How to Update Rows in MySQL

Last updated July 24, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team

Use UPDATE ... SET ... WHERE. Join another table directly in the UPDATE to copy values across tables. Safe-updates mode blocks UPDATEs without a key in the WHERE clause.

UPDATE orders SET status = 'shipped' WHERE id = 42;

UPDATE orders o
JOIN customers c ON c.id = o.customer_id
SET o.region = c.region;