Generate GUID in MySQL for existing Data?

select @i:=uuid();
update some_table set guid = (@i:=uuid());

The approved solution does create unique IDs but on first glance they look identical, only the first few characters differ.

If you want visibly different keys, try this:

update CityPopCountry set id = (select md5(UUID()));


MySQL [imran@lenovo] {world}> select city, id from CityPopCountry limit 10;
+------------------------+----------------------------------+
| city                   | id                               |
+------------------------+----------------------------------+
| A Coruña (La Coruña)   | c9f294a986a1a14f0fe68467769feec7 |
| Aachen                 | d6172223a472bdc5f25871427ba64e46 |
| Aalborg                | 8d11bc300f203eb9cb7da7cb9204aa8f |
| Aba                    | 98aeeec8aa81a4064113764864114a99 |
| Abadan                 | 7aafe6bfe44b338f99021cbd24096302 |
| Abaetetuba             | 9dd331c21b983c3a68d00ef6e5852bb5 |
| Abakan                 | e2206290ce91574bc26d0443ef50fc05 |
| Abbotsford             | 50ca17be25d1d5c2ac6760e179b7fd15 |
| Abeokuta               | ab026fa6238e2ab7ee0d76a1351f116f |
| Aberdeen               | d85eef763393862e5fe318ca652eb16d |
+------------------------+----------------------------------+

I'm using MySQL Server version: 5.5.40-0+wheezy1 (Debian)

I had a need to add a guid primary key column in an existing table and populate it with unique GUID's and this update query with inner select worked for me:

UPDATE sri_issued_quiz SET quiz_id=(SELECT uuid());

So simple :-)

I'm not sure if it's the easiest way, but it works. The idea is to create a trigger that does all work for you, then, to execute a query that updates your table, and finally to drop this trigger:

delimiter //
create trigger beforeYourTableUpdate  BEFORE UPDATE on YourTable
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
  SET new.guid_column := (SELECT UUID());
END
//

Then execute

UPDATE YourTable set guid_column = (SELECT UUID());

And DROP TRIGGER beforeYourTableUpdate;

UPDATE Another solution that doesn't use triggers, but requires primary key or unique index :

UPDATE YourTable,
INNER JOIN (SELECT unique_col, UUID() as new_id FROM YourTable) new_data 
ON (new_data.unique_col = YourTable.unique_col)
SET guid_column = new_data.new_id

UPDATE once again: It seems that your original query should also work (maybe you don't need WHERE columnID is not null, so all my fancy code is not needed.