Postgresql – How to do an update + join in PostgreSQL

join;postgresqlsql-update

Basically, I want to do this:

update vehicles_vehicle v 
    join shipments_shipment s on v.shipment_id=s.id 
set v.price=s.price_per_vehicle;

I'm pretty sure that would work in MySQL (my background), but it doesn't seem to work in postgres. The error I get is:

ERROR:  syntax error at or near "join"
LINE 1: update vehicles_vehicle v join shipments_shipment s on v.shi...
                                  ^

Surely there's an easy way to do this, but I can't find the proper syntax. So, how would I write this In PostgreSQL?

Best Answer

The UPDATE syntax is:

[ WITH [ RECURSIVE ] with_query [, ...] ]
UPDATE [ ONLY ] table [ [ AS ] alias ]
    SET { column = { expression | DEFAULT } |
          ( column [, ...] ) = ( { expression | DEFAULT } [, ...] ) } [, ...]
    [ FROM from_list ]
    [ WHERE condition | WHERE CURRENT OF cursor_name ]
    [ RETURNING * | output_expression [ [ AS ] output_name ] [, ...] ]

In your case I think you want this:

UPDATE vehicles_vehicle AS v 
SET price = s.price_per_vehicle
FROM shipments_shipment AS s
WHERE v.shipment_id = s.id

Related Solutions

Sql – the difference between “INNER JOIN” and “OUTER JOIN”

Assuming you're joining on columns with no duplicates, which is a very common case:

An inner join of A and B gives the result of A intersect B, i.e. the inner part of a Venn diagram intersection.
An outer join of A and B gives the results of A union B, i.e. the outer parts of a Venn diagram union.

Examples

Suppose you have two tables, with a single column each, and data as follows:

Note that (1,2) are unique to A, (3,4) are common, and (5,6) are unique to B.

Inner join

An inner join using either of the equivalent queries gives the intersection of the two tables, i.e. the two rows they have in common.

select * from a INNER JOIN b on a.a = b.b;
select a.*, b.*  from a,b where a.a = b.b;

a | b
--+--
3 | 3
4 | 4

Left outer join

A left outer join will give all rows in A, plus any common rows in B.

select * from a LEFT OUTER JOIN b on a.a = b.b;
select a.*, b.*  from a,b where a.a = b.b(+);

a |  b
--+-----
1 | null
2 | null
3 |    3
4 |    4

Right outer join

A right outer join will give all rows in B, plus any common rows in A.

select * from a RIGHT OUTER JOIN b on a.a = b.b;
select a.*, b.*  from a,b where a.a(+) = b.b;

a    |  b
-----+----
3    |  3
4    |  4
null |  5
null |  6

Full outer join

A full outer join will give you the union of A and B, i.e. all the rows in A and all the rows in B. If something in A doesn't have a corresponding datum in B, then the B portion is null, and vice versa.

select * from a FULL OUTER JOIN b on a.a = b.b;

 a   |  b
-----+-----
   1 | null
   2 | null
   3 |    3
   4 |    4
null |    6
null |    5

PostgreSQL “DESCRIBE TABLE”

Try this (in the psql command-line tool):

\d+ tablename

See the manual for more info.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Sql – the difference between “INNER JOIN” and “OUTER JOIN”

PostgreSQL “DESCRIBE TABLE”

Related Topic