EXPLAIN Output Columns

EXPLAIN Join Types

EXPLAIN Extra Information

EXPLAIN Output Interpretation

id

The SELECT identifier. This is the sequential number of the SELECT within the query. The value can be NULL if the row refers to the union result of other rows. In this case, the table column shows a value like <unionM,N> to indicate that the row refers to the union of the rows with id values of M and N.

select_type

The type of SELECT, which can be any of those shown in the following table.

DEPENDENT typically signifies the use of a correlated subquery. See Section 13.2.9.7, “Correlated Subqueries”.

DEPENDENT SUBQUERY evaluation differs from UNCACHEABLE SUBQUERY evaluation. For DEPENDENT SUBQUERY, the subquery is re-evaluated only once for each set of different values of the variables from its outer context. For UNCACHEABLE SUBQUERY, the subquery is re-evaluated for each row of the outer context.

Cacheability of subqueries differs from caching of query results in the query cache (which is described in Section 8.6.3.1, “How the Query Cache Operates”). Subquery caching occurs during query execution, whereas the query cache is used to store results only after query execution finishes.

table

The name of the table to which the row of output refers. This can also be one of the following values:

partitions

The partitions from which records would be matched by the query. This column is displayed only if the PARTITIONS keyword is used. The value is NULL for nonpartitioned tables. See Section 18.3.4, “Obtaining Information About Partitions”.

type

The join type. For descriptions of the different types, see EXPLAIN Join Types.

possible_keys

The possible_keys column indicates which indexes MySQL can choose from use to find the rows in this table. Note that this column is totally independent of the order of the tables as displayed in the output from EXPLAIN. That means that some of the keys in possible_keys might not be usable in practice with the generated table order.

If this column is NULL, there are no relevant indexes. In this case, you may be able to improve the performance of your query by examining the WHERE clause to check whether it refers to some column or columns that would be suitable for indexing. If so, create an appropriate index and check the query with EXPLAIN again. See Section 13.1.7, “ALTER TABLE Syntax”.

To see what indexes a table has, use SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name.

key

The key column indicates the key (index) that MySQL actually decided to use. If MySQL decides to use one of the possible_keys indexes to look up rows, that index is listed as the key value.

It is possible that key will name an index that is not present in the possible_keys value. This can happen if none of the possible_keys indexes are suitable for looking up rows, but all the columns selected by the query are columns of some other index. That is, the named index covers the selected columns, so although it is not used to determine which rows to retrieve, an index scan is more efficient than a data row scan.

For InnoDB, a secondary index might cover the selected columns even if the query also selects the primary key because InnoDB stores the primary key value with each secondary index. If key is NULL, MySQL found no index to use for executing the query more efficiently.

To force MySQL to use or ignore an index listed in the possible_keys column, use FORCE INDEX, USE INDEX, or IGNORE INDEX in your query. See Section 13.2.8.3, “Index Hint Syntax”.

For MyISAM and NDB tables, running ANALYZE TABLE helps the optimizer choose better indexes. For MyISAM tables, myisamchk --analyze does the same as ANALYZE TABLE. See Section 7.6, “MyISAM Table Maintenance and Crash Recovery”.

key_len

The key_len column indicates the length of the key that MySQL decided to use. The length is NULL if the key column says NULL. Note that the value of key_len enables you to determine how many parts of a multiple-part key MySQL actually uses.

ref

The ref column shows which columns or constants are compared to the index named in the key column to select rows from the table.

rows

The rows column indicates the number of rows MySQL believes it must examine to execute the query.

For InnoDB tables, this number is an estimate, and may not always be exact.

filtered

The filtered column indicates an estimated percentage of table rows that will be filtered by the table condition. That is, rows shows the estimated number of rows examined and rows × filtered / 100 shows the number of rows that will be joined with previous tables. This column is displayed if you use EXPLAIN EXTENDED. (New in MySQL 5.1.12)

Extra

This column contains additional information about how MySQL resolves the query. For descriptions of the different values, see EXPLAIN Extra Information.

system

The table has only one row (= system table). This is a special case of the const join type.

const

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 a PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE index to constant values. In the following queries, tbl_name can be used as a const table:

SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE primary_key=1;

SELECT * FROM tbl_name
  WHERE primary_key_part1=1 AND primary_key_part2=2;

eq_ref

One row is read from this table for each combination of rows from the previous tables. Other than the system and const 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 a PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE 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 an eq_ref join to process ref_table:

SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
  WHERE ref_table.key_column=other_table.column;

SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
  WHERE ref_table.key_column_part1=other_table.column
  AND ref_table.key_column_part2=1;

ref

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 a PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE 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 a ref join to process ref_table:

SELECT * FROM ref_table WHERE key_column=expr;

SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
  WHERE ref_table.key_column=other_table.column;

SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
  WHERE ref_table.key_column_part1=other_table.column
  AND ref_table.key_column_part2=1;

fulltext

The join is performed using a FULLTEXT index.

ref_or_null

This join type is like ref, but with the addition that MySQL does an extra search for rows that contain NULL values. This join type optimization is used most often in resolving subqueries. In the following examples, MySQL can use a ref_or_null join to process ref_table:

SELECT * FROM ref_table
  WHERE key_column=expr OR key_column IS NULL;

See Section 8.3.1.6, “IS NULL Optimization”.

index_merge

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, and key_len contains a list of the longest key parts for the indexes used. For more information, see Section 8.3.1.4, “Index Merge Optimization”.

unique_subquery

This type replaces ref for some IN subqueries of the following form:

value IN (SELECT primary_key FROM single_table WHERE some_expr)

unique_subquery is just an index lookup function that replaces the subquery completely for better efficiency.

index_subquery

This join type is similar to unique_subquery. It replaces IN subqueries, but it works for nonunique indexes in subqueries of the following form:

value IN (SELECT key_column FROM single_table WHERE some_expr)

range

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. The key_len contains the longest key part that was used. The ref column is NULL for this type.

range can be used when a key column is compared to a constant using any of the =, <>, >, >=, <, <=, IS NULL, <=>, BETWEEN, or IN() operators:

SELECT * FROM tbl_name
  WHERE key_column = 10;

SELECT * FROM tbl_name
  WHERE key_column BETWEEN 10 and 20;

SELECT * FROM tbl_name
  WHERE key_column IN (10,20,30);

SELECT * FROM tbl_name
  WHERE key_part1= 10 AND key_part2 IN (10,20,30);

index

The index join type is the same as ALL, except that the index tree is scanned. This occurs two ways:

MySQL can use this join type when the query uses only columns that are part of a single index.

ALL

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 avoid ALL by adding indexes that enable row retrieval from the table based on constant values or column values from earlier tables.

Child of 'table' pushed join@1

This table is referenced as the child of table in a join that can be pushed down to the NDB kernel. Applies only in MySQL Cluster NDB 7.2.0 and later, when pushed-down joins are enabled. See the description of the ndb_join_pushdown server system variable for more information and examples.

const row not found

For a query such as SELECT ... FROM tbl_name, the table was empty.

Distinct

MySQL is looking for distinct values, so it stops searching for more rows for the current row combination after it has found the first matching row.

Full scan on NULL key

This occurs for subquery optimization as a fallback strategy when the optimizer cannot use an index-lookup access method.

Impossible HAVING

The HAVING clause is always false and cannot select any rows.

Impossible WHERE

The WHERE clause is always false and cannot select any rows.

Impossible WHERE noticed after reading const tables

MySQL has read all const (and system) tables and notice that the WHERE clause is always false.

No matching min/max row

No row satisfies the condition for a query such as SELECT MIN(...) FROM ... WHERE condition.

no matching row in const table

For a query with a join, there was an empty table or a table with no rows satisfying a unique index condition.

No tables used

The query has no FROM clause, or has a FROM DUAL clause.

Not exists

MySQL was able to do a LEFT JOIN optimization on the query and does not examine more rows in this table for the previous row combination after it finds one row that matches the LEFT JOIN criteria. Here is an example of the type of query that can be optimized this way:

SELECT * FROM t1 LEFT JOIN t2 ON t1.id=t2.id
  WHERE t2.id IS NULL;

Assume that t2.id is defined as NOT NULL. In this case, MySQL scans t1 and looks up the rows in t2 using the values of t1.id. If MySQL finds a matching row in t2, it knows that t2.id can never be NULL, and does not scan through the rest of the rows in t2 that have the same id value. In other words, for each row in t1, MySQL needs to do only a single lookup in t2, regardless of how many rows actually match in t2.

Parent of N pushed join@1

This table is referenced as the parent of the table in row N of the current EXPLAIN output in a join that can be pushed down to the NDB kernel. Applies only in MySQL Cluster NDB 7.2.0 and later when pushed-down joins are enabled. See the description of the ndb_join_pushdown server system variable for more information and examples.

Range checked for each record (index map: N)

MySQL found no good index to use, but found that some of indexes might be used after column values from preceding tables are known. For each row combination in the preceding tables, MySQL checks whether it is possible to use a range or index_merge access method to retrieve rows. This is not very fast, but is faster than performing a join with no index at all. The applicability criteria are as described in Section 8.3.1.3, “Range Optimization”, and Section 8.3.1.4, “Index Merge Optimization”, with the exception that all column values for the preceding table are known and considered to be constants.

Indexes are numbered beginning with 1, in the same order as shown by SHOW INDEX for the table. The index map value N is a bitmask value that indicates which indexes are candidates. For example, a value of 0x19 (binary 11001) means that indexes 1, 4, and 5 will be considered.

Scanned N databases

This indicates how many directory scans the server performs when processing a query for INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables, as described in Section 8.3.3, “INFORMATION_SCHEMA Optimization”. The value of N can be 0, 1, or all.

Select tables optimized away

The query contained only aggregate functions (MIN(), MAX()) that were all resolved using an index, or COUNT(*) for MyISAM, and no GROUP BY clause. The optimizer determined that only one row should be returned.

Skip_open_table, Open_frm_only, Open_trigger_only, Open_full_table

These values indicate file-opening optimizations that apply to queries for INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables, as described in Section 8.3.3, “INFORMATION_SCHEMA Optimization”.

unique row not found

For a query such as SELECT ... FROM tbl_name, no rows satisfy the condition for a UNIQUE index or PRIMARY KEY on the table.

Using filesort

MySQL must do an extra pass to find out how to retrieve the rows in sorted order. The sort is done by going through all rows according to the join type and storing the sort key and pointer to the row for all rows that match the WHERE clause. The keys then are sorted and the rows are retrieved in sorted order. See Section 8.3.1.11, “ORDER BY Optimization”.

Using index

The column information is retrieved from the table using only information in the index tree without having to do an additional seek to read the actual row. This strategy can be used when the query uses only columns that are part of a single index.

If the Extra column also says Using where, it means the index is being used to perform lookups of key values. Without Using where, the optimizer may be reading the index to avoid reading data rows but not using it for lookups. For example, if the index is a covering index for the query, the optimizer may scan it without using it for lookups.

For InnoDB tables that have a user-defined clustered index, that index can be used even when Using index is absent from the Extra column. This is the case if type is index and key is PRIMARY.

Using index for group-by

Similar to the Using index table access method, Using index for group-by indicates that MySQL found an index that can be used to retrieve all columns of a GROUP BY or DISTINCT query without any extra disk access to the actual table. Additionally, the index is used in the most efficient way so that for each group, only a few index entries are read. For details, see Section 8.3.1.12, “GROUP BY Optimization”.

Using join buffer

Tables from earlier joins are read in portions into the join buffer, and then their rows are used from the buffer to perform the join with the current table.

Using sort_union(...), Using union(...), Using intersect(...)

These indicate how index scans are merged for the index_merge join type. See Section 8.3.1.4, “Index Merge Optimization”.

Using temporary

To resolve the query, MySQL needs to create a temporary table to hold the result. This typically happens if the query contains GROUP BY and ORDER BY clauses that list columns differently.

Using where

A WHERE clause is used to restrict which rows to match against the next table or send to the client. Unless you specifically intend to fetch or examine all rows from the table, you may have something wrong in your query if the Extra value is not Using where and the table join type is ALL or index. Even if you are using an index for all parts of a WHERE clause, you may see Using where if the column can be NULL.

Using where with pushed condition

This item applies to NDBCLUSTER tables only. It means that MySQL Cluster is using the Condition Pushdown optimization to improve the efficiency of a direct comparison between a nonindexed column and a constant. In such cases, the condition is “pushed down” to the cluster's data nodes and is evaluated on all data nodes simultaneously. This eliminates the need to send nonmatching rows over the network, and can speed up such queries by a factor of 5 to 10 times over cases where Condition Pushdown could be but is not used. For more information, see Section 8.3.1.5, “Engine Condition Pushdown Optimization”.

The columns being compared have been declared as follows.

The tables have the following indexes.

The tt.ActualPC values are not evenly distributed.