Update multiple columns in SQL

sql sql-server sql-update

Joe · Jan 31, 2012 · Viewed 603.6k times · Source

Is there a way to update multiple columns in SQL server the same way an insert statement is used?

Something like:

Update table1 set (a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k)=
(t2.a,t2.b,t2.c,t2.d,t2.e,t2.f,t2.g,t2.h,t2.i,t2.j,t2.k)
from table2 t2
where table1.id=table2.id

Or something like that, rather than like so:

update table set a=t2.a,b=t2.b etc

which can be pretty tiresome to write if you have 100+ columns.

Answer

Try this:

UPDATE table1 
SET a = t2.a, b = t2.b, .......
FROM table2 t2
WHERE table1.id = t2.id

That should work in most SQL dialects, excluding Oracle.

And yes - it's a lot of typing - it's the way SQL does this.