Syntax error with IF EXISTS UPDATE ELSE INSERT

exists, insert, mysql, php

Solution

Here is a simple and easy solution, try it.

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM licensing_active WHERE title_1 ='$title_1' ");

if( mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
    mysql_query("UPDATE licensing_active SET time = '$time' WHERE title_1 = '$title_1' ");
}
else
{
    mysql_query("INSERT INTO licensing_active (title_1) VALUES ('$title_1') ");
}

Note: Though this question is from 2012, keep in mind that mysql_* functions are no longer available since PHP 7.

Problem

I'm using MySQL 5.1 hosted at my ISP. This is my query ``` mysql_query(" IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM licensing_active WHERE title_1='$title_1') THEN BEGIN UPDATE licensing_active SET time='$time' WHERE title_1='$title_1') END ELSE BEGIN INSERT INTO licensing_active(title_1) VALUES('$title_1') END ") or die(mysql_error()); ``` The error is ``` ... check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM licensing_active WHERE title_1='Title1') THEN ' at line 1 ``` My actual task involves ``` WHERE title_1='$title_1' AND title_2='$title_2' AND version='$version' ...ETC... ``` but I have reduced it down to make things simpler for my problem solving In my searches on this, I keep seeing references to 'ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE', but don't know what to do with that.

Original source