Error when duplicating rows and changing a value in SQL - postgresql

I know there are similar questions on SO but I wasn't able to find my exact use case. I am trying to duplicate some rows in a PostgreSQL table and change one value in them. For example, I have a table with three values and I want to grab a selection of rows based on the third value and copy them, then change the third value. Here's what I have so far:
INSERT INTO my_table ( val1, val2, val3 )
VALUES
(
( SELECT val1 FROM my_table WHERE val3 = '1' LIMIT 2, ( SELECT val2 FROM my_table WHERE val3 = '1' LIMIT 2), '2' )
I am getting an error that says "more than one row returned by a subquery used as an expression". Also, I would like to be able to test the solution with just a couple rows, so ideally I would be able to limit the SELECT statements to just a couple. Is this possible?

The VALUES keyword is used when you're inserting manual values into the table. If you want to insert based on a query, you skip that.
INSERT INTO my_table (val1, val2, val3)
SELECT val1, val2, '2'
FROM my_table
WHERE val3 = '1'
LIMIT 2;

Related

postgresql DO UPDATE ON CONFLICT with multiple constraints [duplicate]

I have two columns in table col1, col2, they both are unique indexed (col1 is unique and so is col2).
I need at insert into this table, use ON CONFLICT syntax and update other columns, but I can't use both column in conflict_targetclause.
It works:
INSERT INTO table
...
ON CONFLICT ( col1 )
DO UPDATE
SET
-- update needed columns here
But how to do this for several columns, something like this:
...
ON CONFLICT ( col1, col2 )
DO UPDATE
SET
....
ON CONFLICT requires a unique index* to do the conflict detection. So you just need to create a unique index on both columns:
t=# create table t (id integer, a text, b text);
CREATE TABLE
t=# create unique index idx_t_id_a on t (id, a);
CREATE INDEX
t=# insert into t values (1, 'a', 'foo');
INSERT 0 1
t=# insert into t values (1, 'a', 'bar') on conflict (id, a) do update set b = 'bar';
INSERT 0 1
t=# select * from t;
id | a | b
----+---+-----
1 | a | bar
* In addition to unique indexes, you can also use exclusion constraints. These are a bit more general than unique constraints. Suppose your table had columns for id and valid_time (and valid_time is a tsrange), and you wanted to allow duplicate ids, but not for overlapping time periods. A unique constraint won't help you, but with an exclusion constraint you can say "exclude new records if their id equals an old id and also their valid_time overlaps its valid_time."
A sample table and data
CREATE TABLE dupes(col1 int primary key, col2 int, col3 text,
CONSTRAINT col2_unique UNIQUE (col2)
);
INSERT INTO dupes values(1,1,'a'),(2,2,'b');
Reproducing the problem
INSERT INTO dupes values(3,2,'c')
ON CONFLICT (col1) DO UPDATE SET col3 = 'c', col2 = 2
Let's call this Q1. The result is
ERROR: duplicate key value violates unique constraint "col2_unique"
DETAIL: Key (col2)=(2) already exists.
What the documentation says
conflict_target can perform unique index inference. When performing
inference, it consists of one or more index_column_name columns and/or
index_expression expressions, and an optional index_predicate. All
table_name unique indexes that, without regard to order, contain
exactly the conflict_target-specified columns/expressions are inferred
(chosen) as arbiter indexes. If an index_predicate is specified, it
must, as a further requirement for inference, satisfy arbiter indexes.
This gives the impression that the following query should work, but it does not because it would actually require a together unique index on col1 and col2. However such an index would not guarantee that col1 and col2 would be unique individually which is one of the OP's requirements.
INSERT INTO dupes values(3,2,'c')
ON CONFLICT (col1,col2) DO UPDATE SET col3 = 'c', col2 = 2
Let's call this query Q2 (this fails with a syntax error)
Why?
Postgresql behaves this way is because what should happen when a conflict occurs on the second column is not well defined. There are number of possibilities. For example in the above Q1 query, should postgresql update col1 when there is a conflict on col2? But what if that leads to another conflict on col1? how is postgresql expected to handle that?
A solution
A solution is to combine ON CONFLICT with old fashioned UPSERT.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION merge_db(key1 INT, key2 INT, data TEXT) RETURNS VOID AS
$$
BEGIN
LOOP
-- first try to update the key
UPDATE dupes SET col3 = data WHERE col1 = key1 and col2 = key2;
IF found THEN
RETURN;
END IF;
-- not there, so try to insert the key
-- if someone else inserts the same key concurrently, or key2
-- already exists in col2,
-- we could get a unique-key failure
BEGIN
INSERT INTO dupes VALUES (key1, key2, data) ON CONFLICT (col1) DO UPDATE SET col3 = data;
RETURN;
EXCEPTION WHEN unique_violation THEN
BEGIN
INSERT INTO dupes VALUES (key1, key2, data) ON CONFLICT (col2) DO UPDATE SET col3 = data;
RETURN;
EXCEPTION WHEN unique_violation THEN
-- Do nothing, and loop to try the UPDATE again.
END;
END;
END LOOP;
END;
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
You would need to modify the logic of this stored function so that it updates the columns exactly the way you want it to. Invoke it like
SELECT merge_db(3,2,'c');
SELECT merge_db(1,2,'d');
In nowadays is (seems) impossible. Neither the last version of the ON CONFLICT syntax permits to repeat the clause, nor with CTE is possible: not is possible to breack the INSERT from ON CONFLICT to add more conflict-targets.
If you are using postgres 9.5, you can use the EXCLUDED space.
Example taken from What's new in PostgreSQL 9.5:
INSERT INTO user_logins (username, logins)
VALUES ('Naomi',1),('James',1)
ON CONFLICT (username)
DO UPDATE SET logins = user_logins.logins + EXCLUDED.logins;
Vlad got the right idea.
First you have to create a table unique constraint on the columns col1, col2 Then once you do that you can do the following:
INSERT INTO dupes values(3,2,'c')
ON CONFLICT ON CONSTRAINT dupes_pkey
DO UPDATE SET col3 = 'c', col2 = 2
ON CONFLICT ( col1, col2 )
DO UPDATE
SET
works fine. but you should not update col1, col2 in the SET section.
Create a constraint (foreign index, for example).
OR/AND
Look at existing constraints (\d in psq).
Use ON CONSTRAINT(constraint_name) in the INSERT clause.
You can typically (I would think) generate a statement with only one on conflict that specifies the one and only constraint that is of relevance, for the thing you are inserting.
Because typically, only one constraint is the "relevant" one, at a time. (If many, then I'm wondering if something is weird / oddly-designed, hmm.)
Example:
(License: Not CC0, only CC-By)
// there're these unique constraints:
// unique (site_id, people_id, page_id)
// unique (site_id, people_id, pages_in_whole_site)
// unique (site_id, people_id, pages_in_category_id)
// and only *one* of page-id, category-id, whole-site-true/false
// can be specified. So only one constraint is "active", at a time.
val thingColumnName = thingColumnName(notfificationPreference)
val insertStatement = s"""
insert into page_notf_prefs (
site_id,
people_id,
notf_level,
page_id,
pages_in_whole_site,
pages_in_category_id)
values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
-- There can be only one on-conflict clause.
on conflict (site_id, people_id, $thingColumnName) <—— look
do update set
notf_level = excluded.notf_level
"""
val values = List(
siteId.asAnyRef,
notfPref.peopleId.asAnyRef,
notfPref.notfLevel.toInt.asAnyRef,
// Only one of these is non-null:
notfPref.pageId.orNullVarchar,
if (notfPref.wholeSite) true.asAnyRef else NullBoolean,
notfPref.pagesInCategoryId.orNullInt)
runUpdateSingleRow(insertStatement, values)
And:
private def thingColumnName(notfPref: PageNotfPref): String =
if (notfPref.pageId.isDefined)
"page_id"
else if (notfPref.pagesInCategoryId.isDefined)
"pages_in_category_id"
else if (notfPref.wholeSite)
"pages_in_whole_site"
else
die("TyE2ABK057")
The on conflict clause is dynamically generated, depending on what I'm trying to do. If I'm inserting a notification preference, for a page — then there can be a unique conflict, on the site_id, people_id, page_id constraint. And if I'm configuring notification prefs, for a category — then instead I know that the constraint that can get violated, is site_id, people_id, category_id.
So I can, and fairly likely you too, in your case?, generate the correct on conflict (... columns ), because I know what I want to do, and then I know which single one of the many unique constraints, is the one that can get violated.
Kind of hacky but I solved this by concatenating the two values from col1 and col2 into a new column, col3 (kind of like an index of the two) and compared against that. This only works if you need it to match BOTH col1 and col2.
INSERT INTO table
...
ON CONFLICT ( col3 )
DO UPDATE
SET
-- update needed columns here
Where col3 = the concatenation of the values from col1 and col2.
I get I am late to the party but for the people looking for answers I found this:
here
INSERT INTO tbl_Employee
VALUES (6,'Noor')
ON CONFLICT (EmpID,EmpName)
DO NOTHING;
ON CONFLICT is very clumsy solution, run
UPDATE dupes SET key1=$1, key2=$2 where key3=$3
if rowcount > 0
INSERT dupes (key1, key2, key3) values ($1,$2,$3);
works on Oracle, Postgres and all other database

CTE based insert of multiple rows into "one-per-group" table violates unique index

I have a table where only one row per group can be true.
This is enforced by a partial unique index (which can't be deferred).
CREATE TABLE test
(
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
my_group INTEGER,
last BOOLEAN DEFAULT TRUE
);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX "test.last" ON test (my_group) WHERE last;
INSERT INTO test (my_group)
VALUES (1), (2);
I'm trying to insert a new row into this table that shall replace the "last" element of the corresponding group. I also want to accomplish this in a single statement.
With some CTE trickery I'm able to do this: link to Fiddle
-- the statement is structured this way to closely resemble my actual usecase
WITH
new_data AS (
VALUES (1)
),
uncheck_old_last AS (
UPDATE test
SET last = FALSE
WHERE last AND my_group in (SELECT * FROM new_data)
RETURNING TRUE
)
INSERT INTO test (my_group)
SELECT *
FROM new_data
WHERE COALESCE((SELECT * FROM uncheck_old_last LIMIT 1), true);
So far so good, the insert happens... no conflicts.
I don't quite understand why this is working as from my understanding all CTEs should read the same initial DB state and can't see the changes made by other CTEs
The problem is now that I get a unique violation when I try to do the same with multiple rows at once: Link to Fiddle
-- the statement is structured this way to closely resemble my actual usecase
WITH
new_data AS (
VALUES (1), (2) -- <- difference to above query
),
uncheck_old_last AS (
UPDATE test
SET last = FALSE
WHERE last AND my_group in (SELECT * FROM new_data)
RETURNING TRUE
)
INSERT INTO test (my_group)
SELECT *
FROM new_data
WHERE COALESCE((SELECT * FROM uncheck_old_last LIMIT 1), true);
-- Schema Error: error: duplicate key value violates unique constraint "test.last"
Is there any way to insert multiple rows with one statement /Can someone explain to me why the first query is working and the second isn't?
This was caused by PostgreSQL simplifying my always true clause:
WHERE COALESCE((SELECT * FROM uncheck_old_last LIMIT 1), true)
was supposed to create a dependency between the main query and the CTE to enforce execution order from the main query's point of view.
It broke with more than one entry because the limit 1 allowed PostgreSQL to ignore the second row, as only one was required for evaluation.
I fixed it by comparing COUNT(*) > -1 instead:
COALESCE((SELECT COUNT(*) FROM uncheck_old_last) > -1, true)

Copy rows into same table, but change value of one field

I have a list of values:
(56957,85697,56325,45698,21367,56397,14758,39656)
and a 'template' row in a table.
I want to do this:
for value in valuelist:
{
insert into table1 (field1, field2, field3, field4)
select value1, value2, value3, (value)
from table1
where ID = (ID of template row)
}
I know how I would do this in code, like c# for instance, but I'm not sure how to 'loop' this while passing in a new value to the insert statement. (i know that code makes no sense, just trying to convey what I'm trying to accomplish.
There is no need to loop here, SQL is a set based language and you apply your operations to entire sets of data all at once as opposed to looping through row by row.
insert statements can come from either an explicit list of values or from the result of a regular select statement, for example:
insert into table1(col1, col2)
select col3
,col4
from table2;
There is nothing stopping you selecting your data from the same place you are inserting to, which will duplicate all your data:
insert into table1(col1, col2)
select col1
,col2
from table1;
If you want to edit one of these column values - say by incrementing the value currently held, you simply apply this logic to your select statement and make sure the resultant dataset matches your target table in number of columns and data types:
insert into table1(col1, col2)
select col1
,col2+1 as col2
from table1;
Optionally, if you only want to do this for a subset of those values, just add a standard where clause:
insert into table1(col1, col2)
select col1
,col2+1 as col2
from table1
where col1 = <your value>;
Now if this isn't enough for you to work it out by yourself, you can join your dataset to you values list to get a version of the data to be inserted for each value in that list. Because you want each row to join to each value, you can use a cross join:
declare #v table(value int);
insert into #v values(56957),(85697),(56325),(45698),(21367),(56397),(14758),(39656);
insert into table1(col1, col2, value)
select t.col1
,t.col2
,v.value
from table1 as t
cross join #v as v

Use multiple conflict_target in ON CONFLICT clause

I have two columns in table col1, col2, they both are unique indexed (col1 is unique and so is col2).
I need at insert into this table, use ON CONFLICT syntax and update other columns, but I can't use both column in conflict_targetclause.
It works:
INSERT INTO table
...
ON CONFLICT ( col1 )
DO UPDATE
SET
-- update needed columns here
But how to do this for several columns, something like this:
...
ON CONFLICT ( col1, col2 )
DO UPDATE
SET
....
ON CONFLICT requires a unique index* to do the conflict detection. So you just need to create a unique index on both columns:
t=# create table t (id integer, a text, b text);
CREATE TABLE
t=# create unique index idx_t_id_a on t (id, a);
CREATE INDEX
t=# insert into t values (1, 'a', 'foo');
INSERT 0 1
t=# insert into t values (1, 'a', 'bar') on conflict (id, a) do update set b = 'bar';
INSERT 0 1
t=# select * from t;
id | a | b
----+---+-----
1 | a | bar
* In addition to unique indexes, you can also use exclusion constraints. These are a bit more general than unique constraints. Suppose your table had columns for id and valid_time (and valid_time is a tsrange), and you wanted to allow duplicate ids, but not for overlapping time periods. A unique constraint won't help you, but with an exclusion constraint you can say "exclude new records if their id equals an old id and also their valid_time overlaps its valid_time."
A sample table and data
CREATE TABLE dupes(col1 int primary key, col2 int, col3 text,
CONSTRAINT col2_unique UNIQUE (col2)
);
INSERT INTO dupes values(1,1,'a'),(2,2,'b');
Reproducing the problem
INSERT INTO dupes values(3,2,'c')
ON CONFLICT (col1) DO UPDATE SET col3 = 'c', col2 = 2
Let's call this Q1. The result is
ERROR: duplicate key value violates unique constraint "col2_unique"
DETAIL: Key (col2)=(2) already exists.
What the documentation says
conflict_target can perform unique index inference. When performing
inference, it consists of one or more index_column_name columns and/or
index_expression expressions, and an optional index_predicate. All
table_name unique indexes that, without regard to order, contain
exactly the conflict_target-specified columns/expressions are inferred
(chosen) as arbiter indexes. If an index_predicate is specified, it
must, as a further requirement for inference, satisfy arbiter indexes.
This gives the impression that the following query should work, but it does not because it would actually require a together unique index on col1 and col2. However such an index would not guarantee that col1 and col2 would be unique individually which is one of the OP's requirements.
INSERT INTO dupes values(3,2,'c')
ON CONFLICT (col1,col2) DO UPDATE SET col3 = 'c', col2 = 2
Let's call this query Q2 (this fails with a syntax error)
Why?
Postgresql behaves this way is because what should happen when a conflict occurs on the second column is not well defined. There are number of possibilities. For example in the above Q1 query, should postgresql update col1 when there is a conflict on col2? But what if that leads to another conflict on col1? how is postgresql expected to handle that?
A solution
A solution is to combine ON CONFLICT with old fashioned UPSERT.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION merge_db(key1 INT, key2 INT, data TEXT) RETURNS VOID AS
$$
BEGIN
LOOP
-- first try to update the key
UPDATE dupes SET col3 = data WHERE col1 = key1 and col2 = key2;
IF found THEN
RETURN;
END IF;
-- not there, so try to insert the key
-- if someone else inserts the same key concurrently, or key2
-- already exists in col2,
-- we could get a unique-key failure
BEGIN
INSERT INTO dupes VALUES (key1, key2, data) ON CONFLICT (col1) DO UPDATE SET col3 = data;
RETURN;
EXCEPTION WHEN unique_violation THEN
BEGIN
INSERT INTO dupes VALUES (key1, key2, data) ON CONFLICT (col2) DO UPDATE SET col3 = data;
RETURN;
EXCEPTION WHEN unique_violation THEN
-- Do nothing, and loop to try the UPDATE again.
END;
END;
END LOOP;
END;
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
You would need to modify the logic of this stored function so that it updates the columns exactly the way you want it to. Invoke it like
SELECT merge_db(3,2,'c');
SELECT merge_db(1,2,'d');
In nowadays is (seems) impossible. Neither the last version of the ON CONFLICT syntax permits to repeat the clause, nor with CTE is possible: not is possible to breack the INSERT from ON CONFLICT to add more conflict-targets.
If you are using postgres 9.5, you can use the EXCLUDED space.
Example taken from What's new in PostgreSQL 9.5:
INSERT INTO user_logins (username, logins)
VALUES ('Naomi',1),('James',1)
ON CONFLICT (username)
DO UPDATE SET logins = user_logins.logins + EXCLUDED.logins;
Vlad got the right idea.
First you have to create a table unique constraint on the columns col1, col2 Then once you do that you can do the following:
INSERT INTO dupes values(3,2,'c')
ON CONFLICT ON CONSTRAINT dupes_pkey
DO UPDATE SET col3 = 'c', col2 = 2
ON CONFLICT ( col1, col2 )
DO UPDATE
SET
works fine. but you should not update col1, col2 in the SET section.
Create a constraint (foreign index, for example).
OR/AND
Look at existing constraints (\d in psq).
Use ON CONSTRAINT(constraint_name) in the INSERT clause.
You can typically (I would think) generate a statement with only one on conflict that specifies the one and only constraint that is of relevance, for the thing you are inserting.
Because typically, only one constraint is the "relevant" one, at a time. (If many, then I'm wondering if something is weird / oddly-designed, hmm.)
Example:
(License: Not CC0, only CC-By)
// there're these unique constraints:
// unique (site_id, people_id, page_id)
// unique (site_id, people_id, pages_in_whole_site)
// unique (site_id, people_id, pages_in_category_id)
// and only *one* of page-id, category-id, whole-site-true/false
// can be specified. So only one constraint is "active", at a time.
val thingColumnName = thingColumnName(notfificationPreference)
val insertStatement = s"""
insert into page_notf_prefs (
site_id,
people_id,
notf_level,
page_id,
pages_in_whole_site,
pages_in_category_id)
values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
-- There can be only one on-conflict clause.
on conflict (site_id, people_id, $thingColumnName) <—— look
do update set
notf_level = excluded.notf_level
"""
val values = List(
siteId.asAnyRef,
notfPref.peopleId.asAnyRef,
notfPref.notfLevel.toInt.asAnyRef,
// Only one of these is non-null:
notfPref.pageId.orNullVarchar,
if (notfPref.wholeSite) true.asAnyRef else NullBoolean,
notfPref.pagesInCategoryId.orNullInt)
runUpdateSingleRow(insertStatement, values)
And:
private def thingColumnName(notfPref: PageNotfPref): String =
if (notfPref.pageId.isDefined)
"page_id"
else if (notfPref.pagesInCategoryId.isDefined)
"pages_in_category_id"
else if (notfPref.wholeSite)
"pages_in_whole_site"
else
die("TyE2ABK057")
The on conflict clause is dynamically generated, depending on what I'm trying to do. If I'm inserting a notification preference, for a page — then there can be a unique conflict, on the site_id, people_id, page_id constraint. And if I'm configuring notification prefs, for a category — then instead I know that the constraint that can get violated, is site_id, people_id, category_id.
So I can, and fairly likely you too, in your case?, generate the correct on conflict (... columns ), because I know what I want to do, and then I know which single one of the many unique constraints, is the one that can get violated.
Kind of hacky but I solved this by concatenating the two values from col1 and col2 into a new column, col3 (kind of like an index of the two) and compared against that. This only works if you need it to match BOTH col1 and col2.
INSERT INTO table
...
ON CONFLICT ( col3 )
DO UPDATE
SET
-- update needed columns here
Where col3 = the concatenation of the values from col1 and col2.
I get I am late to the party but for the people looking for answers I found this:
here
INSERT INTO tbl_Employee
VALUES (6,'Noor')
ON CONFLICT (EmpID,EmpName)
DO NOTHING;
ON CONFLICT is very clumsy solution, run
UPDATE dupes SET key1=$1, key2=$2 where key3=$3
if rowcount > 0
INSERT dupes (key1, key2, key3) values ($1,$2,$3);
works on Oracle, Postgres and all other database

How to insert default values in SQL table?

I have a table like this:
create table1 (field1 int,
field2 int default 5557,
field3 int default 1337,
field4 int default 1337)
I want to insert a row which has the default values for field2 and field4.
I've tried insert into table1 values (5,null,10,null) but it doesn't work and ISNULL(field2,default) doesn't work either.
How can I tell the database to use the default value for the column when I insert a row?
Best practice it to list your columns so you're independent of table changes (new column or column order etc)
insert into table1 (field1, field3) values (5,10)
However, if you don't want to do this, use the DEFAULT keyword
insert into table1 values (5, DEFAULT, 10, DEFAULT)
Just don't include the columns that you want to use the default value for in your insert statement. For instance:
INSERT INTO table1 (field1, field3) VALUES (5, 10);
...will take the default values for field2 and field4, and assign 5 to field1 and 10 to field3.
This works if all the columns have associated defaults and one does not want to specify the column names:
insert into your_table
default values
Try it like this
INSERT INTO table1 (field1, field3) VALUES (5,10)
Then field2 and field4 should have default values.
I had a case where I had a very simple table, and I basically just wanted an extra row with just the default values. Not sure if there is a prettier way of doing it, but here's one way:
This sets every column in the new row to its default value:
INSERT INTO your_table VALUES ()
Note: This is extra useful for MySQL where INSERT INTO your_table DEFAULT VALUES does not work.
If your columns should not contain NULL values, you need to define the columns as NOT NULL as well, otherwise the passed in NULL will be used instead of the default and not produce an error.
If you don't pass in any value to these fields (which requires you to specify the fields that you do want to use), the defaults will be used:
INSERT INTO
table1 (field1, field3)
VALUES (5,10)
You can write in this way
GO
ALTER TABLE Table_name ADD
column_name decimal(18, 2) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT Constant_name DEFAULT 0
GO
ALTER TABLE Table_name SET (LOCK_ESCALATION = TABLE)
GO
COMMIT
To insert the default values you should omit them something like this :
Insert into Table (Field2) values(5)
All other fields will have null or their default values if it has defined.
CREATE TABLE #dum (id int identity(1,1) primary key, def int NOT NULL default(5), name varchar(25))
-- this works
INSERT #dum (def, name) VALUES (DEFAULT, 'jeff')
SELECT * FROM #dum;
DECLARE #some int
-- this *doesn't* work and I think it should
INSERT #dum (def, name)
VALUES (ISNULL(#some, DEFAULT), 'george')
SELECT * FROM #dum;
CREATE PROC SP_EMPLOYEE --By Using TYPE parameter and CASE in Stored procedure
(#TYPE INT)
AS
BEGIN
IF #TYPE=1
BEGIN
SELECT DESIGID,DESIGNAME FROM GP_DESIGNATION
END
IF #TYPE=2
BEGIN
SELECT ID,NAME,DESIGNAME,
case D.ISACTIVE when 'Y' then 'ISACTIVE' when 'N' then 'INACTIVE' else 'not' end as ACTIVE
FROM GP_EMPLOYEEDETAILS ED
JOIN GP_DESIGNATION D ON ED.DESIGNATION=D.DESIGID
END
END