Oracle 'INSERT ALL' ignore duplicates

Question

I have a database table with a unique constraint on it (unique (DADSNBR, DAROLEID) pair). I am going to be inserting multiple values into this table simultaneou

Answer 1

In Oracle, statements either succeed completely or fail completely (they are atomic). However, you can add clauses in certain cases to log exceptions instead of raising errors:

• using BULK COLLECT - SAVE EXCEPTIONS, as demonstrated in this thread on askTom,
• or using DBMS_ERRLOG (available since 10g I think).

The second method is all automatic, here's a demo (using 11gR2):

SQL> CREATE TABLE test (pk1 NUMBER,
  2                     pk2 NUMBER,
  3                     CONSTRAINT pk_test PRIMARY KEY (pk1, pk2));

Table created.

SQL> /* Statement fails because of duplicate */
SQL> INSERT into test (SELECT 1, 1 FROM dual CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 2);

ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00001: unique constraint (VNZ.PK_TEST) violated

SQL> BEGIN dbms_errlog.create_error_log('TEST'); END;
  2  /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> /* Statement succeeds and the error will be logged */
SQL> INSERT into test (SELECT 1, 1 FROM dual CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 2)
  2   LOG ERRORS REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITED;

1 row(s) inserted.

SQL> select ORA_ERR_MESG$, pk1, pk2 from err$_test;

ORA_ERR_MESG$                                       PK1 PK2
--------------------------------------------------- --- ---
ORA-00001: unique constraint (VNZ.PK_TEST) violated   1   1

You can use the LOG ERROR clause with INSERT ALL (thanks @Alex Poole), but you have to add the clause after each table:

SQL> INSERT ALL
  2   INTO test VALUES (1, 1) LOG ERRORS REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITED
  3   INTO test VALUES (1, 1) LOG ERRORS REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITED
  4  (SELECT * FROM dual);

0 row(s) inserted.