Roger, Thanks for the additional clarification
Albert Atlanta ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Baklund" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Albert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 8:00 AM Subject: Re: insert ... select .. order by, problem > * Albert > > Stefan, > > I'm Roger, but I reply anyway. :) > > > Do you imply that tables cannot be sorted desc or asc based on one of the > > columns e.g. a last name? or am I misunderstanding you. > > In relational database theory the order of rows within the table is > undefined, i.e. it is up to the server, and the server can re-organize a > table at any time. If you want an ordered result, you have to use ORDER BY > in your SELECT statement. > > However, the MySQL server has some features that can be used to achieve > exactly what you ask. It is possible to sort a table physically, in order to > do faster reads later. The order is however destroyed if you do additional > inserts. See the ORDER BY option of the ALTER TABLE statement: > > "ORDER BY allows you to create the new table with the rows in a specific > order. Note that the table will not remain in this order after inserts and > deletes. In some cases, it may make sorting easier for MySQL if the table is > in order by the column that you wish to order it by later. This option is > mainly useful when you know that you are mostly going to query the rows in a > certain order; by using this option after big changes to the table, you may > be able to get higher performance." > > <URL: http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/ALTER_TABLE.html > > > -- > Roger > -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
