[sql] Bulk Record Update with SQL

I have two tables in a SQL Server 2008 environment with the following structure

Table1
- ID
- DescriptionID
- Description

Table2
- ID
- Description

Table1.DescriptionID maps to Table2.ID. However, I do not need it any more. I would like to do a bulk update to set the Description property of Table1 to the value associated with it in Table2. In other words I want to do something like this:

UPDATE
  [Table1] 
SET
  [Description]=(SELECT [Description] FROM [Table2] t2 WHERE t2.[ID]=Table1.DescriptionID)

However, I'm not sure if this is the appropriate approach. Can someone show me how to do this?

The SQL you posted in your question is one way to do it. Most things in SQL have more than one way to do it.

UPDATE
  [Table1] 
SET
  [Description]=(SELECT [Description] FROM [Table2] t2 WHERE t2.[ID]=Table1.DescriptionID)

If you are planning on running this on a PROD DB, it is best to create a snapshot or mirror of it first and test it out. Verify the data ends up as you expect for a couple records. And if you are satisfied, run it on the real DB.

You can do this through a regular UPDATE with a JOIN

UPDATE T1
SET Description = T2.Description
   FROM Table1 T1
      JOIN Table2 T2
         ON T2.ID = T1.DescriptionId

Or you can simply update without using join like this:

Update t1 set  t1.Description = t2.Description from @tbl2 t2,tbl1 t1
where t1.ID= t2.ID

Your approach is OK

Maybe slightly clearer (to me anyway!)

UPDATE
  T1
SET
  [Description] = t2.[Description]
FROM
   Table1 T1
   JOIN
   [Table2] t2 ON t2.[ID] = t1.DescriptionID

Both this and your query should run the same performance wise because it is the same query, just laid out differently.