how to direct select output to insert input

[Bill Davidson]

On Thu, 27 Mar 2003 19:11:37 -0800
"Net Llama!" <netllama at linux-sxs.org> wrote:

> On 03/27/03 19:10, Bill Davidson wrote:
> > On Thu, 27 Mar 2003 17:45:33 -0800
> > "Net Llama!" <netllama at linux-sxs.org> wrote:
> > 
> >> i've got an Oracle (9i, if that matters) problem.  i need to
> >> essentially copy all the data from a single column (call it a) in a
> >> table into a different column (call it b) in the same table.  both
> >a> and b are the same datatype, and b is currently empty.  i've tried
> >the> following, but it fails:
> >> insert into table_foo (b) values ((select a from table_foo));
> >> 
> >> i think the problem is that its attempting to insert all the rows
> >from> a into a single row of b.  i just don't know how to work around
> >this. > anyone have any ideas or suggestions?  thanks!
> > 
> > How about:
> > insert into table_foo (b) select a from table_foo;
> 
> ORA-01400: cannot insert NULL

I was just about to correct that post. INSERT creates a new row. It
sounds like you need to UPDATE. I don't know how to to update multiple
rows with different data. Sorry.

Bill