Updating data in SQL Server database tables

You use the UPDATE statement to modify an existing table data.

To execute the UPDATE statement, a user must have at least an UPDATE permission assigned on the target table.

The following is the basic syntax for the UPDATE statement:

[WITH <common_table_expression> [, ...n]]
UPDATE
[TOP (expression) [PERCENT]]
table_name | view_name | rowset_function | common_table_expression
[WITH table_hint]
SET column_name = {expression | DEFAULT | NULL} [ ,...n ]
<outputclause>
FROM < table_name | view_name | common_table_expression>
WHERE <search_condition>

The following are the arguments of the UPDATE statement:

• WITH: This keyword specifies the CTE that you can reference in your UPDATE statement
• TOP: You specify this keyword to only update a specific number or percent of rows from the top of the query
• table_name | view_name | rowset function | common_table_expression: This specifies the name of the table, view, rowset function, or CTE that...