You can't specify target table for update in FROM clause

Question

I have a simple mysql table:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `pers` (
  `persID` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` varchar(35) NOT NULL,
  `gehalt` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `chefID` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`persID`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=4 ;

INSERT INTO `pers` (`persID`, `name`, `gehalt`, `chefID`) VALUES
(1, 'blb', 1000, 3),
(2, 'as', 1000, 3),
(3, 'chef', 1040, NULL);

I tried to run following update, but I get only the error 1093:

UPDATE pers P 
SET P.gehalt = P.gehalt * 1.05 
WHERE (P.chefID IS NOT NULL 
OR gehalt < 
(SELECT (
    SELECT MAX(gehalt * 1.05) 
    FROM pers MA 
    WHERE MA.chefID = MA.chefID) 
    AS _pers
))

I searched for the error and found from mysql following page http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/subquery-restrictions.html, but it doesn't help me.

What shall I do to correct the sql query?

Answer 1

The problem is that MySQL, for whatever inane reason, doesn't allow you to write queries like this:

UPDATE myTable
SET myTable.A =
(
    SELECT B
    FROM myTable
    INNER JOIN ...
)

That is, if you're doing an UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE on a table, you can't reference that table in an inner query (you can however reference a field from that outer table...)

---

The solution is to replace the instance of myTable in the sub-query with (SELECT * FROM myTable), like this

UPDATE myTable
SET myTable.A =
(
    SELECT B
    FROM (SELECT * FROM myTable) AS something
    INNER JOIN ...
)

This apparently causes the necessary fields to be implicitly copied into a temporary table, so it's allowed.

I found this solution here. A note from that article:

You don’t want to just SELECT * FROM table in the subquery in real life; I just wanted to keep the examples simple. In reality, you should only be selecting the columns you need in that innermost query, and adding a good WHERE clause to limit the results, too.

Answer 2

You can make this in three steps:

CREATE TABLE test2 AS
SELECT PersId 
FROM pers p
WHERE (
  chefID IS NOT NULL 
  OR gehalt < (
    SELECT MAX (
      gehalt * 1.05
    )
    FROM pers MA
    WHERE MA.chefID = p.chefID
  )
)

...

UPDATE pers P
SET P.gehalt = P.gehalt * 1.05
WHERE PersId
IN (
  SELECT PersId
  FROM test2
)
DROP TABLE test2;

or

UPDATE Pers P, (
  SELECT PersId
  FROM pers p
  WHERE (
   chefID IS NOT NULL 
   OR gehalt < (
     SELECT MAX (
       gehalt * 1.05
     )
     FROM pers MA
     WHERE MA.chefID = p.chefID
   )
 )
) t
SET P.gehalt = P.gehalt * 1.05
WHERE p.PersId = t.PersId

Answer 3

In Mysql, you can not update one table by subquery the same table.

You can separate the query in two parts, or do

 UPDATE TABLE_A AS A
 INNER JOIN TABLE_A AS B ON A.field1 = B.field1
 SET field2 = ? 

Answer 4

Make a temporary table (tempP) from a subquery

UPDATE pers P 
SET P.gehalt = P.gehalt * 1.05 
WHERE P.persID IN (
    SELECT tempP.tempId
    FROM (
        SELECT persID as tempId
        FROM pers P
        WHERE
            P.chefID IS NOT NULL OR gehalt < 
                (SELECT (
                    SELECT MAX(gehalt * 1.05) 
                    FROM pers MA 
                    WHERE MA.chefID = MA.chefID) 
                    AS _pers
                )
    ) AS tempP
)

I've introduced a separate name (alias) and give a new name to 'persID' column for temporary table

Answer 5

It's quite simple. For example, instead of writing:

INSERT INTO x (id, parent_id, code) VALUES (
    NULL,
    (SELECT id FROM x WHERE code='AAA'),
    'BBB'
);

you should write

INSERT INTO x (id, parent_id, code)
VALUES (
    NULL,
    (SELECT t.id FROM (SELECT id, code FROM x) t WHERE t.code='AAA'),
    'BBB'
);

or similar.

Answer 6

The Approach posted by BlueRaja is slow I modified it as I was using to delete duplicates from the table. In case it helps anyone with large tables Original Query

delete from table where id not in (select min(id) from table group by field 2)

This is taking more time:

DELETE FROM table where ID NOT IN(
  SELECT MIN(t.Id) from (select Id,field2 from table) AS t GROUP BY field2)

Faster Solution

DELETE FROM table where ID NOT IN(
   SELECT x.Id from (SELECT MIN(Id) as Id from table GROUP BY field2) AS t)

Answer 7

Just as reference, you can also use Mysql Variables to save temporary results, e.g.:

SET @v1 := (SELECT ... );
UPDATE ... SET ... WHERE x=@v1;

https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/user-variables.html

Answer 8

MariaDB has lifted this starting from 10.3.x (both for DELETE and UPDATE):

UPDATE - Statements With the Same Source and Target

From MariaDB 10.3.2, UPDATE statements may have the same source and target.

Until MariaDB 10.3.1, the following UPDATE statement would not work:

UPDATE t1 SET c1=c1+1 WHERE c2=(SELECT MAX(c2) FROM t1);
  ERROR 1093 (HY000): Table 't1' is specified twice, 
  both as a target for 'UPDATE' and as a separate source for data

From MariaDB 10.3.2, the statement executes successfully:

UPDATE t1 SET c1=c1+1 WHERE c2=(SELECT MAX(c2) FROM t1);

---

DELETE - Same Source and Target Table

Until MariaDB 10.3.1, deleting from a table with the same source and target was not possible. From MariaDB 10.3.1, this is now possible. For example:

DELETE FROM t1 WHERE c1 IN (SELECT b.c1 FROM t1 b WHERE b.c2=0);

DBFiddle MariaDB 10.2 - Error

DBFiddle MariaDB 10.3 - Success

Answer 9

If you are trying to read fieldA from tableA and save it on fieldB on the same table, when fieldc = fieldd you might want consider this.

UPDATE tableA,
    tableA AS tableA_1 
SET 
    tableA.fieldB= tableA_1.filedA
WHERE
    (((tableA.conditionFild) = 'condition')
        AND ((tableA.fieldc) = tableA_1.fieldd));

Above code copies the value from fieldA to fieldB when condition-field met your condition. this also works in ADO (e.g access )

source: tried myself

Answer 10

MySQL doesn't allow selecting from a table and update in the same table at the same time. But there is always a workaround :)

This doesn't work >>>>

UPDATE table1 SET col1 = (SELECT MAX(col1) from table1) WHERE col1 IS NULL;

But this works >>>>

UPDATE table1 SET col1 = (SELECT MAX(col1) FROM (SELECT * FROM table1) AS table1_new) WHERE col1 IS NULL;

Answer 11

Other workarounds include using SELECT DISTINCT or LIMIT in the subquery, although these are not as explicit in their effect on materialization. this worked for me

as mentioned in MySql Doc