appending data with sql

Hello, is there a way in sql to insert data into a "Master" table from a "Working" table and only insert the fields that are in the "Working" table which exist in the "Master" table without looping through the fields and building a statement?

Example:
Master Table Fields: PartNum, Desc, MFR, MFRNum
Working Table Fields: PartNum, Desc, Other Desc, MFR, MFRNum

Is there a way to insert all of the fields in working table into master table where the field working table exists in master? I have to loop through both tables and do a check against the fields to build an array of matching fields currently, but I was just wondering if theres an SQL function that will do it.

Thanks!
Thai

This sql will copy in the records that are missing from the one table to the other (insert)

insert into master select * from working where unique_key not in(select unique_key from from master)


But it really sounds like you want to update matching data:

update master set a.field1=b.field1, a.field2=b.field2 from working a, master b where a.unique_key=b.unique_key

This works on SQL server (the update..from construct is a T-SQL extension to SQL) but I do not know about access.

I am working with SQL Server.. so this should update the append data from one table to another where the field NAMES match?

thanks,
Thai

Yes. Just make sure that your where clause ties the records between the two tables on a one to one (record) basis.