I understand that an index is used to "speed stuff up", but am foggy on the details. Eg, let's say I have an "authors" table with fname, mname, and lname fields for first, middle and last names. Plus an auto_increment primary key. I will want to sort on author last name for output of sorted authors, and also want to prevent duplicate author names from being inserted. So, how would I set up an appropriate index, and then how would I use it in the client code?
I assume I set up the index like so in the create table: ... unique index (lname, fname, mname) ? Do I give the index a name? I notice this is optional in the syntax. What's the reason to give/not give an index a name? How do I tell my client code to "use the index" for sorting? select lname, fname from authors order by ...? Any advice for this newbie appreciated. Thanks, Chris --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
