The Oracle update statement allows you to change the data inside a table.

Syntax

update
set
= where ;

If you do not specify a where clause, all rows in the table will be updated.

Permissions
You must have update privileges to update another schema’s table.

If you want to update through a view, the view’s owner needs to have
update permissions on the base table and you need update privileges on the view.

The ‘update any table’ privilege sidesteps the 2 requirements above by combining them in one privilege.

Examples

Let’s use table SCOTT.DEPT as our example table.

DEPTNO DNAME LOC
10 ACCOUNTING NEW YORK
20 RESEARCH DALLAS
30 SALES CHICAGO
40 OPERATIONS BOSTON

DEPT contains 3 columns (deptno, dname and loc) and 4 rows.

SQL> select * from dept;

DEPTNO DNAME LOC
———- ————– ————-
10 ACCOUNTING NEW YORK
20 RESEARCH DALLAS
30 SALES CHICAGO
40 OPERATIONS BOSTON

I want to update the location for department ‘SALES’ to ‘LONDON’.

SQL> update dept set loc = ‘LONDON’
where dname = ‘SALES’;

1 row updated.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> select * from dept;

DEPTNO DNAME LOC
———- ————– ————-
10 ACCOUNTING NEW YORK
20 RESEARCH DALLAS
30 SALES LONDON
40 OPERATIONS BOSTON

Let’s update 2 columns at the same time:

SQL> update dept set loc = ‘MIAMI’, deptno = 50
where dname = ‘SALES’;

1 row updated.

SQL> select * from dept;

DEPTNO DNAME LOC
———- ————– ————-
10 ACCOUNTING NEW YORK
20 RESEARCH DALLAS
50 SALES MIAMI
40 OPERATIONS BOSTON

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

Let’s use a function to change the value of the location column:

SQL> update dept set loc = lower(loc) ;

4 rows updated.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> select * from dept;

DEPTNO DNAME LOC
———- ————– ————-
10 ACCOUNTING new york
20 RESEARCH dallas
50 SALES miami
40 OPERATIONS boston

Lastly: do not forget to commit to make your changes permanent.

Recommended reading:

# Oracle Online Documentation: SQL Reference, Update statement