How a write can handle a conflict in SQL

Ignore it, replace the row, or update the parts you meant to update.

INSERT OR IGNORE INTO tags (name)
VALUES ('sql');

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO daily_counts (day, hits)
VALUES ('2026-07-29', 1);

INSERT INTO daily_counts (day, hits)
VALUES ('2026-07-29', 1)
ON CONFLICT (day)
DO UPDATE SET
    hits = daily_counts.hits + 1
WHERE daily_counts.hits < 1000;

How it works

1. INSERT OR IGNORE skips the row that would violate a constraint.
2. INSERT OR REPLACE deletes the old row first — including its other columns.
3. ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE is the one that merges rather than clobbers.

Keywords and builtins used here

• DO
• IGNORE
• INSERT
• INTO
• ON
• OR
• REPLACE
• SET
• UPDATE
• VALUES
• WHERE
• day

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