Sql sript for Insert of data with repeating values

Question

It has been a long long time since I had to do write and use any SQL scripts, please forgive the question. I used to use a script to insert values into a table as part of my job. I have forgotten what the script I used was and since lost all my Oracle note books and other DBA material.
I did a search and went through 30 pages of results, I didn't see what I'm looking for.
The data is from one large file that is appended at the end and sometimes updated somewhere in the middle of the set which is considered new data. I am not concern with getting the data out of the file, I got that handled but the insert into the table - transactions - is where I'm lost.
I used to use a script to load the data, about 6 years ago, and it would load the file, exclude the data that was already in the table and insert the new data and the data with the changes.
The data columns are date, time, reference, transaction code, location, debit amount, fee amount, balance.
The date repeats but the time and reference values are unique.
Any help with this script is appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi,
welcome to the forum..!
You can use Oracle's merge statement to (update + insert) data into a table ... if the data exists update it with the new values and if it does not, then insert it.
Here's a link to get you started...
http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_9016.htm
Since, the data is from a file, you could create an external table on the file and directly do a select from the file.
MERGE INTO bonuses D
   USING (SELECT employee_id, salary, department_id FROM employees
   WHERE department_id = 80) S
   ON (D.employee_id = S.employee_id)
   WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET D.bonus = D.bonus + S.salary*.01
     DELETE WHERE (S.salary > 8000)
   WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (D.employee_id, D.bonus)
     VALUES (S.employee_id, S.salary*0.1)
     WHERE (S.salary <= 8000);in the above example, the
SELECT employee_id, salary, department_id FROM employeesis the source data. instead of loading the file into a temporary table and then merge into the target table , you could read from <<<external_table_on_your_file>> and then do a merge into the target table.
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oracle9i/daily/sept19.html
If you encounter any problems, please post the full description of your error.
Thanks,
Rajesh.
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Always try to provide create table and insert statements to help the forum members help you better.