shin
shin

Reputation: 32721

What are differences between INSERT and UPDATE in MySQL?

It seems INSERT and UPDATE do the same things to me.

Is there any occasions where I should use INSERT instead of UPDATE and vice versa?

Upvotes: 38

Views: 75598

Answers (6)

dsa
dsa

Reputation: 35

An UPDATE statement can use a WHERE clause but INSERT cannot.

Upvotes: 1

Niraj
Niraj

Reputation: 1

Insert can be useful to insert new record in BLANK row. While Update can be used to update row which is NOT BLANK.

Upvotes: -1

user3162187
user3162187

Reputation: 11

Insert is for putting in a fresh record to the table. while the update enables you to modify the inserted record e.g. modifying data type etc.

Upvotes: 1

Daniel Vassallo
Daniel Vassallo

Reputation: 344431

In CRUD operations, the INSERT is the 'C' and the UPDATEis the 'U'. They are two of the four basic functions of persistent storage. The other two are SELECT and DELETE. Without at least these four operations, a typical database system cannot be considered complete.

Use INSERT to insert a new record.

Use UPDATE to update an existing record.

Upvotes: 53

Michael
Michael

Reputation: 1706

Insert is for adding data to the table, update is for updating data that is already in the table.

Upvotes: 4

slebetman
slebetman

Reputation: 113964

You cannot UPDATE a row that's not in a table.

You cannot INSERT a row that's already in a table.

Upvotes: 52

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