The update command is used to update existing objects.
db> ... ...
update Hero
filter .name = "Hawkeye"
set { name := "Ronin" };{default::Hero {id: d476b12e-3e7b-11ec-af13-2717f3dc1d8a}}If you omit the filter clause, all objects will be updated. This is useful
for updating values across all objects of a given type. The example below
cleans up all Hero.name values by trimming whitespace and converting them
to title case.
db> ...
update Hero
set { name := str_trim(str_title(.name)) };{default::Hero {id: d476b12e-3e7b-11ec-af13-2717f3dc1d8a}}The structure of the update statement (update...filter...set) is an
intentional inversion of SQL’s UPDATE...SET...WHERE syntax. Curiously, in
SQL, the where clauses typically occur last despite being applied before
the set statement. EdgeQL is structured to reflect this; first, a target
set is specified, then filters are applied, then the data is updated.
To explicitly unset a property that is not required, set it to an empty set.
update Person filter .id = <uuid>$id set { middle_name := {} };When updating links, the := operator will replace the set of linked
values.
db> ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
update movie
filter .title = "Black Widow"
set {
characters := (
select Person
filter .name in { "Black Widow", "Yelena", "Dreykov" }
)
};{default::Title {id: af706c7c-3e98-11ec-abb3-4bbf3f18a61a}}db> ...
select Movie { num_characters := count(.characters) }
filter .title = "Black Widow";{default::Movie {num_characters: 3}}To add additional linked items, use the += operator.
db> ... ... ... ...
update Movie
filter .title = "Black Widow"
set {
characters += (insert Villain {name := "Taskmaster"})
};{default::Title {id: af706c7c-3e98-11ec-abb3-4bbf3f18a61a}}db> ...
select Movie { num_characters := count(.characters) }
filter .title = "Black Widow";{default::Movie {num_characters: 4}}To remove items, use -=.
db> ... ... ... ...
update Movie
filter .title = "Black Widow"
set {
characters -= Villain # remove all villains
};{default::Title {id: af706c7c-3e98-11ec-abb3-4bbf3f18a61a}}db> ...
select Movie { num_characters := count(.characters) }
filter .title = "Black Widow";{default::Movie {num_characters: 2}}All top-level EdgeQL statements (select, insert, update, and
delete) can be prefixed with a with block. This is useful for updating
the results of a complex query.
db> ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
with people := (
select Person
order by .name
offset 3
limit 3
)
update people
set { name := str_trim(.name) };{
default::Hero {id: d4764c66-3e7b-11ec-af13-df1ba5b91187},
default::Hero {id: d7d7e0f6-40ae-11ec-87b1-3f06bed494b9},
default::Villain {id: d477a836-3e7b-11ec-af13-4fea611d1c31},
}You can pass any object-type expression into update, including
polymorphic ones (as above).
For documentation on performing upsert operations, see EdgeQL > Insert > Upserts.
