# Update Iceberg table data
<a name="querying-iceberg-updating-iceberg-table-data"></a>

You can manage Iceberg table data directly on Athena by using `INSERT`, `UPDATE`, and `DELETE` queries. Each data management transaction produces a new snapshot, which can be queried using time travel. The `UPDATE` and `DELETE` statements follow the Iceberg format v2 row-level [position delete](https://iceberg.apache.org/spec/#position-delete-files) specification and enforce snapshot isolation.

**Note**  
Athena SQL does not currently support the copy-on-write approach. The `UPDATE`, `MERGE INTO`, and `DELETE FROM` operations always use the merge-on-read approach with positional deletes, regardless of specified table properties. In case you have setup table properties such as `write.update.mode`, `write.merge.mode`, and/or `write.delete.mode` to use copy-on-write, your queries won't fail as Athena will ignore them and keep using merge-on-read. 

Use the following commands to perform data management operations on Iceberg tables.

**Topics**
+ [INSERT INTO](querying-iceberg-insert-into.md)
+ [DELETE](querying-iceberg-delete.md)
+ [UPDATE](querying-iceberg-update.md)
+ [MERGE INTO](querying-iceberg-merge-into.md)