MySQL Reference Manual for version 3.23.0.

• 1 General Information about MySQL
  • 1.1 What is MySQL?
  • 1.2 About this manual
    • 1.2.1 Conventions used in this manual
  • 1.3 History of MySQL
  • 1.4 The main features of MySQL
  • 1.5 How stable is MySQL?
  • 1.6 Year 2000 compliance
  • 1.7 General SQL information and tutorials
  • 1.8 Useful MySQL-related links
• 2 MySQL mailing lists and how to ask questions or report errors (bugs)
  • 2.1 The MySQL mailing lists
  • 2.2 Asking questions or reporting bugs
  • 2.3 How to report bugs or problems
  • 2.4 Guidelines for answering questions on the mailing list
• 3 MySQL licensing and support
  • 3.1 MySQL licensing policy
  • 3.2 Copyrights used by MySQL
    • 3.2.1 Possible future copyright changes
  • 3.3 Distributing MySQL commercially
  • 3.4 Example licensing situations
    • 3.4.1 Selling products that use MySQL
    • 3.4.2 Selling MySQL-related services
    • 3.4.3 ISP MySQL services
    • 3.4.4 Running a web server using MySQL
  • 3.5 MySQL licensing and support costs
    • 3.5.1 Payment information
    • 3.5.2 Contact information
  • 3.6 Types of commercial support
    • 3.6.1 Basic email support
    • 3.6.2 Extended email support
    • 3.6.3 Login support
    • 3.6.4 Extended login support
• 4 Installing MySQL
  • 4.1 How to get MySQL
  • 4.2 Operating systems supported by MySQL
  • 4.3 Which MySQL version to use
  • 4.4 How and when updates are released
  • 4.5 Installation layouts
  • 4.6 Installing a MySQL binary distribution
    • 4.6.1 Linux RPM notes
    • 4.6.2 Building client programs
    • 4.6.3 System-specific issues
      • 4.6.3.1 Linux notes
      • 4.6.3.2 HP-UX notes
  • 4.7 Installing a MySQL source distribution
    • 4.7.1 Quick installation overview
    • 4.7.2 Applying patches
    • 4.7.3 Typical configure options
  • 4.8 Problems compiling?
  • 4.9 MIT-pthreads notes
  • 4.10 Perl installation comments
    • 4.10.1 Installing Perl on Unix
    • 4.10.2 Installing ActiveState Perl on Win32
    • 4.10.3 Installing the MySQL Perl distribution on Win32
    • 4.10.4 Problems using the Perl DBI/DBD interface
  • 4.11 System-specific issues
    • 4.11.1 Solaris notes
    • 4.11.2 Solaris 2.7 notes
    • 4.11.3 Solaris x86 notes
    • 4.11.4 SunOS 4 notes
    • 4.11.5 Linux notes (all Linux versions)
      • 4.11.5.1 Linux-x86 notes
      • 4.11.5.2 RedHat 5.0 notes
      • 4.11.5.3 RedHat 5.1 notes
      • 4.11.5.4 Linux-SPARC notes
      • 4.11.5.5 Linux-Alpha notes
      • 4.11.5.6 MkLinux notes
    • 4.11.6 Alpha-DEC-Unix notes
    • 4.11.7 Alpha-DEC-OSF1 notes
    • 4.11.8 SGI-Irix notes
    • 4.11.9 FreeBSD notes
      • 4.11.9.1 FreeBSD-3.0 notes
    • 4.11.10 BSD/OS notes
      • 4.11.10.1 BSD/OS 2.x notes
      • 4.11.10.2 BSD/OS 3.x notes
      • 4.11.10.3 BSD/OS 4.x notes
    • 4.11.11 SCO notes
    • 4.11.12 SCO Unixware 7.0 notes
    • 4.11.13 IBM-AIX notes
    • 4.11.14 HP-UX notes
  • 4.12 Win32 notes
    • 4.12.1 Installing MySQL on Win32
    • 4.12.2 Starting MySQL on Win95 / Win98
    • 4.12.3 Starting MySQL on NT
    • 4.12.4 Running MySQL on Win32
    • 4.12.5 Connecting to a remote MySQL from Win32 with SSH
    • 4.12.6 MySQL-Win32 compared to Unix MySQL
  • 4.13 OS/2 notes
  • 4.14 TcX binaries
  • 4.15 Post-installation setup and testing
    • 4.15.1 Problems running mysql_install_db
    • 4.15.2 Problems starting the MySQL server
    • 4.15.3 Starting and stopping MySQL automatically
    • 4.15.4 Option files
  • 4.16 Is there anything special to do when upgrading/downgrading MySQL?
    • 4.16.1 Upgrading from a 3.22 version to 3.23
    • 4.16.2 Upgrading from a 3.21 version to 3.22
    • 4.16.3 Upgrading from a 3.20 version to 3.21
    • 4.16.4 Upgrading to another architecture
• 5 How standards-compatible is MySQL?
  • 5.1 MySQL extensions to ANSI SQL92
  • 5.2 MySQL differences compared to ANSI SQL92
  • 5.3 Functionality missing from MySQL
    • 5.3.1 Sub-selects
    • 5.3.2 SELECT INTO TABLE
    • 5.3.3 Transactions
    • 5.3.4 Stored procedures and triggers
    • 5.3.5 Foreign Keys
      • 5.3.5.1 Reasons NOT to use foreign keys
    • 5.3.6 Views
    • 5.3.7 `--' as the start of a comment
  • 5.4 What standards does MySQL follow?
  • 5.5 How to cope without COMMIT-ROLLBACK
• 6 The MySQL access privilege system
  • 6.1 What the privilege system does
  • 6.2 MySQL user names and passwords
  • 6.3 Connecting to the MySQL server
  • 6.4 Keeping your password secure
  • 6.5 Privileges provided by MySQL
  • 6.6 How the privilege system works
  • 6.7 Access control, stage 1: Connection verification
  • 6.8 Access control, stage 2: Request verification
  • 6.9 When privilege changes take effect
  • 6.10 Setting up the initial MySQL privileges
  • 6.11 Adding new user privileges to MySQL
  • 6.12 How to set up passwords
  • 6.13 Causes of Access denied errors
  • 6.14 How to make MySQL secure against crackers
• 7 MySQL language reference
  • 7.1 Literals: how to write strings and numbers
    • 7.1.1 Strings
    • 7.1.2 Numbers
    • 7.1.3 NULL values
    • 7.1.4 Database, table, index, column and alias names
      • 7.1.4.1 Case sensitivity in names
  • 7.2 Column types
    • 7.2.1 Column type storage requirements
    • 7.2.5 Numeric types
    • 7.2.6 Date and time types
      • 7.2.6.1 Y2K issues and date types
      • 7.2.6.2 The DATETIME, DATE and TIMESTAMP types
      • 7.2.6.3 The TIME type
      • 7.2.6.4 The YEAR type
    • 7.2.7 String types
      • 7.2.7.1 The CHAR and VARCHAR types
      • 7.2.7.2 The BLOB and TEXT types
      • 7.2.7.3 The ENUM type
      • 7.2.7.4 The SET type
    • 7.2.8 Choosing the right type for a column
    • 7.2.9 Column indexes
    • 7.2.10 Multiple-column indexes
    • 7.2.11 Using column types from other database engines
  • 7.3 Functions for use in SELECT and WHERE clauses
    • 7.3.1 Grouping functions
    • 7.3.2 Normal arithmetic operations
    • 7.3.3 Bit functions
    • 7.3.4 Logical operations
    • 7.3.5 Comparison operators
    • 7.3.6 String comparison functions
    • 7.3.7 Cast operators
    • 7.3.8 Control flow functions
    • 7.3.9 Mathematical functions
    • 7.3.10 String functions
    • 7.3.11 Date and time functions
    • 7.3.12 Miscellaneous functions
    • 7.3.13 Functions for use with GROUP BY clauses
  • 7.4 CREATE DATABASE syntax
  • 7.5 DROP DATABASE syntax
  • 7.6 CREATE TABLE syntax
    • 7.6.1 Silent column specification changes
  • 7.7 ALTER TABLE syntax
  • 7.8 OPTIMIZE TABLE syntax
  • 7.9 DROP TABLE syntax
  • 7.10 DELETE syntax
  • 7.11 SELECT syntax
  • 7.12 JOIN syntax
  • 7.13 INSERT syntax
  • 7.14 REPLACE syntax
  • 7.15 LOAD DATA INFILE syntax
  • 7.16 UPDATE syntax
  • 7.17 USE syntax
  • 7.18 FLUSH syntax (clearing caches)
  • 7.19 KILL syntax
  • 7.20 SHOW syntax (Get information about tables, columns,...)
  • 7.21 EXPLAIN syntax (Get information about a SELECT)
  • 7.22 DESCRIBE syntax (Get information about columns)
  • 7.23 LOCK TABLES/UNLOCK TABLES syntax
  • 7.24 SET OPTION syntax
  • 7.25 GRANT and REVOKE syntax
  • 7.26 CREATE INDEX syntax
  • 7.27 DROP INDEX syntax
  • 7.28 Comment syntax
  • 7.29 CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION syntax
  • 7.30 Is MySQL picky about reserved words?
• 8 MySQL Tutorial
  • 8.1 Connecting to and disconnecting from the server
  • 8.2 Entering queries
  • 8.3 Creating and using a database
    • 8.3.1 Creating and selecting a database
    • 8.3.2 Creating a table
    • 8.3.3 Loading data into a table
    • 8.3.4 Retrieving information from a table
      • 8.3.4.1 Selecting all data
      • 8.3.4.2 Selecting particular rows
      • 8.3.4.3 Selecting particular columns
      • 8.3.4.4 Sorting rows
      • 8.3.4.5 Date calculations
      • 8.3.4.6 Working with NULL values
      • 8.3.4.7 Pattern matching
      • 8.3.4.8 Counting rows
    • 8.3.5 Using more than one table
  • 8.4 Getting information about databases and tables
  • 8.5 Using mysql in batch mode
  • 8.6 Queries from twin project
    • 8.6.1 Find all non-distributed twins
    • 8.6.2 Show a table on twin pair status
• 9 MySQL Server functions
  • 9.1 What languages are supported by MySQL?
    • 9.1.1 The character set used for data and sorting
    • 9.1.2 Adding a new character set
    • 9.1.3 Multi-byte character support
  • 9.2 The update log
  • 9.3 How big MySQL tables can be
• 10 Getting maximum performance from MySQL
  • 10.1 Tuning server parameters
  • 10.2 How MySQL uses memory
  • 10.3 How compiling and linking affects the speed of MySQL
  • 10.4 How MySQL uses indexes
  • 10.5 How MySQL optimizes WHERE clauses
  • 10.6 How MySQL optimizes LEFT JOIN
  • 10.7 How MySQL opens and closes tables
    • 10.7.1 Drawbacks of creating large numbers of tables in a database
  • 10.8 Why so many open tables?
  • 10.9 Using symbolic links for databases and tables
  • 10.10 How MySQL locks tables
  • 10.11 How to arrange a table to be as fast/small as possible
  • 10.12 Table locking issues
  • 10.13 Factors affecting the speed of INSERT statements
  • 10.14 Factors affecting the speed of DELETE statements
  • 10.15 How do I get MySQL to run at full speed?
  • 10.16 What are the different row formats? Or, when should VARCHAR/CHAR be used?
  • 10.17 MySQL table types.
• 11 The MySQL benchmark suite
• 12 MySQL Utilites
  • 12.1 Overview of the different MySQL programs
  • 12.2 Administering a MySQL server
  • 12.3 Dumping the structure and data from MySQL databases and tables
  • 12.4 Importing data from text files
  • 12.5 The MySQL compressed read-only table generator
• 13 Maintaining a MySQL installation
  • 13.1 Using isamchk for table maintenance and crash recovery
    • 13.1.1 isamchk invocation syntax
    • 13.1.2 isamchk memory usage
  • 13.2 Setting up a table maintenance regime
  • 13.3 Getting information about a table
  • 13.4 Using isamchk for crash recovery
    • 13.4.1 How to check tables for errors
    • 13.4.2 How to repair tables
    • 13.4.3 Table optimization
  • 13.5 Log file maintenance
• 14 Adding new functions to MySQL
  • 14.1 Adding a new user-definable function
    • 14.1.1 UDF calling sequences
    • 14.1.2 Argument processing
    • 14.1.3 Return values and error handling
    • 14.1.4 Compiling and installing user-definable functions
  • 14.2 Adding a new native function
• 15 Adding new procedures to MySQL
  • 15.1 Procedure analyse
  • 15.2 Writing a procedure.
• 16 MySQL ODBC Support
  • 16.1 Operating systems supported by MyODBC
  • 16.2 How to report problems with MyODBC
  • 16.3 Programs known to work with MyODBC
  • 16.4 How to fill in the various fields in the ODBC administrator program
  • 16.5 How to get the value of an AUTO_INCREMENT column in ODBC
• 17 Problems and common errors
  • 17.1 What to do if MySQL keeps crashing
  • 17.2 Some common errors when using MySQL
    • 17.2.1 MySQL server has gone away error
    • 17.2.2 Can't connect to [local] MySQL server error
    • 17.2.3 Host '...' is blocked error
    • 17.2.4 Out of memory error
    • 17.2.5 Packet too large error
    • 17.2.6 The table is full error
    • 17.2.7 Commands out of sync error in client
    • 17.2.8 Ignoring user error
    • 17.2.9 Table 'xxx' doesn't exist error
  • 17.3 How MySQL handles a full disk
  • 17.4 How to run SQL commands from a text file
  • 17.5 Where MySQL stores temporary files
  • 17.6 How to protect `/tmp/mysql.sock' from being deleted
  • 17.7 Access denied error
  • 17.8 How to run MySQL as a normal user
  • 17.9 Problems with file permissions
  • 17.10 File not found
  • 17.11 Problems using DATE columns
  • 17.12 Timezone problems
  • 17.13 Case sensitivity in searches
  • 17.14 Problems with NULL values
  • 17.15 Problems with alias
  • 17.16 Deleting rows from related tables
  • 17.17 Solving problems with no matching rows
  • 17.18 Problems with ALTER TABLE.
  • 17.19 How to change the order of columns in a table
• 18 Solving some common problems with MySQL
  • 18.1 Database replication
  • 18.2 Database backups
  • 18.3 Running multiple MySQL servers on the same machine
• 19 MySQL client tools and APIs
  • 19.1 MySQL C API
  • 19.2 C API datatypes
  • 19.3 C API function overview
  • 19.4 C API function descriptions
    • 19.4.1 mysql_affected_rows()
    • 19.4.2 mysql_close()
    • 19.4.3 mysql_connect()
    • 19.4.4 mysql_create_db()
    • 19.4.5 mysql_data_seek()
    • 19.4.6 mysql_debug()
    • 19.4.7 mysql_drop_db()
    • 19.4.8 mysql_dump_debug_info()
    • 19.4.9 mysql_eof()
    • 19.4.10 mysql_errno()
    • 19.4.11 mysql_error()
    • 19.4.12 mysql_escape_string()
    • 19.4.13 mysql_fetch_field()
    • 19.4.14 mysql_fetch_fields()
    • 19.4.15 mysql_fetch_field_direct()
    • 19.4.16 mysql_fetch_lengths()
    • 19.4.17 mysql_fetch_row()
    • 19.4.18 mysql_field_count()
    • 19.4.19 mysql_field_seek()
    • 19.4.20 mysql_field_tell()
    • 19.4.21 mysql_free_result()
    • 19.4.22 mysql_get_client_info()
    • 19.4.23 mysql_get_host_info()
    • 19.4.24 mysql_get_proto_info()
    • 19.4.25 mysql_get_server_info()
    • 19.4.26 mysql_info()
    • 19.4.27 mysql_init()
    • 19.4.28 mysql_insert_id()
    • 19.4.29 mysql_kill()
    • 19.4.30 mysql_list_dbs()
    • 19.4.31 mysql_list_fields()
    • 19.4.32 mysql_list_processes()
    • 19.4.33 mysql_list_tables()
    • 19.4.34 mysql_num_fields()
    • 19.4.35 mysql_num_rows()
    • 19.4.36 mysql_options()
    • 19.4.37 mysql_ping()
    • 19.4.38 mysql_query()
    • 19.4.39 mysql_real_connect()
    • 19.4.40 mysql_real_query()
    • 19.4.41 mysql_reload()
    • 19.4.42 mysql_row_seek()
    • 19.4.43 mysql_row_tell()
    • 19.4.44 mysql_select_db()
    • 19.4.45 mysql_shutdown()
    • 19.4.46 mysql_stat()
    • 19.4.47 mysql_store_result()
    • 19.4.48 mysql_thread_id()
    • 19.4.49 mysql_use_result()
    • 19.4.50 Why is it that after mysql_query() returns success, mysql_store_result() sometimes returns NULL?
    • 19.4.51 What results can I get from a query?
    • 19.4.52 How can I get the unique ID for the last inserted row?
    • 19.4.53 Problems linking with the C API
    • 19.4.54 How to make a thread-safe client
  • 19.5 MySQL Perl API
    • 19.5.1 DBI with DBD::mysql
    • 19.5.2 The DBI interface
    • 19.5.3 More DBI/DBD information
  • 19.6 MySQL Java connectivity (JDBC)
  • 19.7 MySQL PHP API
  • 19.8 MySQL C++ APIs
  • 19.9 MySQL Python APIs
  • 19.10 MySQL TCL APIs
• 20 How MySQL compares to other databases
  • 20.1 How MySQL compares to mSQL
    • 20.1.1 How to convert mSQL tools for MySQL
    • 20.1.2 How mSQL and MySQL client/server communications protocols differ
    • 20.1.3 How mSQL 2.0 SQL syntax differs from MySQL
  • 20.2 How MySQL compares to PostgreSQL
• A Some MySQL users
  • A.1 Some Web search engines
  • A.2 Some Information search engines concentrated on some area
  • A.3 Some Domain/Internet/Web and related services
  • A.4 Web sites that use PHP and MySQL
  • A.5 Uncategorized pages
  • A.6 Some MySQL consultants
  • A.7 Programming
• B Contributed programs
  • B.1 API's
  • B.2 Clients
  • B.3 Web tools
  • B.4 Authentication tools
  • B.5 Converters
  • B.6 Using MySQL with other products
  • B.7 Useful tools
  • B.8 Uncategorized
• C Contributors to MySQL
• D MySQL change history
  • D.1 Changes in release 3.23.x (Not released yet)
    • D.1.1 Changes in release 3.23.0
  • D.2 Changes in release 3.22.x
    • D.2.1 Changes in release 3.22.23
    • D.2.2 Changes in release 3.22.22
    • D.2.3 Changes in release 3.22.21
    • D.2.4 Changes in release 3.22.20
    • D.2.5 Changes in release 3.22.19
    • D.2.6 Changes in release 3.22.18
    • D.2.7 Changes in release 3.22.17
    • D.2.8 Changes in release 3.22.16
    • D.2.9 Changes in release 3.22.15
    • D.2.10 Changes in release 3.22.14
    • D.2.11 Changes in release 3.22.13
    • D.2.12 Changes in release 3.22.12
    • D.2.13 Changes in release 3.22.11
    • D.2.14 Changes in release 3.22.10
    • D.2.15 Changes in release 3.22.9
    • D.2.16 Changes in release 3.22.8
    • D.2.17 Changes in release 3.22.7
    • D.2.18 Changes in release 3.22.6
    • D.2.19 Changes in release 3.22.5
    • D.2.20 Changes in release 3.22.4
    • D.2.21 Changes in release 3.22.3
    • D.2.22 Changes in release 3.22.2
    • D.2.23 Changes in release 3.22.1
    • D.2.24 Changes in release 3.22.0
  • D.3 Changes in release 3.21.x
    • D.3.1 Changes in release 3.21.33
    • D.3.2 Changes in release 3.21.32
    • D.3.3 Changes in release 3.21.31
    • D.3.4 Changes in release 3.21.30
    • D.3.5 Changes in release 3.21.29
    • D.3.6 Changes in release 3.21.28
    • D.3.7 Changes in release 3.21.27
    • D.3.8 Changes in release 3.21.26
    • D.3.9 Changes in release 3.21.25
    • D.3.10 Changes in release 3.21.24
    • D.3.11 Changes in release 3.21.23
    • D.3.12 Changes in release 3.21.22
    • D.3.13 Changes in release 3.21.21a
    • D.3.14 Changes in release 3.21.21
    • D.3.15 Changes in release 3.21.20
    • D.3.16 Changes in release 3.21.19
    • D.3.17 Changes in release 3.21.18
    • D.3.18 Changes in release 3.21.17
    • D.3.19 Changes in release 3.21.16
    • D.3.20 Changes in release 3.21.15
    • D.3.21 Changes in release 3.21.14b
    • D.3.22 Changes in release 3.21.14a
    • D.3.23 Changes in release 3.21.13
    • D.3.24 Changes in release 3.21.12
    • D.3.25 Changes in release 3.21.11
    • D.3.26 Changes in release 3.21.10
    • D.3.27 Changes in release 3.21.9
    • D.3.28 Changes in release 3.21.8
    • D.3.29 Changes in release 3.21.7
    • D.3.30 Changes in release 3.21.6
    • D.3.31 Changes in release 3.21.5
    • D.3.32 Changes in release 3.21.4
    • D.3.33 Changes in release 3.21.3
    • D.3.34 Changes in release 3.21.2
    • D.3.35 Changes in release 3.21.0
  • 20.3 Changes in release 3.20.x
    • D.3.36 Changes in release 3.20.18
    • D.3.37 Changes in release 3.20.17
    • D.3.38 Changes in release 3.20.16
    • D.3.39 Changes in release 3.20.15
    • D.3.40 Changes in release 3.20.14
    • D.3.41 Changes in release 3.20.13
    • D.3.42 Changes in release 3.20.11
    • D.3.43 Changes in release 3.20.10
    • D.3.44 Changes in release 3.20.9
    • D.3.45 Changes in release 3.20.8
    • D.3.46 Changes in release 3.20.7
    • D.3.47 Changes in release 3.20.6
    • D.3.48 Changes in release 3.20.3
    • D.3.49 Changes in release 3.20.0
  • D.4 Changes in release 3.19.x
    • D.4.1 Changes in release 3.19.5
    • D.4.2 Changes in release 3.19.4
    • D.4.3 Changes in release 3.19.3
• E Known errors and design deficiencies in MySQL
• F List of things we want to add to MySQL in the future (The TODO)
  • F.1 Things that must done in the real near future
  • F.2 Things that have to be done sometime
  • F.3 Some things we don't have any plans to do
• G Comments on porting to other systems
  • G.1 Debugging a MySQL server
  • G.2 Debugging a MySQL client
  • G.3 Comments about RTS threads
  • G.4 Differences between different thread packages
• H Description of MySQL regular expression syntax
• I What is Unireg?
• J The MySQL server license for non Microsoft operating systems
• K The MySQL license for Microsoft operating systems
• SQL command, type and function index
• Concept Index

This document was generated on 11 June 1999 using the texi2html translator version 1.52 (extended by davida@detron.se).