Bulk Record Update with SQL

Question

I have two tables in a SQL Server 2008 environment with the following structure

Table1
- ID
- DescriptionID
- Description

Table2
- ID
- Description
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Answer 1

Your approach is OK

Maybe slightly clearer (to me anyway!)

UPDATE
  T1
SET
  [Description] = t2.[Description]
FROM
   Table1 T1
   JOIN
   [Table2] t2 ON t2.[ID] = t1.DescriptionID

Both this and your query should run the same performance wise because it is the same query, just laid out differently.

Answer 2

You can do this through a regular UPDATE with a JOIN

UPDATE T1
SET Description = T2.Description
   FROM Table1 T1
      JOIN Table2 T2
         ON T2.ID = T1.DescriptionId

Answer 3

Your way is correct, and here is another way you can do it:

update      Table1
set         Description = t2.Description
from        Table1 t1
inner join  Table2 t2
on          t1.DescriptionID = t2.ID

The nested select is the long way of just doing a join.

Answer 4

The SQL you posted in your question is one way to do it. Most things in SQL have more than one way to do it.

UPDATE
  [Table1] 
SET
  [Description]=(SELECT [Description] FROM [Table2] t2 WHERE t2.[ID]=Table1.DescriptionID)

If you are planning on running this on a PROD DB, it is best to create a snapshot or mirror of it first and test it out. Verify the data ends up as you expect for a couple records. And if you are satisfied, run it on the real DB.

Answer 5

Or you can simply update without using join like this:

Update t1 set  t1.Description = t2.Description from @tbl2 t2,tbl1 t1
where t1.ID= t2.ID