Doing a WHERE IN on multiple columns in Postgresql

Question

I have a table \'answers\' with an indexed \'problem_id\' integer column, a \'times_chosen\' integer column, and an \'option\' column that\'s a varchar. Currently the only v

Answer 1

You can do this if you cast the data to an array first:

UPDATE answers
SET times_chosen = times_chosen + 1
WHERE ARRAY[problem_id::VARCHAR,option] IN ('{4509,B}', '{622,C}', ... )

However, this will be incredibly inefficient, as it cannot use indexes. Using a JOIN as suggested by @Frank Farmer is a far better solution:

UPDATE answers a
SET times_chosen = times_chosen + 1
FROM (VALUES (4509,'B'), (622,'C') ...) AS x (id,o)
    WHERE x.id=a.problem_id AND x.o=a.option;