Re: What is better? A large query? or too many short ones?

[KimSeong Loh]

MySQL is a realtional database that store data in rows, so the fields in a row is stored in sequence, whenever you update 1 field, the whole will be rewritten.

If you update 40 fields in the same row using 1 update statement, the row is only written once.

If you want to update 40 fields of the same row using 40 update statments, the row could be rewritten 40 times, once for each update.

There is no need to combine the 40 fields into a single field, in fact it could be a bad thing to do. You can update many fields in the same row using the same update statement