SQL UPDATE Statement

The UPDATE Statement is used to modify the existing rows in a table.


The Syntax for SQL UPDATE Command is:


UPDATE table_name

SET column_name1 = value1,

column_name2 = value2, ...

[WHERE condition]


table_name - the table name which has to be updated.

column_name1, column_name2.. - the columns that gets changed.

value1, value2... - are the new values.

NOTE:In the Update statement, WHERE clause identifies the rows that get affected. If you do not include the WHERE clause, column values for all the rows get affected.


For Example: To update the location of an employee, the sql update query would be like,


UPDATE employee

SET location ='Mysore'

WHERE id = 101;


To change the salaries of all the employees, the query would be,


UPDATE employee

SET salary = salary + (salary * 0.2);