You can use a simple UPDATE statement without a WHERE clause.

General Syntax

UPDATE table_name
SET column_name = default_value;

Without WHERE → it affects every row in the table.

With WHERE → it affects only rows matching the condition.

Example

Imagine you have a Users table:

user_id	name	status
1	Alice	NULL
2	Bob	NULL
3	Charlie	NULL

Now, you want to set the status column to 'Active' for all users.

✅ Here’s the SQL:

UPDATE Users
SET status = 'Active';

✅ Result:

user_id	name	status
1	Alice	Active
2	Bob	Active
3	Charlie	Active

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Important Points

• Be careful: Without WHERE, it affects all rows — no filtering!
• You can set constants, functions, or default expressions.
  • E.g., set a timestamp:

UPDATE Orders SET order_date = CURRENT_DATE;

Bonus: Reset to Default Value (if defined)

If your column has a DEFAULT value defined in the table schema, you can:

• In PostgreSQL:

UPDATE Users
SET status = DEFAULT;

But in MySQL and SQL Server, DEFAULT in UPDATE is not supported — you have to explicitly set the default value manually.

In Short

To update all rows, just omit the WHERE clause:

✅ All rows will be updated.