> > okay, with gdb i can see that this column becomes a blob (thereby > > not allowing heap tables to be used - which has got to be costing > > me speed), is there any function i can use to 'cast' this column > > to a fixed length? > > hrm, apparently LEFT(SUBSTRING(MAX(CONCAT())), N) will do > that for me... sorry for thinking out loud ;-) ahh, this works generically for the 'create table' portion of it, but in order to prevent the blob from being in the tmp table, this really needs to be SUBSTRING(MAX(LEFT(CONCAT(),N))) because the contents of MAX() wind up in the tmp table. and N <= 255 (with the potential truncation of data realized as a possibility) to avoid blobishness. or, i could redesign my tables so that the total length of the columns/constants used in CONCAT() was <= 255... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
