Oracle: how to INSERT if a row doesn't exist

user_411247 0
Viewed 137034

What is the easiest way to INSERT a row if it doesn't exist, in PL/SQL (oracle)?

I want something like:

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM table WHERE name = 'jonny') THEN
  INSERT INTO table VALUES ("jonny", null);
END IF;

But it's not working.

Note: this table has 2 fields, say, name and age. But only name is PK.

plsql oracle
9 Answers

You should use Merge: For example:

MERGE INTO employees e
    USING (SELECT * FROM hr_records WHERE start_date > ADD_MONTHS(SYSDATE, -1)) h
    ON (e.id = h.emp_id)
  WHEN MATCHED THEN
    UPDATE SET e.address = h.address
  WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
    INSERT (id, address)
    VALUES (h.emp_id, h.address);

or 

MERGE INTO employees e
    USING hr_records h
    ON (e.id = h.emp_id)
  WHEN MATCHED THEN
    UPDATE SET e.address = h.address
  WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
    INSERT (id, address)
    VALUES (h.emp_id, h.address);

https://oracle-base.com/articles/9i/merge-statement

user_16393470

CTE and only CTE :-)

just throw out extra stuff. Here is almost complete and verbose form for all cases of life. And you can use any concise form.

INSERT INTO reports r
  (r.id, r.name, r.key, r.param)

--

  -- Invoke this script from "WITH" to the end (";")
  -- to debug and see prepared values.
  WITH

  -- Some new data to add.
  newData AS(
          SELECT 'Name 1' name, 'key_new_1' key FROM DUAL
    UNION SELECT 'Name 2' NAME, 'key_new_2' key FROM DUAL
    UNION SELECT 'Name 3' NAME, 'key_new_3' key FROM DUAL
    ),
  -- Any single row for copying with each new row from "newData",
  -- if you will of course.
  copyData AS(
      SELECT r.*
      FROM reports r
      WHERE r.key = 'key_existing'
        -- ! Prevent more than one row to return.
        AND FALSE -- do something here for than!
    ),
  -- Last used ID from the "reports" table (it depends on your case).
  -- (not going to work with concurrent transactions)
  maxId AS (SELECT MAX(id) AS id FROM reports),

--

  -- Some construction of all data for insertion.
  SELECT maxId.id + ROWNUM, newData.name, newData.key, copyData.param
  FROM copyData
    -- matrix multiplication :)
    -- (or a recursion if you're imperative coder)
    CROSS JOIN newData
    CROSS JOIN maxId

--

  -- Let's prevent re-insertion.
  WHERE NOT EXISTS (
      SELECT 1 FROM reports rs
      WHERE rs.name IN(
        SELECT name FROM newData
      ));

I call it "IF NOT EXISTS" on steroids. So, this helps me and I mostly do so.

user_3909400
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