不要使用上面的一些答案。

有些人建议使用嵌套SELECT，不要这样做，它非常慢。如果你有很多记录要更新，使用join，就像这样:

update (select bonus 
        from employee_bonus b 
        inner join employees e on b.employee_id = e.employee_id 
        where e.bonus_eligible = 'N') t
set t.bonus = 0;

更多细节请参见此链接。 http://geekswithblogs.net/WillSmith/archive/2008/06/18/oracle-update-with-join-again.aspx。

另外，确保所有要连接的表上都有主键。

对table2使用description而不是desc，

update
  table1
set
  value = (select code from table2 where description = table1.value)
where
  exists (select 1 from table2 where description = table1.value)
  and
  table1.updatetype = 'blah'
;

用这个:

MERGE
INTO    table1 trg
USING   (
        SELECT  t1.rowid AS rid, t2.code
        FROM    table1 t1
        JOIN    table2 t2
        ON      table1.value = table2.DESC
        WHERE   table1.UPDATETYPE='blah'
        ) src
ON      (trg.rowid = src.rid)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE
    SET trg.value = code;

UPDATE IP_ADMISSION_REQUEST ip1
SET IP1.WRIST_BAND_PRINT_STATUS=0
WHERE IP1.IP_ADM_REQ_ID        =
  (SELECT IP.IP_ADM_REQ_ID
  FROM IP_ADMISSION_REQUEST ip
  INNER JOIN VISIT v
  ON ip.ip_visit_id=v.visit_id
  AND v.pat_id     =3702
  ); `enter code here`

 UPDATE ( SELECT t1.value, t2.CODE
          FROM table1 t1
          INNER JOIN table2 t2 ON t1.Value = t2.DESC
          WHERE t1.UPDATETYPE='blah')
 SET t1.Value= t2.CODE

它工作得很好

merge into table1 t1
using (select * from table2) t2
on (t1.empid = t2.empid)
when matched then update set t1.salary = t2.salary