When records are given a new value, it is called

In database management, several standard operations are used to maintain and manipulate stored records: insertion (adding new records), deletion (removing existing records), retrieval (reading or fetching records), and updating (changing the values already held in an existing record).

When a record is given a new value, meaning one or more of its existing fields are changed to reflect new or corrected information, such as updating a student's address after they move, this operation is called updation (updating). The record already exists in the database; only its stored value changes.

Insertion is different because it adds a brand-new record that did not exist before, rather than changing a value inside a record that already exists. Deletion removes a record entirely rather than altering its content, and retrieval only reads existing data without changing it at all.

Exam tip: match each database keyword to its action: insertion adds a new record, deletion removes one, retrieval reads one, and updation is the only one of the four that changes the value already stored in an existing record.