SQLite inner join - update using values from another table

Using the update statement it is not possible because in sqlite joins in an update statement are not supported. See docs:update statement

If you only wanted to update a single column to a static value, you could use a subquery in the update statement correctly. See this example: How do I make an UPDATE while joining tables on SQLite?

Now in your example, making an assumption that there is a unique key on "column f" - a workaround/solution I have come up with is using the replace statement:

replace into table2(a, b, c, d, e, f, g)select src.a, src.b, src.c, src.d, src.e, dest.f, dest.gfrom table1 srcinner join table2 dest on src.f = dest.f

I also added an extra column to table2 "column g" to show how you'd "update" only some of the columns with this method.

One other thing to be cautious about is if you use "PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;" it's possible to have issues with this as the row is effectively deleted and inserted.

I came up with an alternative technique using a TRIGGER and "reversing" the direction of the update, albeit at the cost of a dummy field in the source table.

In general terms, you have a Master table and an Updates table. You want to update some/all fields of records in Master from the corresponding fields in Updates linked by a key field Key.

Instead of UPDATE Master SET ... FROM Master INNER JOIN Updates ON Mater.Key = Updates.Key you do the following:

1. Add a dummy field TriggerField to the Updates table to act as the focus of the trigger.

2. Create a trigger on this field:

   CREATE TRIGGER UpdateTrigger AFTER UPDATE OF TriggerField ON UpdatesBEGIN    UPDATE Master SET        Field1 = OLD.Field1,        Field2 = OLD.Field2,        ...    WHERE Master.Key = OLD.KeyEND;

3. Launch the update process with the following:

   UPDATE Updates SET TriggerField = NULL ;

Notes

1. The dummy field is merely an anchor for the trigger so that any other UPDATE Updates SET ... won't trigger the update into Master. If you only ever INSERT into Updates then you don't need it (and can remove the OF TriggerField clause when creating the trigger).

2. From some rough-and-ready timings, this seems to work about the same speed as REPLACE INTO but avoids the feels-slightly-wrong technique of removing and adding rows. It is also simpler if you are only updating a few fields in Master as you only list the ones you want to change.

3. It is orders of magnitude faster than the other alternative I've seen to UPDATE ... FROM which is:

   UPDATE Master SET    Field1 = ( SELECT Field1 FROM Updates WHERE Mater.Key = Updates.Key ),    Field1 = ( SELECT Field1 FROM Updates WHERE Mater.Key = Updates.Key ),    ...;

   Updating six fields over 1700 records was roughly 0.05s for Tony and my methods but 2.50s for the UPDATE ... ( SELECT... ) method.

4. AFTER UPDATE triggers on Master seem to fire as expected.

As Tony says, the solution is the replace into way but you can use the sqlite hidden field rowid to simulate full update with join like:

replace into table2(rowid,a, b, c, d, e, f, g)select dest.rowid,src.a, src.b, src.c, src.d, src.e, dest.f, dest.gfrom table1 srcinner join table2 dest on src.f = dest.f

With this you recreate full rows if you don't have primary key for the replace or as standard method to do the updates with joins.