Trying to remove a primary key from MySQL table - mysql

Edit: Not sure why this is marked as a duplicate. The error I am getting is different
I am trying to remove a primary key definition but am receiving an error for some reason.
mysql> ALTER TABLE `aux_sponsors` DROP PRIMARY KEY;
ERROR 1091 (42000): Can't DROP 'PRIMARY'; check that column/key exists
mysql> desc aux_sponsors;
+-------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| unit | varchar(8) | NO | | MF | |
| code | varchar(32) | NO | PRI | NULL | |
| userid | varchar(32) | NO | | | |
| fullName | varchar(64) | NO | | | |
| department | varchar(255) | NO | | | |
| description | varchar(255) | NO | | NULL | |
+-------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
6 rows in set (0.01 sec)
Am I doing something wrong here? I simply want no more primary key in this table.
mysql> SHOW CREATE TABLE aux_sponsors;
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table | Create Table |
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| aux_sponsors | CREATE TABLE `aux_sponsors` (
`unit` varchar(8) NOT NULL DEFAULT 'MF',
`code` varchar(32) NOT NULL,
`userid` varchar(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`fullName` varchar(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`department` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`description` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
UNIQUE KEY `code` (`code`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 |
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

You don't have a PRIMARY KEY; you have a UNIQUE key. So, you can't do this:
ALTER TABLE `aux_sponsors` DROP PRIMARY KEY
Instead, just do
ALTER TABLE `aux_sponsors` DROP KEY `code`
DESC (a/k/a DESCRIBE) is not a true MySQL feature; according to the docs, "The DESCRIBE statement is provided for compatibility with Oracle."
More from the documentation:
A UNIQUE index may be displayed as PRI if it cannot contain NULL values and there is no PRIMARY KEY in the table. A UNIQUE index may display as MUL if several columns form a composite UNIQUE index; although the combination of the columns is unique, each column can still hold multiple occurrences of a given value.
In your case, the column code is NOT NULL and is the only column in a UNIQUE key, so DESC is showing it as PRI. Because of this type of problem, it's better to use SHOW INDEX to find out the types of keys on a table.

Related

MySQL Unique Key and not primary key

I'm learning from an online course MySQL using the WampServer and editing code in MySQL Workbench.
Trying to create a table with the following code, the column nome appears to be the primary key from the table, but i'm only using the unique constraint.
When i don't use the unique constraint, the code runs normally and don't give me a primary key.
create table if not exists cursos (
nome varchar(30) not null unique,
descricao text,
carga int unsigned,
totalaulas int unsigned,
ano year default '2016'
) default charset utf8mb4;
Second to this question, when i was trying to drop the constraint primary key i was getting the error Error Code: 1091. Can't DROP 'PRIMARY';
alter table cursos
drop primary key;
So, in resume, i'm trying to use the unique constraint without setting a column has a primary key, and then i'm trying to drop the primary key constraint.
Edit:
When i call describe table i get this, the column nome is defined has primary key whithout i using the constraint.
+------------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+------------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| idcurso | int | YES | | NULL | |
| nome | varchar(30) | NO | PRI | NULL | |
+------------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
What i'm trying to do is drop the primary key from nome and put on idcurso, but when i use the code
alter table cursos
add primary key idcurso;
I get the error Error Code: 1064. You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line
I tried this on mysql command-line client connected to a MySQL Server 5.5.2. Here is what happens:
mysql> create table if not exists cursos (
-> nome varchar(30) not null unique,
-> descricao text,
-> carga int unsigned,
-> totalaulas int unsigned,
-> ano year default '2016'
-> ) default charset utf8mb4;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.08 sec)
mysql>
mysql> desc cursos;
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| nome | varchar(30) | NO | PRI | NULL | |
| descricao | text | YES | | NULL | |
| carga | int(10) unsigned | YES | | NULL | |
| totalaulas | int(10) unsigned | YES | | NULL | |
| ano | year(4) | YES | | 2016 | |
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
5 rows in set (0.05 sec)
Note that the field nome has a Key as PRI. But, it is only a description and not a fact. If you try to DROP the primary key you will see an error like below:
mysql> alter table cursos drop primary key;
ERROR 1091 (42000): Can't DROP 'PRIMARY'; check that column/key exists
Add a new column and make it a primary key. Note the DESCRIPTION after that.
mysql> alter table cursos add idcurso int primary key;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.09 sec)
Records: 0 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> desc cursos;
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| nome | varchar(30) | NO | UNI | NULL | |
| descricao | text | YES | | NULL | |
| carga | int(10) unsigned | YES | | NULL | |
| totalaulas | int(10) unsigned | YES | | NULL | |
| ano | year(4) | YES | | 2016 | |
| idcurso | int(11) | NO | PRI | NULL | |
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
6 rows in set (0.05 sec)
At this point, you can drop the primary key using the syntax: alter table cursos drop primary key;. This will drop the primary key constraint only (but, not the column definition).
If you create yet another column, perhaps guid,
that has a UNIQUE constraint,
then you will be able to do what you wish.
(Not sure why you wish it. Whatever.)
A table can have multiple UNIQUE constraints.
Each table should have a PRIMARY KEY (which will of course be UNIQUE).
It affects physical layout of the rows on disk,
which affects retrieval speed and how the query planner behaves.
If you do not use the PRIMARY keyword, then the first UNIQUE column
will effectively be the primary key.
Put another way, to ALTER the table as you wish,
the backend DB will need to be able to promote
some candidate column so it becomes the new PRIMARY KEY.

indexes and constraints not created in CREATE TABLE statement

I am using MySQL/MariaDB, and I create an employees table:
CREATE TABLE employees(
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL,
description VARCHAR(50) DEFAULT 'No Description',
random_assignment_id INT UNIQUE,
birth_date DATE,
salary DECIMAL(5,2),
supervisor_id INT,
branch_id INT NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
CONSTRAINT random_assignment_check CHECK (LENGTH(random_assignment_id) = 5),
INDEX(random_assignment_id, supervisor_id, branch_id),
PRIMARY KEY(id)
)
Then I confirm the table is created as expected:
SHOW CREATE TABLE employees\G;
*************************** 1. row ***************************
Table: employees
Create Table: CREATE TABLE `employees` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` varchar(40) NOT NULL,
`description` varchar(50) DEFAULT 'No Description',
`random_assignment_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`birth_date` date DEFAULT NULL,
`salary` decimal(5,2) DEFAULT NULL,
`supervisor_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`branch_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`created_at` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
`updated_at` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
UNIQUE KEY `random_assignment_id` (`random_assignment_id`),
KEY `random_assignment_id_2` (`random_assignment_id`,`supervisor_id`,`branch_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8
1 row in set (0.01 sec)
I don't see the random_assignment_check constraint listed, and I expected it to index random_assignment_id, supervisor_id and branch_id, but it does not:
DESCRIBE employees;
+----------------------+--------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+----------------------+--------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
| id | int(11) | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| name | varchar(40) | NO | | NULL | |
| description | varchar(50) | YES | | No Description | |
| random_assignment_id | int(11) | YES | UNI | NULL | |
| birth_date | date | YES | | NULL | |
| salary | decimal(5,2) | YES | | NULL | |
| supervisor_id | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |
| branch_id | int(11) | NO | | NULL | |
| created_at | timestamp | NO | | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | |
| updated_at | timestamp | NO | | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | |
+----------------------+--------------+------+-----+-------------------+----------------+
There are no MUL flags under key.
Note that I read MariaDB now supports Constraints; according to homebrew, I am using:
brew info mariadb
mariadb: stable 10.3.12 (bottled)
Drop-in replacement for MySQL
What am I doing wrong?
MySQL treats KEY as a synonym for INDEX. Your index INDEX(random_assignment_id, supervisor_id, branch_id) became KEY random_assignment_id_2 (random_assignment_id,supervisor_id,branch_id). The index name was generated by MySQL, but logically they're the same index.
When I tested your CREATE TABLE statement and then use DESC to display it, I also see no MUL indicators. This fits the documentation:
If Key is MUL, the column is the first column of a nonunique index in which multiple occurrences of a given value are permitted within the column.
So in your output, the Key field for random_assignment_id is UNI because it's a unique key, in addition to part of a multi-column key.
MySQL doesn't support CHECK constraints. It parses them, then ignores them. They are not stored with your table, and subsequently using SHOW CREATE TABLE doesn't show them.
MariaDB has implemented CHECK constraints in 10.2.1 according to https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/constraint/#check-constraints (I don't use MariaDB, so I'll trust their doc).
It's not clear from your question if you tested your CHECK constraint on MySQL Community Edition or MariaDB. CHECK constraint will not be saved on MySQL, and on MariaDB it seems okay per the doc, but I have never tested it.
We should all stop thinking of MariaDB a drop-in replacement for MySQL. The two products have been diverging for nearly 10 years, and they can no longer be assumed to be compatible.

ALTER TABLE not letting me set NULL or default value?

I am trying to change an existing column in a table I have to allow for null values and then set the default value to null. I tried running the following but it does not seem to be updating the table:
mysql> ALTER TABLE answers_form MODIFY sub_id int unsigned NULL DEFAULT NULL;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 0 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> desc answers_form;
+--------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+--------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| answer_id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | 0 | |
| sub_id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | 0 | |
| form_id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | |
| value | varchar(255) | NO | | NULL | |
| non_response | bit(1) | YES | | b'0' | |
+--------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
5 rows in set (0.01 sec)
Can anyone see what I am doing wrong here?
its a primary key , mysql doesn't allow any part of the primary key to be null, which does make the fact that it allows a default value of null for the form_id odd, however the docs at
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/optimizing-primary-keys.html
say "Query performance benefits from the NOT NULL optimization, because it cannot include any NULL values".
Just out of curiosity, does it actually allow you to put in null values in the form_id field?
You have 2 non-nullable columns with the default value of null. This shouldn't be allowed by your database engine. If it is, it is rather far from a best practice.
sub_id is listed as a primary key
From the MySQL docs (5.7, but other versions say the same thing):
A PRIMARY KEY is a unique index where all key columns must be defined
as NOT NULL. If they are not explicitly declared as NOT NULL, MySQL
declares them so implicitly (and silently).
As to the discussion about the Non-null columns having a Default of NULL...
The NULL value in the Default column means that there is no default, not that the default is NULL.
Fiddle: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!2/c718d/1
If I create a simple table like so:
CREATE TABLE name_num(
Number INT PRIMARY KEY,
Name TEXT NOT NULL
);
And then do desc name_num, I get:
| FIELD | TYPE | NULL | KEY | DEFAULT | EXTRA |
---------------------------------------------------
| Number | int(11) | NO | PRI | (null) | |
| Name | text | NO | | (null) | |
Again, from the MySQL docs:
If the column cannot take NULL as the value, MySQL defines the column with no explicit DEFAULT clause. Exception: If the column is defined as part of a PRIMARY KEY but not explicitly as NOT NULL, MySQL creates it as a NOT NULL column (because PRIMARY KEY columns must be NOT NULL), but also assigns it a DEFAULT clause using the implicit default value. To prevent this, include an explicit NOT NULL in the definition of any PRIMARY KEY column.

MYSQL - How to avoid primary id wastages?

How to avoid skipping primary ids when inserting records through multiple load statements?
I inserted a file containing 150 records through LOAD statement into a table.
The last primary id in the table after insertion is 150.
Now, when I insert another file with 100 records through the load statement, the primary id assigned to the first record is 251 instead of 151.
How do I avoid these primary id wastage?
More information:
e.g:
mysql> desc test_data;
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
| name | varchar(255) | NO | UNI | NULL | |
| image | varchar(255) | NO | | NULL | |
| created_at | datetime | NO | | NULL | |
+------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)
My Load statement -
LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE '~/test_2.dat'
INTO TABLE test_data
FIELDS TERMINATED BY '|'
LINES TERMINATED BY '\n'
set created_at=CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;
Sample data in the file test_2.dat:
|Peter|peter.jpg
|sam|sam.jpg
|radnor|radnor.jpg
|bruce|bruce.jpg
This is the table structure after the load of that file.
mysql> show create table test_data;
| test_data | CREATE TABLE `test_data` (
`id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
`image` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
`created_at` datetime NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
UNIQUE KEY `name` (`name`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=8 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 |
Now, the max(id) in this table is 4. But why is the AUTO_INCREMENT value now set to to "8"? Should it not be set to "5"?
You can mark the AUTO_INCREMENT to true on the primary id to skip them during load.
Some more info can help answer better.

Query to determine whether a certain compound primary key has been used?

I have a mysql table with a compound primary key. The table definition looks like(some column omitted):
CREATE TABLE `wasteitem` (
`categoryid` char(4) NOT NULL,
`classid` char(4) NOT NULL,
`LIflag` int(11) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`categoryid`,`classid`)
);
And I want to determine if any of known keys have been used.
If the table have only a simple primary key I can use query like this:
select categoryid from wasteitem where categoryid in ('key1','key2','key3','key4')
Things to be concerned:
The primary key is a compound key.
The known keys in the list might be very long.
This table is very big(26GB)
You could put the keys you're interested in in another (temporary) table, and join.
use it, to look for keys
DESCRIBE wasteitem
that would be something similar:
mysql> describe wasteitem;
+------------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+------------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| categoryid | char(4) | NO | PRI | NULL | |
| classid | char(4) | NO | PRI | NULL | |
| LIflag | int(11) | NO | | NULL | |
+------------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)