The
UPDATE
statement changes the values of specified columns in one or more rows in a table or view. For a full description of the UPDATE
SQL statement, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.Syntax
update statement ::=
A subquery is a SQL query nested inside a larger query. A subquery may occur in: - A SELECT clause - A FROM clause - A WHERE clause; The subquery can be nested inside a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement or inside another subquery. A subquery is usually added within the WHERE Clause of another SQL SELECT statement.
Description of the illustration update_statement.gif
Keyword and Parameter Description
alias
Another (usually short) name for the referenced table or view, typically used in the
WHERE
clause.column_name
The column (or one of the columns) to be updated. It must be the name of a column in the referenced table or view. A column name cannot be repeated in the
column_name
list. Column names need not appear in the UPDATE
statement in the same order that they appear in the table or view.returning_clause
Returns values from updated rows, eliminating the need to
SELECT
the rows afterward. You can retrieve the column values into variables or host variables, or into collections or host arrays. You cannot use the RETURNING
clause for remote or parallel updates. If the statement does not affect any rows, the values of the variables specified in the RETURNING
clause are undefined. For the syntax of returning_clause
, see 'RETURNING INTO Clause'.SET column_name = sql_expression
This clause assigns the value of
sql_expression
to the column identified by column_name
. If sql_expression
contains references to columns in the table being updated, the references are resolved in the context of the current row. The old column values are used on the right side of the equal sign.SET column_name = (subquery3)
Assigns the value retrieved from the database by
subquery3
to the column identified by column_name
. The subquery must return exactly one row and one column.SET (column_name, column_name, ...) = (subquery4)
Assigns the values retrieved from the database by
subquery4
to the columns in the column_name
list. The subquery must return exactly one row that includes all the columns listed. The column values returned by the subquery are assigned to the columns in the column list in order. The first value is assigned to the first column in the list, the second value is assigned to the second column in the list, and so on.sql_expression
Any valid SQL expression. For more information, see Oracle Database SQL Reference.
subquery
A
SELECT
statement that provides a set of rows for processing. Its syntax is like that of select_into_statement
without the INTO
clause. See 'SELECT INTO Statement'.table_reference
A table or view that must be accessible when you execute the
UPDATE
statement, and for which you must have UPDATE
privileges. For the syntax of table_reference
, see 'DELETE Statement'.TABLE (subquery2)
The operand of
TABLE
is a SELECT
statement that returns a single column value, which must be a nested table or a varray. Operator TABLE
informs Oracle that the value is a collection, not a scalar value.WHERE CURRENT OF cursor_name
Refers to the latest row processed by the
FETCH
statement associated with the specified cursor. The cursor must be FOR
UPDATE
and must be open and positioned on a row. If the cursor is not open, the CURRENT
OF
clause causes an error. If the cursor is open, but no rows have been fetched or the last fetch returned no rows, PL/SQL raises the predefined exception NO_DATA_FOUND
.WHERE search_condition
Chooses which rows to update in the database table. Only rows that meet the search condition are updated. If you omit this clause, all rows in the table are updated.
Usage Notes
You can use the
UPDATE
WHERE
CURRENT
OF
statement after a fetch from an open cursor (including fetches done by a cursor FOR
loop), provided the associated query is FOR
UPDATE
. This statement updates the row that was just fetched.The implicit cursor
SQL
and the cursor attributes %NOTFOUND
, %FOUND
, %ROWCOUNT
, and %ISOPEN
let you access useful information about the execution of an UPDATE
statement.Examples
Example 13-7 creates a table with correct employee IDs but garbled names. Then it runs an
UPDATE
statement with a correlated query, to retrieve the correct names from the EMPLOYEES
table and fix the names in the new table.For examples, see the following:
Example 1-12, 'Creating a Stored Subprogram'
Example 4-1, 'Using a Simple IF-THEN Statement'
Example 5-51, 'Updating a Row Using a Record'
Example 5-52, 'Using the RETURNING Clause with a Record'
Example 6-1, 'Data Manipulation With PL/SQL'
Example 6-5, 'Using CURRVAL and NEXTVAL'
Example 6-6, 'Using ROWNUM'
Example 6-38, 'Using SAVEPOINT With ROLLBACK'
Example 6-41, 'Using CURRENT OF to Update the Latest Row Fetched From a Cursor'
Example 7-1, 'Examples of Dynamic SQL'
Example 7-5, 'Dynamic SQL with RETURNING BULK COLLECT INTO Clause'
Example 7-6, 'Dynamic SQL Inside FORALL Statement'
Example 11-6, 'Using Rollbacks With FORALL'
Example 11-9, 'Bulk Operation That Continues Despite Exceptions'
Related Topics
'Data Manipulation'
Oracle Update Statement With Subquery Number
'DELETE Statement'
Oracle Update Statement With Subquery Answers
'FETCH Statement''INSERT Statement'