How to 'insert if not exists' in MySQL?

manpreet Best Answer 3 years ago

I started by googling, and found this article which talks about mutex tables.

I have a table with ~14 million records. If I want to add more data in the same format, is there a way to ensure the record I want to insert does not already exist without using a pair of queries (ie, one query to check and one to insert is the result set is empty)?

Does a unique constraint on a field guarantee the insert will fail if it's already there?

It seems that with merely a constraint, when I issue the insert via php, the script croaks.

manpreet 3 years ago

Any simple constraint should do the job, if an exception is acceptable. Examples :

• primary key if not surrogate
• unique constraint on a column
• multi-column unique constraint

Sorry is this seems deceptively simple. I know it looks bad confronted to the link you share with us. ;-(

But I neverleless give this answer, because it seem to fill your need. (If not, it may trigger your updating your requirements, which would be "a Good Thing"(TM) also).

Edited: If an insert would break the database unique constraint, an exception is throw at the database level, relayed by the driver. It will certainly stop your script, with a failure. It must be possible in PHP to adress that case ...

manpreet 3 years ago

Any simple constraint should do the job, if an exception is acceptable. Examples :

• primary key if not surrogate
• unique constraint on a column
• multi-column unique constraint

Sorry is this seems deceptively simple. I know it looks bad confronted to the link you share with us. ;-(

But I neverleless give this answer, because it seem to fill your need. (If not, it may trigger your updating your requirements, which would be "a Good Thing"(TM) also).

Edited: If an insert would break the database unique constraint, an exception is throw at the database level, relayed by the driver. It will certainly stop your script, with a failure. It must be possible in PHP to adress that case ...