Copy data from table to table doing INSERT or UPDATE - sql

Question

I need to copy a lot of data from one table to another. If the data already exists, I need to update it, otherwise I need to insert it. The data to be copied is selecting using a WHERE condition. The data has a primary key (a string of up to 12 characters).
If I was just inserting the data, I would do
INSERT INTO T2 SELECT COL1, COL2 FROM T1 WHERE T1.ID ='I'
but I cannot figure out how to do the INSERT / UPDATE. I keep seeing references to upserts and MERGE, but MERGE appears to have issues,and I cannot figure ut how to do the upsert for multiple records.
What is the best solution for this?

Answer 1

If you want to avoid merges (though you should not be afraid of it) you can do something like
update t2
set col1 = t1.col1
,col2 = t1.col2
from t2
join t1
on t2.[joinkey] = t1.[joinkey]
where [where clause]
And after for the ones that you do not have
insert into t2(col1,col2)
select col1,col2 from t1
where not exists (select * from t2 where t1.[joinkey] = t2.[joinkey])
in such way you first update the ones that match and then insert the ones that do not. Also if you want it in one go you can wrap it in a transaction.

Answer 2

It is commonly known as UPSERT operation. Yes you are correct in saying merge has some issues with it so stay away from it.
A simple approach assuming there is a Primary Key column in Both tables called PK_Col would be something like this...
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- Update already existing records
UPDATE T2
SET T2.Col1 = T1.Col1
,T2.Col2 = T1.Col2
FROM T2 INNER JOIN T1 ON T2.PK_COl = T1.PK_Col
-- Insert missing records
INSERT INTO T2 (COL1, COL2 )
SELECT COL1, COL2
FROM T1
WHERE T1.ID ='I'
AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM T2
WHERE T2.PK_COl = T1.PK_Col )
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
Wrap the whole UPSERT operation in one transaction.

Answer 3

You can use IF EXISTS something like:
if exists (select * from table with (updlock,serializable) where key = #key)
begin
update table set ...
where key = #key
end
else
begin
insert table (key, ...)
values (#key, ...)
end
Another solution is to check ##ROWCOUNT
UPDATE MyTable SET FieldA=#FieldA WHERE Key=#Key
IF ##ROWCOUNT = 0
INSERT INTO MyTable (FieldA) VALUES (#FieldA)