copy the content of a table and paste it to another one

Question

I'd like to copy the content to an existing table to another existing table. This is what I've tryed :

INSERT into memoryTable select * from currentTable

but I get this error message : #1062 - Duplicate entry '1' for key 'memoryTable.PRIMARY'

It means there is a Primary Key on your table and you are trying to insert an ID that already exists. — Brad, Jan 06 '23 at 19:10
Ok but how can I do to not to adding data but just to replace data ? — LauranElizalde, Jan 06 '23 at 19:14
Depending on the dbms you are using you could use a MERGE statement or a combination of UPDATE and INSERT's — Brad, Jan 06 '23 at 19:17
I'm on MySQL, I need to copy the data because the data of the 'currentTable' has to be replaced by recent data. But I also need to save it. — LauranElizalde, Jan 06 '23 at 19:21
Unless you have gigabytes of data causing a performance problem, or some other sort of design mistake in your database, that shouldn't be necessary, just to make way for more recent stuff — ADyson, Jan 06 '23 at 19:42

LauranElizalde · Answer 1 · 2023-01-06T19:32:18.260

0

For the persons who have the same problem, I've found a solution :

REPLACE
INTO memoryTable
SELECT *
FROM currentTable
;

edited Jan 06 '23 at 19:32

answered Jan 06 '23 at 19:31

LauranElizalde

fyi - If there is a duplicate/existing primary key, `replace` will overwrite values in `memoryTable` with the conflicting values from `currentTable`. If you would rather keep the existing values in `memoryTable`, you can use `insert ignore into memoryTable...` See also [Difference between insert ignore and replace](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4723145/what-is-the-performance-difference-between-insert-ignore-and-replace-in-mysql) – akenney Jan 06 '23 at 19:59
1

[A code-only answer is not high quality](//meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/392712/explaining-entirely-code-based-answers). While this code may be useful, you can improve it by saying why it works, how it works, when it should be used, and what its limitations are. Please [edit] your answer to include explanation and link to relevant documentation. – Stephen Ostermiller Jan 06 '23 at 20:09

1 Answers1