	 | 103 | 1964-02-03 | Dramatic | 02:28
   M_401 | War and Peace | 104 | 1967-02-12 | Dramatic | 05:57
   T_601 | Yojimbo	 | 106 | 1961-06-16 | Dramatic | 01:50
   DA101 | Das Boot	 | 110 | 1981-11-11 | Dramatic | 02:29

COMPATIBILITY
  SQL92

  SQL92 defines a different syntax for the positioned UPDATE statement:

  UPDATE table SET column = expression [, ...]
      WHERE CURRENT OF cursor

  where cursor identifies an open cursor.

Index for Section 5

Alphabetical listing for U

Top of page