Insert, on duplicate update in PostgreSQL?

Question

Several months ago I learned from an answer on Stack Overflow how to perform multiple updates at once in MySQL using the following syntax:

INSERT INTO table          


        

Answer 1

For merging small sets, using the above function is fine. However, if you are merging large amounts of data, I'd suggest looking into http://mbk.projects.postgresql.org

The current best practice that I'm aware of is:

1. COPY new/updated data into temp table (sure, or you can do INSERT if the cost is ok)
2. Acquire Lock [optional] (advisory is preferable to table locks, IMO)
3. Merge. (the fun part)