REPLACE vs. INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE UPDATE in MySQL

REPLACE works exactly like INSERT, except that if an old row in the table has the same value as a new row for a PRIMARY KEY or a UNIQUE index, the old row is deleted before the new row is inserted.

REPLACE is a MySQL extension to the SQL standard. It either inserts, or deletes and inserts.

For another MySQL extension to standard SQL — that either inserts or updates — it should be use “INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE Syntax”.

If you specify ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE, and a row is inserted that would cause a duplicate value in a UNIQUE index or PRIMARY KEY, an UPDATE of the old row is performed.

REPLACE (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/replace.html)

INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE UPDATE (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/insert-on-duplicate.html)