update query with select query

[thomas msofe]

hello there;

im trying to use the following piece of code but it doest work,

UPDATE itermdesc SET qnty = ( SELECT qnty -1
FROM itermdesc
WHERE itermcode =1001 )
WHERE itermcode =1001

it display the following error

You can't specify target table 'itermdesc' for update in FROM clause

Any quick help would be much appreciated!
thanx

[C CSR]

try something like: UPDATE itermdesc SET qnty = (qnty -1)
WHERE itermcode =1001.

get rid of the statement inside the statement.