BEGIN statement

Each statement within SurrealDB is run within its own transaction. If a set of changes need to be made together, then groups of statements can be run together as a single transaction, either succeeding as a whole, or failing without leaving any residual data modifications.

The BEGIN TRANSACTION statement can be used to run a group of statements together, either succeeding as a whole, or failing. If all of the statements within a transaction succeed, and the transaction is successful, then all of the data modifications made during the transaction are committed and become a permanent part of the database. If a transaction encounters errors and must be cancelled or rolled back, then any data modification made within the transaction is rolledback, and will not be visible within the database.

Statement syntax

BEGIN [ TRANSACTION ];

Example usage

The following query shows example usage of this statement.

-- Start a new database transaction. Transactions are a way to ensure multiple operations
-- either all succeed or all fail, maintaining data integrity.
BEGIN TRANSACTION;

-- Create a new account with the ID 'one' and set its initial balance to 135,605.16
CREATE account:one SET balance = 135,605.16;

-- Create another new account with the ID 'two' and set its initial balance to 91,031.31
CREATE account:two SET balance = 91,031.31;

-- Update the balance of account 'one' by adding 300.00 to the current balance.
-- This could represent a deposit or other form of credit on the balance property.
UPDATE account:one SET balance += 300.00;

-- Update the balance of account 'two' by subtracting 300.00 from the current balance.
-- This could represent a withdrawal or other form of debit on the balance property.
UPDATE account:two SET balance -= 300.00;

-- Finalize the transaction. This will apply the changes to the database. If there was an error
-- during any of the previous steps within the transaction, all changes would be rolled back and
-- the database would remain in its initial state.
COMMIT TRANSACTION;