SQL Server Data Use Existence Checks
Published 08 May 2026
Description
Adds IF NOT EXISTS checks around INSERT statements so that each row is only inserted if it does not already exist in the target database.
For example:
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM [dbo].[TableName] WHERE [KeyColumn] = @KeyValue)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[TableName] ([KeyColumn], ...) VALUES (@KeyValue, ...)
Type
Boolean
Default
false
Usage
Flyway Desktop
This can be set from the data comparison options settings in SQL Server projects.
Command-line
./flyway diff -redgateCompare.sqlserver.data.options.deployment.useExistenceChecks=true
TOML Configuration File
[redgateCompare.sqlserver.data.options.deployment]
useExistenceChecks = true
