MySQL Merge Two Tables with Similar Data Union/Join? - mysql

Question

So, I have two tables filled with for the most part very similar data, for example, a row in each table may have the same first name, last name, and address, but have a different phone number or email address based on the most recently available data which was updated in a separate excel worksheet (out of my hands, my job is just to merge this data into our latest database which they plan to use from here on out, not the excel sheet). I just need a good way to merge these tables with the same column names without doing it manually (about 24,000+) records.
Here is the Create Table Syntax for both tables:
CREATE TABLE `UsersUpdated` (
`FULLNME` longtext,
`LSTNME` varchar(23) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`FSTNME` varchar(255) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`MID` varchar(255) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`SUFF` varchar(50) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`STAT` varchar(2) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`PTY` varchar(3) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`PH` bigint(20) DEFAULT NULL,
`ALTPH` bigint(20) DEFAULT NULL,
`DOB` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`REGDTE` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`ADDR` text,
`ST` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`STNME` varchar(19) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`APT` varchar(7) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`TWN` varchar(6) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`ZIP` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`W` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`d` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`G17` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P17` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`G16` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P16` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`G15` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P15` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`G14` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P14` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`SIGN` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`SUPP` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`NOTES` longtext,
`LTR` tinyint(1) DEFAULT NULL,
`REGISTERED` tinyint(1) DEFAULT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
CREATE TABLE `Users` (
`FULLNME` longtext,
`LSTNME` varchar(23) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`FSTNME` varchar(255) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`MID` varchar(255) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`SUFF` varchar(50) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`STAT` varchar(2) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`PTY` varchar(3) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`PH` bigint(20) DEFAULT NULL,
`ALTPH` bigint(20) DEFAULT NULL,
`DOB` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`REGDTE` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`ADDR` text,
`ST` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`STNME` varchar(19) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`APT` varchar(7) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`TWN` varchar(6) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`ZIP` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`W` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`d` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`G17` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P17` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`G16` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P16` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`G15` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P15` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`G14` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`P14` varchar(1) CHARACTER SET utf8 DEFAULT NULL,
`SIGN` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`SUPP` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`NOTES` longtext,
`LTR` tinyint(1) DEFAULT NULL,
`REGISTERED` tinyint(1) DEFAULT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
As you can see, they are basically the same exact tables, I just need to merge them correctly.

Answer 1

Perhaps this is helpful.
update Users
set ADDR = (
select ADDR from UsersUpdated uu
where uu.FULLNME = Users.FULLNME and uu.DOB = Users.DOB
), STNME = (
select STNME from UsersUpdated uu
where uu.FULLNME = Users.FULLNME and uu.DOB = Users.DOB
) ...
;
You can add all the columns to a single update. Depending on the size of the database it might just be as easy to do them individually.
Many platforms allow for a from clause with update that permits a join and a shorter query but it can be problematic. This way you will get errors if any of the subqueries don't return just a single value.

Answer 2

I would modify the Users table to add a UNIQUE key on the fields that should be the same (presumably FSTNME, LSTNME and ADDR from your description but perhaps you might use some other columns e.g. DOB as suggested by #shawnt00), then INSERT the data from UsersUpdated into Users using an ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE clause to copy updated data into Users where the user already exists in that table. This query will also work when there are users in UsersUpdated who are not already in Users. So,
ALTER TABLE Users ADD UNIQUE KEY NameAddr (FSTNME, LSTNME, ADDR);
INSERT INTO Users
SELECT * FROM UsersUpdated
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE
FULLNME=VALUES(FULLNME),
LSTNME=VALUES(LSTNME),
FSTNME=VALUKES(FSTNME),
...
LTR=VALUES(LTR),
REGISTERED=VALUES(REGISTERED);