"Insert if not exists" statement in SQLite

I have an SQLite database. I am trying to insert values (users_id, lessoninfo_id) in table bookmarks, only if both do not exist before in a row.

INSERT INTO bookmarks(users_id,lessoninfo_id) VALUES( (SELECT _id FROM Users WHERE User='"+$('#user_lesson').html()+"'), (SELECT _id FROM lessoninfo WHERE Lesson="+lesson_no+" AND cast(starttime AS int)="+Math.floor(result_set.rows.item(markerCount-1).starttime)+") WHERE NOT EXISTS ( SELECT users_id,lessoninfo_id from bookmarks WHERE users_id=(SELECT _id FROM Users WHERE User='"+$('#user_lesson').html()+"') AND lessoninfo_id=( SELECT _id FROM lessoninfo WHERE Lesson="+lesson_no+"))) 

This gives an error saying:

db error near where syntax.

4 Answers

If you never want to have duplicates, you should declare this as a table constraint:

CREATE TABLE bookmarks( users_id INTEGER, lessoninfo_id INTEGER, UNIQUE(users_id, lessoninfo_id) ); 

(A primary key over both columns would have the same effect.)

It is then possible to tell the database that you want to silently ignore records that would violate such a constraint:

INSERT OR IGNORE INTO bookmarks(users_id, lessoninfo_id) VALUES(123, 456) 

If you have a table called memos that has two columns id and text you should be able to do like this:

INSERT INTO memos(id,text) SELECT 5, 'text to insert' WHERE NOT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM memos WHERE id = 5 AND text = 'text to insert'); 

If a record already contains a row where text is equal to 'text to insert' and id is equal to 5, then the insert operation will be ignored.

I don't know if this will work for your particular query, but perhaps it give you a hint on how to proceed.

I would advice that you instead design your table so that no duplicates are allowed as explained in @CLs answer below.

For a unique column, use this:

INSERT OR REPLACE INTO tableName (...) values(...); 

For more information, see:

insert into bookmarks (users_id, lessoninfo_id) select 1, 167 EXCEPT select user_id, lessoninfo_id from bookmarks where user_id=1 and lessoninfo_id=167; 

This is the fastest way.

For some other SQL engines, you can use a Dummy table containing 1 record. e.g:

select 1, 167 from ONE_RECORD_DUMMY_TABLE