Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the MySQL REPLACE statement to insert or update data in database tables.
Introduction to MySQL REPLACE statement
The MySQL REPLACE
statement is a MySQL extension to the SQL standard. The MySQL REPLACE
statement works like the INSERT statement with the additional rules:
If the record which you want to insert does not exist, the MySQL
REPLACE
inserts a new record.If the record which you want to insert already exists, MySQL
REPLACE
deletes the old record first and then insert a new record.
In order to use MySQL REPLACE
statement, you need to have at least both INSERT
and DELETE
privileges.
Please don’t confuse the REPLACE
statement with the REPLACE string function.
MySQL REPLACE statements
MySQL REPLACE INTO statement
The first form of the REPLACE
statement is similar to the INSERT
statement except the keyword INSERT
is replaced by the REPLACE
keyword as follows:
REPLACE INTO table_name(column_name1,column_name2,…) VALUES(value1,value2,…)
For example, if you want to insert a new office into the offices
table, you use the following query:
REPLACE INTO offices(officecode,city) VALUES(8,'San Jose')
Notice that the default values of of the columns that does not appear in the REPLACE
statement will be inserted to the corresponding columns.
If you want to update the office that we have inserted with the new city San Mateo
, you can use the REPLACE
statement as follows:
REPLACE INTO offices(officecode,city) VALUES(8,'San Mateo')
Two rows affected by the query above because the existing record was deleted and the new one was inserted.
MySQL REPLACE acts like UPDATE statement
The second form of MySQL REPLACE
like the UPDATE
statement as follows:
REPLACE INTO table_name SET column_name1 = value1 AND column2 = value2
Notice that there is no WHERE clause in the REPLACE
statement. For example, if you want to update the office in San Mateo
city with officecode
value 8
, you use the REPLACE
statement as follows:
REPLACE INTO offices SET officecode = 8 and city = 'Santa Cruz'
MySQL REPLACE INTO with SELECT statement
The third form of REPLACE
is similar to INSERT INTO SELECT statement:
REPLACE INTO table_name1(column_name1,column_name2,…) SELECT column_name1, column_name2… FROM table_name2 WHERE where_condition
Suppose if you want to copy the office
with officecode
value 1, you use the REPLACE INTO SELECT
statement as the following query:
REPLACE INTO offices(officecode, city, phone, addressline1, addressline2, state, country, postalcode, territory) SELECT (SELECT MAX(officecode) + 1 FROM offices), city, phone, addressline1, addressline2, state, country, postalcode, territory FROM offices WHERE officecode = 1
MySQL REPLACE usages
There are several important points you need to know when you use the REPLACE
statement:
If you are developing an application that potentially supports not only MySQL database, try to avoid using the
REPLACE
statement because other database management systems may not support theREPLACE
statement. Instead, you can use the combination of the INSERT and DELETE statements.If you are using the
REPLACE
statement in the table that has triggers and if the deletion of duplicate key happens, the triggers will be fired in the following sequence:BEFORE INSERT
,BEFORE DELETE
,AFTER DELETE
,AFTER INSERT
.You should use the UPDATE statement in case you want to update data because it performs faster than the
REPLACE
statement.
In this tutorial, you’ve learned different forms of MySQL REPLACE statement to insert or update data in database tables.