NAME

       stilts-sqlupdate - Updates values in an SQL table

SYNOPSIS

       stilts sqlupdate [db=<jdbc-url>] [user=<value>] [password=<value>] [select=<select-stmt>]
                        [assign=<col>=<expr>] [progress=true|false]

DESCRIPTION

       sqlupdate  updates values in an existing table in an SQL database. The rows to update are specified, as a
       normal SELECT statement, using the select parameter. Each column to update, and the value to write to it,
       are given using the assign parameter.

       Why not just use the database's own UPDATE statement? In most cases, that would be a  much  better  idea.
       However,  using  sqlupdate you can write values using STILTS's expression language, and hence take advan‐
       tage of its various functions, without having to embed them into the database. SQL column  names  can  be
       used  as variables in these expressions, in the same way that table column names are used as variables in
       other commands such as tpipe.

       This command can only be used if you have access to an SQL database via JDBC. The details of how to  con‐
       figure  a  JDBC connection to a database are discussed in SUN/256 - obviously you will need a database to
       connect to and appropriate write permissions on it as well as the relevant drivers.

       This is a somewhat specialised command, and several (database/driver-specific) things can go  wrong  with
       it.  If  you do not have a fairly good understanding of the database with which you are using it then you
       may run into problems (but then you'd be unlikely to have the permissions to do the updates in any case).

OPTIONS

       db=<jdbc-url>
              URL which defines a connection to a database. This has the form jdbc:<subprotocol>:<subname> - the
              details are database- and driver-dependent. Consult Sun's JDBC documentation and that for the par‐
              ticular JDBC driver you are using for details. Note that the relevant driver class will need to be
              on your classpath and referenced in the jdbc.drivers system property as well for the connection to
              be made.

       user=<value>
              User name for logging in to SQL database. Defaults to the current username.

       password=<value>
              Password for logging in to SQL database.

       select=<select-stmt>
              Gives the full text (including "SELECT") of the SELECT statement to identify  which  rows  undergo
              updates.

       assign=<col>=<expr>
              Assigns  new  values for a given column. The assignment is made in the form <colname>=<expr> where
              <colname> is the name of a column in the SQL table and <expr> is the text of an  expression  using
              STILTS's  expression  language, as described in SUN/256. SQL table column names or $ID identifiers
              may be used as variables in the usual way.

              This parameter may be supplied more than once to effect multiple assignments, or multiple  assign‐
              ments may be made by separating them with semicolons in the value of this parameter.

       progress=true|false
              If  true, a spinner will be drawn on standard error which shows how many rows have been updated so
              far.

SEE ALSO

       stilts(1)

       If the package stilts-doc is installed, the full documentation SUN/256 is available in HTML format:
       file:///usr/share/doc/stilts/sun256/index.html

VERSION

       STILTS version 3.4.9-debian

       This is the Debian version of Stilts, which lack the support of some file formats and network  protocols.
       For differences see
       file:///usr/share/doc/stilts/README.Debian

AUTHOR

       Mark Taylor (Bristol University)

                                                    Mar 2017                                 STILTS-SQLUPDATE(1)