Jack, Please google on "correlated subquery" and I am sure that you will find answers that you are looking for. Regards Mike Navickas Oracle&DB2 DBA ________________________________ From: Jack van Zanen <jack@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: Mindaugas Navickas <mnavickas@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tue, November 2, 2010 10:35:06 PM Subject: Re: Update not behaving as hoped try running the subselect on it's own table2 has NO column named code. Jack van Zanen ------------------------- This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this e-mail or any attachment is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete all copies. Thank you for your cooperation On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 12:49 PM, Mindaugas Navickas <mnavickas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: Jack, > >I might not be as "smart" as Oracle and SQL servers together, but I can not >see >that syntax error as you see it. To it looks "normal" that sub-select has some >columns from outer statement - for example - would you consider this update >"normal": > >update table1 >setOrg=0 >whereexists(select 1 fromtable2 where code=per_code); > >As well as this (which would be equivelent to one that you have send) > >update table1 >setOrg=0 >where exists(select 1 fromtable2 where code=code); > > >Regards >Mike Navickas >Oracle&DB2 DBA > > > > > ________________________________ From: Jack van Zanen <jack@xxxxxxxxxxxx> >To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Sent: Tue, November 2, 2010 9:10:40 PM >Subject: Update not behaving as hoped > > > >Hi All, > > >Oracle 11 / Sql Server (same behaviour) > >My wife encountered following issue on sql server and asked me to check if >oracle was "smarter". It seems to not be. > > >Test case: > >createtabletable1 >(code int,Org int,Descr varchar(20));createtabletable2 >(per_code int,Namevarchar(20));insertintotable1 values >(1,100,'Rec1');insertintotable1 values (2,200,'Rec2');insertintotable1 values >(3,300,'Rec3');insertintotable2 values(1,'TestRec1');insertintotable2 >values(2,'TestRec2');updatetable1 > >setOrg=0 >wherecode in(selectcode fromtable2); --There is a syntax error "invalid >identifier" in the subselect but there is no error when running this >update.select*fromtable1; --Not only was there no error but it updated the >entire table. > >This is probably "normal" behaviour since both oracle and sql server do it but >I >would have hoped that a syntax error would result in an error no matter where >it >happens. Can anybody explain the technical reason why this would be happening. > >Jack