Thread: incrementing without violating a constraint
Hi, I have a uniqueness constraint on an integer value in a table where I would like to mass increment all of the existing rows. ie. update rules set rule_number = rule_number + 1; This violates the uniquness constraint. Is there a way to say, turn off the constraint, run the update and then turn it back on? Thanks, Mike
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On 20/01/14 Michael P. Soulier said: > This violates the uniquness constraint. Is there a way to say, turn off the > constraint, run the update and then turn it back on? Hmm. This didn't work. tugdb=# SET CONSTRAINTS ALL DEFERRED; SET CONSTRAINTS tugdb=# update siptrunkroutingrules set rule_number = rule_number + 1; ERROR: duplicate key value violates unique constraint "siptrunkroutingrules_unique_trunk_rule_number" Mike
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"Michael P. Soulier" <michael_soulier@mitel.com> hat am 20. Januar 2014 um 15:33 geschrieben: > Hi, > > I have a uniqueness constraint on an integer value in a table where I would > like to mass increment all of the existing rows. > > ie. > update rules set rule_number = rule_number + 1; > > This violates the uniquness constraint. Is there a way to say, turn off the > constraint, run the update and then turn it back on? > > Thanks, > Mike test=# \d mike Table "public.mike" Column | Type | Modifiers --------+---------+----------- id | integer | not null Indexes: "mike_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id) test=# begin; BEGIN test=*# alter table mike drop constraint "mike_pkey"; ALTER TABLE test=*# update mike set id=id+1; UPDATE 3 test=*# alter table mike add primary key (id); ALTER TABLE test=*# select * from mike ; id ---- 2 3 4 (3 rows)
On 01/20/2014 06:40 AM, Michael P. Soulier wrote: > On 20/01/14 Michael P. Soulier said: > >> This violates the uniquness constraint. Is there a way to say, turn off the >> constraint, run the update and then turn it back on? > > Hmm. This didn't work. > > tugdb=# SET CONSTRAINTS ALL DEFERRED; > SET CONSTRAINTS > tugdb=# update siptrunkroutingrules set rule_number = rule_number + 1; > ERROR: duplicate key value violates unique constraint > "siptrunkroutingrules_unique_trunk_rule_number" Probably because by default deferrable constraints are set NOT DEFERRABLE: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/sql-createtable.html DEFERRABLE NOT DEFERRABLE This controls whether the constraint can be deferred. A constraint that is not deferrable will be checked immediately after every command. Checking of constraints that are deferrable can be postponed until the end of the transaction (using the SET CONSTRAINTS command). NOT DEFERRABLE is the default. Currently, only UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, EXCLUDE, and REFERENCES (foreign key) constraints accept this clause. NOT NULL and CHECK constraints are not deferrable. and: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/sql-set-constraints.html Upon creation, a constraint is given one of three characteristics: DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED, DEFERRABLE INITIALLY IMMEDIATE, or NOT DEFERRABLE. The third class is always IMMEDIATE and is not affected by the SET CONSTRAINTS command. The first two classes start every transaction in the indicated mode, but their behavior can be changed within a transaction by SET CONSTRAINTS. I do not believe there is a way to ALTER the DEFERRED state of an existing constraint. So if this is a one time thing, you could do what Andreas suggests, drop the unique constraint for the update. If this is something you think will happen again you can recreate the unique constraint with one of the DEFERRABLE clauses that allow SET DEFERRED. > > Mike > -- Adrian Klaver adrian.klaver@gmail.com
On 20 January 2014 15:33, Michael P. Soulier <michael_soulier@mitel.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I have a uniqueness constraint on an integer value in a table where I would > like to mass increment all of the existing rows. > > ie. > update rules set rule_number = rule_number + 1; > > This violates the uniquness constraint. Is there a way to say, turn off the > constraint, run the update and then turn it back on? You can work around this by doing the update in 2 phases: First, update all the numbers to an increment of their value that's guaranteed to be unique across the entire table. For example by incrementing with the current MAX value +1. After that, you can decrement them again so that they fall into the desired range. -- If you can't see the forest for the trees, Cut the trees and you'll see there is no forest.
"Michael P. Soulier" <michael_soulier@mitel.com> writes: > On 20/01/14 Michael P. Soulier said: >> This violates the uniquness constraint. Is there a way to say, turn off the >> constraint, run the update and then turn it back on? > Hmm. This didn't work. > tugdb=# SET CONSTRAINTS ALL DEFERRED; > SET CONSTRAINTS > tugdb=# update siptrunkroutingrules set rule_number = rule_number + 1; > ERROR: duplicate key value violates unique constraint > "siptrunkroutingrules_unique_trunk_rule_number" You'd have had to mark the index constraint as deferrable for that to have any effect on it. regards, tom lane