No REAL easy way to do this. Lots of ideas out there, though.
Best one I've found:
SELECT table_name, LEFT(column_names , LEN(column_names )-1) AS column_names
FROM information_schema.columns AS extern
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT column_name + ','
FROM information_schema.columns AS intern
WHERE extern.table_name = intern.table_name
FOR XML PATH('')
) pre_trimmed (column_names)
GROUP BY table_name, column_names;
Or a version that works correctly if the data might contain characters such as <
WITH extern
AS (SELECT DISTINCT table_name
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS)
SELECT table_name,
LEFT(y.column_names, LEN(y.column_names) - 1) AS column_names
FROM extern
CROSS APPLY (SELECT column_name + ','
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS intern
WHERE extern.table_name = intern.table_name
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE) x (column_names)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT x.column_names.value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')) y(column_names)
Syntax strictly depends on which SQL DBMS you're using. Here are some ways to do it in ANSI/ISO (aka should work on any SQL DBMS), MySQL, SQL Server, and Oracle. Be advised that my suggested ANSI/ISO method will typically be much slower than the other two methods, but if you're using a SQL DBMS other than MySQL, SQL Server, or Oracle, then it may be the only way to go (e.g. if your SQL DBMS doesn't support MERGE
):
ANSI/ISO:
update ud
set assid = (
select sale.assid
from sale
where sale.udid = ud.id
)
where exists (
select *
from sale
where sale.udid = ud.id
);
MySQL:
update ud u
inner join sale s on
u.id = s.udid
set u.assid = s.assid
SQL Server:
update u
set u.assid = s.assid
from ud u
inner join sale s on
u.id = s.udid
PostgreSQL:
update ud
set assid = s.assid
from sale s
where ud.id = s.udid;
Note that the target table must not be repeated in the FROM
clause for Postgres.
Oracle:
update
(select
u.assid as new_assid,
s.assid as old_assid
from ud u
inner join sale s on
u.id = s.udid) up
set up.new_assid = up.old_assid
SQLite:
update ud
set assid = (
select sale.assid
from sale
where sale.udid = ud.id
)
where RowID in (
select RowID
from ud
where sale.udid = ud.id
);
Best Answer
I was writing my question while I was testing out an answer. I decided, since I hadn't seen the question on StackOverflow, I would just ask it anyway and then answer it with with what I found.
Here are the steps I took: