Update table every 1000 rows - postgresql

Question

I am trying to do an update on a specific record every 1000 rows using Postgres. I am looking for a better way to do that. My function is described below:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_row()
RETURNS void AS
$BODY$
declare
myUID integer;
nRow integer;
maxUid integer;
BEGIN
nRow:=1000;
select max(uid_atm_inp) from tab into maxUid where field1 = '1240200';
loop
if (nRow > 1000 and nRow < maxUid) then
select uid from tab into myUID where field1 = '1240200' and uid >= nRow limit 1;
update tab
set field = 'xxx'
where field1 = '1240200' and uid = myUID;
nRow:=nRow+1000;
end if;
end loop;
END; $BODY$
LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE
How can I improve this procedure? I think there is something wrong. The loop does not end and takes too much time.

Answer 1

To perform this task in SQL, you could use the row_number window function and update only those rows where the number is divisible by 1000.
Your loop doesn't finish because there is no EXIT or RETURN in it.

Answer 2

I doubt you could ever rival the performance of a standard SQL update with a procedural loop. Instead of doing it a row at a time, just do it all as a single statement:
with t2 as (
select
uid, row_number() over (order by 1) as rn
from tab
where field1 = '1240200'
)
update tab t1
set field = 'xxx'
from t2
where
t1.uid = t2.uid and
mod (t2.rn, 1000) = 0
Per my comment, I am presupposing what you mean by "every 1000th row," as without some designation of how to determine what tuple is what row number. That is easily edited by changing the "order by" criteria.
Adding a second where clause on the update (t1.field1 = '1240200') can't hurt but might not be necessary if these are nested loop.
This might be notionally similar to what Laurenz has in mind.

Answer 3

I solved this way:
declare
myUID integer;
nRow integer;
rowNum integer;
checkrow integer;
myString varchar(272);
cur_check_row cursor for select uid , row_number() over (order by 1) as rn, substr(fieldxx,1,244)
from table where field1 = '1240200' and uid >= 1000 ORDER BY uid;
BEGIN
open cur_check_row;
loop
fetch cur_check_row into myUID, rowNum, myString;
EXIT WHEN NOT FOUND;
select mod(rowNum, 1000) into checkrow;
if checkrow = 0 then
update table
set fieldxx= myString||'O'
where uid in (myUID);
end if;
end loop;
close cur_check_row;