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 advantage 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 configure 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 particular 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 assignments 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-doc/sun256/index.html

VERSION

       STILTS version 3.2-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)