---
title: "General Syntax of UPDATE"
url: https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/zcql/update/
description: "ZCQL is Catalyst's own query language modelled after familiar query languages that you can use to query your app's database efficiently."
last_updated: 2023-08-28T12:42:09Z
service: Cloud Scale
type: general
---

# UPDATE

### General Syntax of UPDATE

The `UPDATE` command enables you to update specific column values of existing records of a table in the Data Store. You can update the values of columns based on certain conditions. These conditions can be specified using the [`WHERE` clause](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/zcql/update/#WHERE), which we will discuss later on in detail.

The general syntax of a basic ZCQL data updation operation is as follows:

```sql
UPDATE {BASE_TABLE_NAME} SET {COLUMN_NAME}={VALUE}[WHERE {WHERE_CONDITION}]
```

> **Note:**

* Ensure that you provide the right value for a column that matches the column's data type.
* For columns where the _IsUnique_ constraint is enabled, ensure that you don't enter values that are already present in other records. Similarly, for the columns where the _IsMandatory_ validator is enabled, ensure that you do not leave the data value blank.
* For a column where the data type is a **Foreign Key**, you must provide the ROWID of the parent table's record which it refers, as its value.

**Example:**

To update the value of a specific movie name referred to by its _MovieID_ in the _Movies_ table, execute the following query:

```sql
UPDATE Movies SET MovieName='The Equalizer 2'WHERE MovieID=2056
```

> **Note:** Similar to data insertion, if the values to be updated are String values, you must pass the values enclosed in single quotations.