[sql] SQL UPDATE all values in a field with appended string CONCAT not working

Here is what I want to do:

current table:

+----+-------------+  
| id | data        |  
+----+-------------+  
|  1 | max         |  
|  2 | linda       |  
|  3 | sam         |  
|  4 | henry       |  
+----+-------------+  

Mystery Query ( something like "UPDATE table SET data = CONCAT(data, 'a')" )

resulting table:

+----+-------------+  
| id | data        |  
+----+-------------+  
|  1 | maxa        |  
|  2 | lindaa      |  
|  3 | sama        |  
|  4 | henrya      |  
+----+-------------+  

thats it! I just need to do it in a single query, but can't seem to find a way. I am using mySQL on bluehost (I think its version 4.1)

Thanks everyone.

Solved it. Turns out the column had a limited set of characters it would accept, changed it, and now the query works fine.

UPDATE 
    myTable
SET 
    col = CONCAT( col , "string" )

Could not work it out. The request syntax was correct, but "0 line affected" when executed.

The solution was :

UPDATE 
    myTable 
SET 
    col = CONCAT( myTable.col , "string" )

That one worked.

You can do this:

Update myTable
SET spares = (SELECT CASE WHEN spares IS NULL THEN '' ELSE spares END AS spares WHERE id = 1) + 'some text'
WHERE id = 1

field = field + value does not work when field is null.

UPDATE mytable SET spares = CONCAT(spares, ',', '818') WHERE id = 1

not working for me.

spares is NULL by default but its varchar

CONCAT with a null value returns null, so the easiest solution is:

UPDATE myTable SET spares = IFNULL (CONCAT( spares , "string" ), "string")

convert the NULL values with empty string by wrapping it in COALESCE

"UPDATE table SET data = CONCAT(COALESCE(`data`,''), 'a')"

OR

Use CONCAT_WS instead:

"UPDATE table SET data = CONCAT_WS(',',data, 'a')"