UPDATE im
SET mf_item_number = gm.SKU --etc
FROM item_master im
JOIN group_master gm
    ON im.sku = gm.sku 
JOIN Manufacturer_Master mm
    ON gm.ManufacturerID = mm.ManufacturerID
WHERE im.mf_item_number like 'STA%' AND
      gm.manufacturerID = 34

为了说清楚…UPDATE子句可以引用FROM子句中指定的表别名。所以在这种情况下im是有效的

通用的例子

UPDATE A
SET foo = B.bar
FROM TableA A
JOIN TableB B
    ON A.col1 = B.colx
WHERE ...

让我给所有现有的答案加上一个警告:

当使用SELECT…FROM语法，您应该记住它是T-SQL的专有语法，并且是非确定性的。最糟糕的是，你没有得到警告或错误，它只是顺利地执行。

完整的解释和示例在文档中:

在指定FROM子句为更新操作提供条件时，请谨慎使用。UPDATE语句的结果是未定义的，如果该语句包含一个FROM子句，而该子句没有指定为每个被更新的列只有一个值可用，也就是说UPDATE语句不是确定的。

你可以用MERGE命令更新，对MATCHED和NOT MATCHED有更多的控制:(我稍微改变了源代码，以证明我的观点)

USE tempdb;
GO
IF(OBJECT_ID('target') > 0)DROP TABLE dbo.target
IF(OBJECT_ID('source') > 0)DROP TABLE dbo.source
CREATE TABLE dbo.Target
    (
      EmployeeID INT ,
      EmployeeName VARCHAR(100) ,
      CONSTRAINT Target_PK PRIMARY KEY ( EmployeeID )
    );
CREATE TABLE dbo.Source
    (
      EmployeeID INT ,
      EmployeeName VARCHAR(100) ,
      CONSTRAINT Source_PK PRIMARY KEY ( EmployeeID )
    );
GO
INSERT  dbo.Target
        ( EmployeeID, EmployeeName )
VALUES  ( 100, 'Mary' );
INSERT  dbo.Target
        ( EmployeeID, EmployeeName )
VALUES  ( 101, 'Sara' );
INSERT  dbo.Target
        ( EmployeeID, EmployeeName )
VALUES  ( 102, 'Stefano' );

GO
INSERT  dbo.Source
        ( EmployeeID, EmployeeName )
VALUES  ( 100, 'Bob' );
INSERT  dbo.Source
        ( EmployeeID, EmployeeName )
VALUES  ( 104, 'Steve' );
GO

SELECT * FROM dbo.Source
SELECT * FROM dbo.Target

MERGE Target AS T
USING Source AS S
ON ( T.EmployeeID = S.EmployeeID )
WHEN MATCHED THEN
    UPDATE SET T.EmployeeName = S.EmployeeName + '[Updated]';
GO 
SELECT '-------After Merge----------'
SELECT * FROM dbo.Source
SELECT * FROM dbo.Target

最简单的方法之一是使用公共表表达式(因为你已经在SQL 2005上了):

with cte as (
select
    im.itemid
    ,im.sku as iSku
    ,gm.SKU as GSKU
    ,mm.ManufacturerId as ManuId
    ,mm.ManufacturerName
    ,im.mf_item_number
    ,mm.ManufacturerID
    , <your other field>
from 
    item_master im, group_master gm, Manufacturer_Master mm 
where
    im.mf_item_number like 'STA%'
    and im.sku=gm.sku
    and gm.ManufacturerID = mm.ManufacturerID
    and gm.manufacturerID=34)
update cte set mf_item_number = <your other field>

查询执行引擎将自行确定如何更新记录。

上面没有使用sql，这里有一个基于连接语句更新表的例子。

UPDATE p
SET    p.category = c.category
FROM   products p
       INNER JOIN prodductcatagories pg
            ON  p.productid = pg.productid
       INNER JOIN categories c
            ON  pg.categoryid = c.cateogryid
WHERE  c.categories LIKE 'whole%'

将其应用到MySQL中——UPDATE中没有FROM子句，但这是可行的:

UPDATE
    item_master im
    JOIN
    group_master gm ON im.sku=gm.sku 
    JOIN
    Manufacturer_Master mm ON gm.ManufacturerID=mm.ManufacturerID
SET
    im.mf_item_number = gm.SKU --etc
WHERE
    im.mf_item_number like 'STA%'
    AND
    gm.manufacturerID=34