MERGE
MERGE — conditionally insert, update, or delete rows of a table
Synopsis
[ WITHwith_query
[, ...] ]MERGE INTO [ ONLY ]target_table_name
[ * ] [ [ AS ]target_alias
]USINGdata_source
ONjoin_condition
when_clause
[...]wheredata_source
is:{ [ ONLY ]source_table_name
[ * ] | (source_query
) } [ [ AS ]source_alias
]andwhen_clause
is:{ WHEN MATCHED [ ANDcondition
] THEN {merge_update
|merge_delete
| DO NOTHING } | WHEN NOT MATCHED [ ANDcondition
] THEN {merge_insert
| DO NOTHING } }andmerge_insert
is:INSERT [(column_name
[, ...] )][ OVERRIDING { SYSTEM | USER } VALUE ]{ VALUES ( {expression
| DEFAULT } [, ...] ) | DEFAULT VALUES }andmerge_update
is:UPDATE SET {column_name
= {expression
| DEFAULT } | (column_name
[, ...] ) = [ ROW ] ( {expression
| DEFAULT } [, ...] ) | (column_name
[, ...] ) = (sub-SELECT
) } [, ...]andmerge_delete
is:DELETE
Parameters
with_query
The
WITH
clause allows you to specify one or more subqueries that can be referenced by name in theMERGE
query. SeeSection 7.8 andSELECT for details. Note thatWITH RECURSIVE
is not supported byMERGE
.target_table_name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the target table to merge into. If
ONLY
is specified before the table name, matching rows are updated or deleted in the named table only. IfONLY
is not specified, matching rows are also updated or deleted in any tables inheriting from the named table. Optionally,*
can be specified after the table name to explicitly indicate that descendant tables are included. TheONLY
keyword and*
option do not affect insert actions, which always insert into the named table only.target_alias
A substitute name for the target table. When an alias is provided, it completely hides the actual name of the table. For example, given
MERGE INTO foo AS f
, the remainder of theMERGE
statement must refer to this table asf
notfoo
.source_table_name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the source table, view, or transition table. If
ONLY
is specified before the table name, matching rows are included from the named table only. IfONLY
is not specified, matching rows are also included from any tables inheriting from the named table. Optionally,*
can be specified after the table name to explicitly indicate that descendant tables are included.source_query
A query (
SELECT
statement orVALUES
statement) that supplies the rows to be merged into the target table. Refer to theSELECT statement orVALUES statement for a description of the syntax.source_alias
A substitute name for the data source. When an alias is provided, it completely hides the actual name of the table or the fact that a query was issued.
join_condition
join_condition
is an expression resulting in a value of typeboolean
(similar to aWHERE
clause) that specifies which rows in thedata_source
match rows in the target table.Warning
Only columns from the target table that attempt to match
data_source
rows should appear injoin_condition
.join_condition
subexpressions that only reference the target table's columns can affect which action is taken, often in surprising ways.when_clause
At least one
WHEN
clause is required.If the
WHEN
clause specifiesWHEN MATCHED
and the candidate change row matches a row in the target table, theWHEN
clause is executed if thecondition
is absent or it evaluates totrue
.Conversely, if the
WHEN
clause specifiesWHEN NOT MATCHED
and the candidate change row does not match a row in the target table, theWHEN
clause is executed if thecondition
is absent or it evaluates totrue
.condition
An expression that returns a value of type
boolean
. If this expression for aWHEN
clause returnstrue
, then the action for that clause is executed for that row.A condition on a
WHEN MATCHED
clause can refer to columns in both the source and the target relations. A condition on aWHEN NOT MATCHED
clause can only refer to columns from the source relation, since by definition there is no matching target row. Only the system attributes from the target table are accessible.merge_insert
The specification of an
INSERT
action that inserts one row into the target table. The target column names can be listed in any order. If no list of column names is given at all, the default is all the columns of the table in their declared order.Each column not present in the explicit or implicit column list will be filled with a default value, either its declared default value or null if there is none.
If the target table is a partitioned table, each row is routed to the appropriate partition and inserted into it. If the target table is a partition, an error will occur if any input row violates the partition constraint.
Column names may not be specified more than once.
INSERT
actions cannot contain sub-selects.Only one
VALUES
clause can be specified. TheVALUES
clause can only refer to columns from the source relation, since by definition there is no matching target row.merge_update
The specification of an
UPDATE
action that updates the current row of the target table. Column names may not be specified more than once.Neither a table name nor a
WHERE
clause are allowed.merge_delete
Specifies a
DELETE
action that deletes the current row of the target table. Do not include the table name or any other clauses, as you would normally do with aDELETE command.column_name
The name of a column in the target table. The column name can be qualified with a subfield name or array subscript, if needed. (Inserting into only some fields of a composite column leaves the other fields null.) Do not include the table's name in the specification of a target column.
OVERRIDING SYSTEM VALUE
Without this clause, it is an error to specify an explicit value (other than
DEFAULT
) for an identity column defined asGENERATED ALWAYS
. This clause overrides that restriction.OVERRIDING USER VALUE
If this clause is specified, then any values supplied for identity columns defined as
GENERATED BY DEFAULT
are ignored and the default sequence-generated values are applied.DEFAULT VALUES
All columns will be filled with their default values. (An
OVERRIDING
clause is not permitted in this form.)expression
An expression to assign to the column. If used in a
WHEN MATCHED
clause, the expression can use values from the original row in the target table, and values from thedata_source
row. If used in aWHEN NOT MATCHED
clause, the expression can use values from thedata_source
row.DEFAULT
Set the column to its default value (which will be
NULL
if no specific default expression has been assigned to it).sub-SELECT
A
SELECT
sub-query that produces as many output columns as are listed in the parenthesized column list preceding it. The sub-query must yield no more than one row when executed. If it yields one row, its column values are assigned to the target columns; if it yields no rows, NULL values are assigned to the target columns. The sub-query can refer to values from the original row in the target table, and values from thedata_source
row.
Outputs
On successful completion, aMERGE
command returns a command tag of the form
MERGEtotal_count
Thetotal_count
is the total number of rows changed (whether inserted, updated, or deleted). Iftotal_count
is 0, no rows were changed in any way.
Notes
The following steps take place during the execution ofMERGE
.
Perform any
BEFORE STATEMENT
triggers for all actions specified, whether or not theirWHEN
clauses match.Perform a join from source to target table. The resulting query will be optimized normally and will produce a set of candidate change rows. For each candidate change row,
Evaluate whether each row is
MATCHED
orNOT MATCHED
.Test each
WHEN
condition in the order specified until one returns true.When a condition returns true, perform the following actions:
Perform any
BEFORE ROW
triggers that fire for the action's event type.Perform the specified action, invoking any check constraints on the target table.
Perform any
AFTER ROW
triggers that fire for the action's event type.
Perform any
AFTER STATEMENT
triggers for actions specified, whether or not they actually occur. This is similar to the behavior of anUPDATE
statement that modifies no rows.
In summary, statement triggers for an event type (say,INSERT
) will be fired whenever wespecify an action of that kind. In contrast, row-level triggers will fire only for the specific event type beingexecuted. So aMERGE
command might fire statement triggers for bothUPDATE
andINSERT
, even though onlyUPDATE
row triggers were fired.
You should ensure that the join produces at most one candidate change row for each target row. In other words, a target row shouldn't join to more than one data source row. If it does, then only one of the candidate change rows will be used to modify the target row; later attempts to modify the row will cause an error. This can also occur if row triggers make changes to the target table and the rows so modified are then subsequently also modified by If a The order in which rows are generated from the data source is indeterminate by default. A There is no WhenMERGE
. If the repeated action is anINSERT
, this will cause a uniqueness violation, while a repeatedUPDATE
orDELETE
will cause a cardinality violation; the latter behavior is required by theSQL standard. This differs from historicalPostgreSQL behavior of joins inUPDATE
andDELETE
statements where second and subsequent attempts to modify the same row are simply ignored.WHEN
clause omits anAND
sub-clause, it becomes the final reachable clause of that kind (MATCHED
orNOT MATCHED
). If a laterWHEN
clause of that kind is specified it would be provably unreachable and an error is raised. If no final reachable clause is specified of either kind, it is possible that no action will be taken for a candidate change row.source_query
can be used to specify a consistent ordering, if required, which might be needed to avoid deadlocks between concurrent transactions.RETURNING
clause withMERGE
. Actions ofINSERT
,UPDATE
andDELETE
cannot containRETURNING
orWITH
clauses.MERGE
is run concurrently with other commands that modify the target table, the usual transaction isolation rules apply; seeSection 13.2 for an explanation on the behavior at each isolation level. You may also wish to consider usingINSERT ... ON CONFLICT
as an alternative statement which offers the ability to run anUPDATE
if a concurrentINSERT
occurs. There are a variety of differences and restrictions between the two statement types and they are not interchangeable.
Examples
Perform maintenance oncustomer_accounts
based upon newrecent_transactions
.
MERGE INTO customer_account caUSING recent_transactions tON t.customer_id = ca.customer_idWHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET balance = balance + transaction_valueWHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (customer_id, balance) VALUES (t.customer_id, t.transaction_value);
Notice that this would be exactly equivalent to the following statement because theMATCHED
result does not change during execution.
MERGE INTO customer_account caUSING (SELECT customer_id, transaction_value FROM recent_transactions) AS tON t.customer_id = ca.customer_idWHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET balance = balance + transaction_valueWHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (customer_id, balance) VALUES (t.customer_id, t.transaction_value);
Attempt to insert a new stock item along with the quantity of stock. If the item already exists, instead update the stock count of the existing item. Don't allow entries that have zero stock.
MERGE INTO wines wUSING wine_stock_changes sON s.winename = w.winenameWHEN NOT MATCHED AND s.stock_delta > 0 THEN INSERT VALUES(s.winename, s.stock_delta)WHEN MATCHED AND w.stock + s.stock_delta > 0 THEN UPDATE SET stock = w.stock + s.stock_deltaWHEN MATCHED THEN DELETE;
Thewine_stock_changes
table might be, for example, a temporary table recently loaded into the database.
Compatibility
This command conforms to theSQL standard. TheWITH
clause andDO NOTHING
action are extensions to theSQL standard.