How to update a value incrementally (+1) in MySQL

Updating a value incrementally in MySQL is a common task for developers. It is useful when you want to keep track of something, such as the number of times a user has performed a certain action. In this blog post, we will discuss how to update a value incrementally in MySQL using the UPDATE statement and the SET clause.

Tools used in this tutorial

DbVisualizer, top rated database management tool and SQL client
The MySQL database version 8 or later

The UPDATE Statement

The UPDATE statement is used to modify existing data in a table. The SET clause is used to specify the columns to be updated and the new values for those columns. To update an integer value, you can use the + operator along with the column name. Here is an example:

1 UPDATE table_name SET column_name = column_name + 1 WHERE condition;

In this example, table_name is the name of the table, column_name is the name of the column to be updated, and condition is the condition that must be met for the update to occur. The column_name + 1 syntax increments the column's current value by 1.

Examples

Let's say we have a table named users with a column named login_count. We want to increment the login_count column by 1 every time a user logs in. Here is the SQL query we can use:

1 UPDATE users SET login_count = login_count + 1 WHERE id = 1;

This query will update the login_count column of the user with an id of 1 by adding 1 to the current value.

Conclusion

Updating a value in MySQL is a simple task that can be accomplished using the UPDATE statement together with the SET clause. By using the + operator along with the column name and integers you can easily increment the current value of a column by an integer. This is useful when you want to increment the value of a column again, again, and again to create a “snowball” effect when a user performs a specific action.