Comments on: MySQL: Update Multiple Rows or Records with One Single Query

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:52:53 +0000

Here’s a much more efficient MySQL-flavored solution:

INSERT INTO tbl_name
(pk_cols, update_cols)
VALUES
(pk_vals, update_vals),
…
(pk_vals, update_vals)
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE
update_col=VALUES(update_col),
…
update_col=VALUES(update_col);

OPTIMIZE TABLE tbl_name;

Example as per article:
INSERT INTO categories
(id, display_order, title)
VALUES
(1, 3, ‘New Title 1′),
(2, 4, ‘New Title 2′),
(3, 5, ‘New Title 3′)
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE
display_order=VALUES(display_order),
title=VALUES(title);

OPTIMIZE TABLE tbl_name;

The advantage of this solution is that it’s driven by the indexing of the primary keys, on which a CASE cannot rely. The OPTIMIZE TABLE part is only advantageous when updating variable-length cells (i.e. VARCHAR, VARBINARY, BLOB, or TEXT). For multiple-column primary keys, you simply specify all of them in the statement.

By: Col SC Sood (Retd)

Col SC Sood (Retd) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:57:15 +0000

I used
UPDATE `table_name` SET `field_name` = CASE `id`
WHEN ’1′ THEN ‘value_1′
WHEN ’2′ THEN ‘value_2′
WHEN ’3′ THEN ‘value_3′
ELSE `field_name`
END

I am thrilled! Thanks a lot!!

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:28:39 +0000

As an alternative to an ELSE value, you can provide a WHERE clause:

UPDATE `table` SET `col` = CASE `id`
WHEN 1 THEN ‘one’
WHEN 2 THEN ‘two’
WHEN 3 THEN ‘three’
END
WHERE `id` IN (1, 2, 3)

Same result but without doing a no-op update no rows you don’t care about.

By: vaibhav

vaibhav — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:49:09 +0000

no one is better user oracle 10i

By: Yang Yang

Yang Yang — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:34:53 +0000

The SQL is added at the end of the article.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:34:22 +0000

Have you benchmarked the CASE statement to see if it is actually better than the temporary table solution?

I’d also be interested in how both solutions compare to just doing an INSERT ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE.

By: JavaGenious

JavaGenious — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:51:45 +0000

Thanks for the info.

Can we write a single MySQL query to update multiple ID’s inside the same table?

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:27:33 +0000

Sorry I’m a bit lost here – is your update method using CASE part of the original method (eg: creating a temporary table, inserting first) or is that a way to avoid a temporary table all together? Could you please provide the structure of the options table? Thanks a lot, I would appreciate it.

By: Yang Yang

Yang Yang — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:07:45 +0000

I think either type is fine with this approach.

By: Colin Bodkin

Colin Bodkin — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:11:04 +0000

I am using MySQL 5.0. Do the databases need to be of a certain type (MyISAM, InnoDB) for this to work?

By: cheers!!!!!

cheers!!!!! — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:43:40 +0000

we have been fighting the slow sql update problem for days now,

your solution was quick to implement and works like a charm.

thanks!!!!

By: AgDude

AgDude — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:29:25 +0000

Excellent Tip! It seems really simple now that I see it, but I have been using a lot of slow loops for a long time. Thanks.

By: Marty Jongepier

Marty Jongepier — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:18:26 +0000

Excellent! Took me long to find this, have been pulling my hair out for days until I found this! Thank you!

By: Yang Yang

Yang Yang — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:53:54 +0000

Nice!

By: charles caadlawon

charles caadlawon — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:38:10 +0000

hello i want to ask if how can i able to update one single row in different tables. i use php and mysql as my repository