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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-25T20:24:02+00:00

I have a Database DB with a table name population but with no Primary

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I have a Database DB with a table name population but with no Primary Key. Means it can have duplication of data. For example: I have 5 families (f1,f2,f3,f4,f5) with different members inside it (and members may have same name). So I can have exactly same type of record in more than 1 row. Now I want to edit just 1 member of the family, but it is editing all the duplicate records. What I want to do is, I just want to Update my Database once and only once. In other words, I want to use UPDATE command to execute just once. How to do it?
I am using Sql Server Express, VS2010, C# 4.0 (if this info matters).
I am pretty sure my problem may sound stupid to some people (probably many). But it is just a dummy of my problem. Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I know it’s not exactly what you’re asking but seriously, the easiest option is to alter the database to have a primary key and use that. Perhaps an Identity key….

    Without that, you could update just one record, but you have no guarantee of which record. This is why primary keys are such as fundamental concept. I suppose this doesn’t really matter if they are all the same, so….

    If you really want to proceed without a primary key, you need to use the TOP keyword as shown here: How do I update n rows in a table?

    Set it to 

    UPDATE TOP 1 ....
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