public abstract int executeUpdate (String sql) throws SQLException

Executes the given SQL statement, which may be an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement or an SQL statement that returns nothing, such as an SQL DDL statement.

Note:This method cannot be called on a PreparedStatement or CallableStatement.

Parameters:
sql    an SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML) statement, such as INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE; or an SQL statement that returns nothing, such as a DDL statement.

Returns:  either (1) the row count for SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements or (2) 0 for SQL statements that return nothing

Exceptions:
SQLException    if a database access error occurs, this method is called on a closed Statement, the given SQL statement produces a ResultSet object, the method is called on a PreparedStatement or CallableStatement
SQLTimeoutException    when the driver has determined that the timeout value that was specified by the setQueryTimeout method has been exceeded and has at least attempted to cancel the currently running Statement