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7.2.14.2 Tight Index Scan »
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7.2.14.1. Loose Index Scan

The most efficient way to process GROUP BY is when an index is used to directly retrieve the grouping columns. With this access method, MySQL uses the property of some index types that the keys are ordered (for example, BTREE). This property enables use of lookup groups in an index without having to consider all keys in the index that satisfy all WHERE conditions. This access method considers only a fraction of the keys in an index, so it is called a loose index scan. When there is no WHERE clause, a loose index scan reads as many keys as the number of groups, which may be a much smaller number than that of all keys. If the WHERE clause contains range predicates (see the discussion of the range join type in Section 7.2.1, “Optimizing Queries with EXPLAIN”), a loose index scan looks up the first key of each group that satisfies the range conditions, and again reads the least possible number of keys. This is possible under the following conditions:

  • The query is over a single table.

  • The GROUP BY names only columns that form a leftmost prefix of the index and no other columns. (If, instead of GROUP BY, the query has a DISTINCT clause, all distinct attributes refer to columns that form a leftmost prefix of the index.) For example, if a table t1 has an index on (c1,c2,c3), loose index scan is applicable if the query has GROUP BY c1, c2,. It is not applicable if the query has GROUP BY c2, c3 (the columns are not a leftmost prefix) or GROUP BY c1, c2, c4 (c4 is not in the index).

  • The only aggregate functions used in the select list (if any) are MIN() and MAX(), and all of them refer to the same column. The column must be in the index and must follow the columns in the GROUP BY.

  • Any other parts of the index than those from the GROUP BY referenced in the query must be constants (that is, they must be referenced in equalities with constants), except for the argument of MIN() or MAX() functions.

  • For columns in the index, full column values must be indexed, not just a prefix. For example, with c1 VARCHAR(20), INDEX (c1(10)), the index cannot be used for loose index scan.

If loose index scan is applicable to a query, the EXPLAIN output shows Using index for group-by in the Extra column.

Assume that there is an index idx(c1,c2,c3) on table t1(c1,c2,c3,c4). The loose index scan access method can be used for the following queries: 

SELECT c1, c2 FROM t1 GROUP BY c1, c2;
SELECT DISTINCT c1, c2 FROM t1;
SELECT c1, MIN(c2) FROM t1 GROUP BY c1;
SELECT c1, c2 FROM t1 WHERE c1 < const GROUP BY c1, c2;
SELECT MAX(c3), MIN(c3), c1, c2 FROM t1 WHERE c2 > const GROUP BY c1, c2;
SELECT c2 FROM t1 WHERE c1 < const GROUP BY c1, c2;
SELECT c1, c2 FROM t1 WHERE c3 = const GROUP BY c1, c2;

The following queries cannot be executed with this quick select method, for the reasons given:

  • There are aggregate functions other than MIN() or MAX(): 

    SELECT c1, SUM(c2) FROM t1 GROUP BY c1;

  • The columns in the GROUP BY clause do not form a leftmost prefix of the index: 

    SELECT c1, c2 FROM t1 GROUP BY c2, c3;

  • The query refers to a part of a key that comes after the GROUP BY part, and for which there is no equality with a constant: 

    SELECT c1, c3 FROM t1 GROUP BY c1, c2;

    Were the query to include WHERE c3 = const, loose index scan could be used.