EXPLAIN Join Types
The type
column of EXPLAIN
output describes how tables are joined. In JSON-formatted output, these are found as values of the access_type
property. The following list describes the join types, ordered from the best type to the worst:
-
The table has only one row (= system table). This is a special case of the
const
join type. -
The table has at most one matching row, which is read at the start of the query. Because there is only one row, values from the column in this row can be regarded as constants by the rest of the optimizer.
const
tables are very fast because they are read only once.const
is used when you compare all parts of aPRIMARY KEY
orUNIQUE
index to constant values. In the following queries,tbl_name
can be used as aconst
table:SELECT * FROM
tbl_name
WHEREprimary_key
=1; SELECT * FROMtbl_name
WHEREprimary_key_part1
=1 ANDprimary_key_part2
=2; -
One row is read from this table for each combination of rows from the previous tables. Other than the
system
andconst
types, this is the best possible join type. It is used when all parts of an index are used by the join and the index is aPRIMARY KEY
orUNIQUE NOT NULL
index.eq_ref
can be used for indexed columns that are compared using the=
operator. The comparison value can be a constant or an expression that uses columns from tables that are read before this table. In the following examples, MySQL can use aneq_ref
join to processref_table
:SELECT * FROM
ref_table
,other_table
WHEREref_table
.key_column
=other_table
.column
; SELECT * FROMref_table
,other_table
WHEREref_table
.key_column_part1
=other_table
.column
ANDref_table
.key_column_part2
=1; -
All rows with matching index values are read from this table for each combination of rows from the previous tables.
ref
is used if the join uses only a leftmost prefix of the key or if the key is not aPRIMARY KEY
orUNIQUE
index (in other words, if the join cannot select a single row based on the key value). If the key that is used matches only a few rows, this is a good join type.ref
can be used for indexed columns that are compared using the=
or<=>
operator. In the following examples, MySQL can use aref
join to processref_table
:SELECT * FROM
ref_table
WHEREkey_column
=expr
; SELECT * FROMref_table
,other_table
WHEREref_table
.key_column
=other_table
.column
; SELECT * FROMref_table
,other_table
WHEREref_table
.key_column_part1
=other_table
.column
ANDref_table
.key_column_part2
=1; -
The join is performed using a
FULLTEXT
index. -
This join type is like
ref
, but with the addition that MySQL does an extra search for rows that containNULL
values. This join type optimization is used most often in resolving subqueries. In the following examples, MySQL can use aref_or_null
join to processref_table
:SELECT * FROM
ref_table
WHEREkey_column
=expr
ORkey_column
IS NULL; -
This join type indicates that the Index Merge optimization is used. In this case, the
key
column in the output row contains a list of indexes used, andkey_len
contains a list of the longest key parts for the indexes used. For more information, see Section 8.2.1.4, “Index Merge Optimization”. -
This type replaces
ref
for someIN
subqueries of the following form:value
IN (SELECTprimary_key
FROMsingle_table
WHEREsome_expr
)unique_subquery
is just an index lookup function that replaces the subquery completely for better efficiency. -
This join type is similar to
unique_subquery
. It replacesIN
subqueries, but it works for nonunique indexes in subqueries of the following form:value
IN (SELECTkey_column
FROMsingle_table
WHEREsome_expr
) -
Only rows that are in a given range are retrieved, using an index to select the rows. The
key
column in the output row indicates which index is used. Thekey_len
contains the longest key part that was used. Theref
column isNULL
for this type.range
can be used when a key column is compared to a constant using any of the=
,<>
,>
,>=
,<
,<=
,IS NULL
,<=>
,BETWEEN
, orIN()
operators:SELECT * FROM
tbl_name
WHEREkey_column
= 10; SELECT * FROMtbl_name
WHEREkey_column
BETWEEN 10 and 20; SELECT * FROMtbl_name
WHEREkey_column
IN (10,20,30); SELECT * FROMtbl_name
WHEREkey_part1
= 10 ANDkey_part2
IN (10,20,30); -
The
index
join type is the same asALL
, except that the index tree is scanned. This occurs two ways:-
If the index is a covering index for the queries and can be used to satisfy all data required from the table, only the index tree is scanned. In this case, the
Extra
column saysUsing index
. An index-only scan usually is faster thanALL
because the size of the index usually is smaller than the table data. -
A full table scan is performed using reads from the index to look up data rows in index order.
Uses index
does not appear in theExtra
column.
MySQL can use this join type when the query uses only columns that are part of a single index.
-
-
A full table scan is done for each combination of rows from the previous tables. This is normally not good if the table is the first table not marked
const
, and usually very bad in all other cases. Normally, you can avoidALL
by adding indexes that enable row retrieval from the table based on constant values or column values from earlier tables.