Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Development Tools Database Foundations Securing and Maintaining a MySQL Database Indexing Columns in MySQL

Posted by T K
T K
21,479 Points

Just to clarify my understanding of Database Indexing...

Hi everyone,

I just want to make sure I understand what's going on when we index a table in a database.

Does it create a literal index, as in A, B, C, D etc?

So when I run :

SELECT * FROM table WHERE col = "Something"

the database starts looking from the 'S' index rather than the top of the table?

Or is there a bit more to it than that?

Thanks,

Tayler

1 Answer

jcorum
jcorum
71,830 Points

Well, you've got the basics, but as you guessed there is a bit more to it. Here's a good overview: http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/database-sql/what-is-an-index/

T K
T K
21,479 Points

Thanks, I'll give it a read.