START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* mysql: (mysql).               *MySQL* documentation.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

This is a manual for *MySQL*. This
version is about the 3.23.10-alpha version of *MySQL*. For a *3.20*
version see the relevant distribution.

General Information about MySQL
*******************************

This is the *MySQL* reference manual; it documents *MySQL* version
3.23.10-alpha.

*MySQL* is a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user and robust SQL
(Structured Query Language) database server.

For Unix and OS/2 platforms, *MySQL* is basically free; for Microsoft
platforms you must get a *MySQL* license after a trial time of 30 days.
*Note Licensing and Support::.

The *MySQL* home page (http://www.mysql.com/) provides the latest
information about *MySQL*.

For a discussion of *MySQL*'s capabilities, see *Note Features::.

For installation instructions, see *Note Installing::. For tips on
porting *MySQL* to new machines or operating systems, see *Note
Porting::.

For information about upgrading from a 3.21 release, see *Note
Upgrading-from-3.21::.

For a tutorial introduction to MySQL, see *Note Tutorial::.

For examples of SQL and benchmarking information, see the benchmarking
directory (`sql-bench' in the distribution).

For a history of new features and bug fixes, see *Note News::.

For a list of currently known bugs and misfeatures, see *Note Bugs::.

For future plans, see *Note TODO::.

For a list of all the contributors to this project, see *Note Credits::.

*IMPORTANT:*

Send error (often called bugs) reports, questions and comments to the
mailing list at <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.  *Note Bug reports::.

For source distributions, the `mysqlbug' script can be found in the
`scripts' directory.  For binary distributions, `mysqlbug' can be found
in the `bin' directory.

If you have any suggestions concerning additions or corrections to this
manual, please send them to the manual team at (<docs@mysql.com>).

What is MySQL?
==============

*MySQL* is a true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server. SQL
(Structured Query Language) is the most popular and standardized
database language in the world. *MySQL* is a client/server
implementation that consists of a server daemon `mysqld' and many
different client programs and libraries.

SQL is a standardized language that makes it easy to store, update and
access information. For example, you can use SQL to retrieve product
information and store customer information for a web site.  *MySQL* is
also fast and flexible enough to allow you to store logs and pictures
in it.

The main goals of *MySQL* are speed, robustness and ease of use.
*MySQL* was originally developed because we needed a SQL server that
could handle very large databases an order of magnitude faster than
what any database vendor could offer to us on inexpensive hardware. We
have now been using *MySQL* since 1996 in an environment with more than
40 databases containing 10,000 tables, of which more than 500 have more
than 7 million rows. This is about 100 gigabytes of mission-critical
data.

The base upon which *MySQL* is built is a set of routines that have
been used in a highly demanding production environment for many years.
Although *MySQL* is still under development, it already offers a rich
and highly useful function set.

The official way to pronounce *MySQL* is "My Ess Que Ell" (Not
MY-SEQUEL).

About this manual
=================

This manual is currently available in Texinfo, plain text, Info, HTML,
PostScript and PDF versions.  Because of their size, PostScript and PDF
versions are not included with the main *MySQL* distribution, but are
available for separate download at `http://www.mysql.com'.

The primary document is the Texinfo file. The HTML version is produced
automatically with a modified version of `texi2html'. The plain text
and Info versions are produced with `makeinfo'. The Postscript version
is produced using `texi2dvi' and `dvips'. The PDF version is produced
with `pdftex'.

This manual is written and maintained by David Axmark, Michael (Monty)
Widenius and Paul DuBois. For other contributors, see *Note Credits::.

Conventions used in this manual
-------------------------------

This manual uses certain typographical conventions:

`constant'
     Constant-width font is used for command names and options; SQL
     statements; database, table and column names; C and Perl code; and
     environment variables.  Example: "To see how `mysqladmin' works,
     invoke it with the `--help' option."

`filename'
     Constant-width font with surrounding quotes is used for filenames
     and pathnames.  Example: "The distribution is installed under the
     `/usr/local/' directory."

`c'
     Constant-width font with surrounding quotes is also used to
     indicate character sequences.  Example: "To specify a wildcard,
     use the `%' character."

*italic*
     Italic font is used for emphasis, *like this*.

*boldface*
     Boldface font is used for access privilege names (e.g., "do not
     grant the *process* privilege lightly") and to convey *especially
     strong emphasis*.

When commands are shown that are meant to be executed by a particular
program, the program is indicated by the prompt shown with the command.
For example, `shell>' indicates a command that you execute from your
login shell, and `mysql>' indicates a command that you execute from the
`mysql' client:

     shell> type a shell command here
     mysql> type a mysql command here

Shell commands are shown using Bourne shell syntax.  If you are using a
`csh'-style shell, you may need to issue commands slightly differently.
For example, the sequence to set an environment variable and run a
command looks like this in Bourne shell syntax:

     shell> VARNAME=value some_command

For `csh', you would execute the sequence like this:

     shell> setenv VARNAME value
     shell> some_command

Database, table and column names often must be substituted into
commands.  To indicate that such substitution is necessary, this manual
uses `db_name', `tbl_name' and `col_name'.  For example, you might see
a statement like this:

     mysql> SELECT col_name FROM db_name.tbl_name;

This means that if you were to enter a similar statement, you would
supply your own database, table and column names, perhaps like this:

     mysql> SELECT author_name FROM biblio_db.author_list;

SQL statements may be written in uppercase or lowercase.  When this
manual shows a SQL statement, uppercase is used for particular keywords
if those keywords are under discussion (to emphasize them) and
lowercase is used for the rest of the statement.  So you might see the
following in a discussion of the `SELECT' statement:

     mysql> SELECT count(*) FROM tbl_name;

On the other hand, in a discussion of the `COUNT()' function, the
statement would be written like this:

     mysql> select COUNT(*) from tbl_name;

If no particular emphasis is intended, all keywords are written
uniformly in uppercase.

In syntax descriptions, square brackets (`[' and `]') are used to
indicate optional words or clauses:

     DROP TABLE [IF EXISTS] tbl_name

When a syntax element consists of a number of alternatives, the
alternatives are separated by vertical bars (`|').  When one member
from a set of choices may be chosen, the alternatives are listed within
square brackets.  When one member from a set of choices must be chosen,
the alternatives are listed within braces (`{' and `}'):

     TRIM([[BOTH | LEADING | TRAILING] [remstr] FROM] str)
     {DESCRIBE | DESC} tbl_name {col_name | wild}

History of MySQL
================

We once started off with the intention of using `mSQL' to connect to our
tables using our own fast low-level (ISAM) routines. However, after some
testing we came to the conclusion that `mSQL' was not fast enough or
flexible enough for our needs. This resulted in a new SQL interface to
our database but with almost the same API interface as `mSQL'. This API
was chosen to ease porting of third-party code.

The derivation of the name *MySQL* is not perfectly clear.  Our base
directory and a large number of our libraries and tools have had the
prefix "my" for well over 10 years. However, Monty's daughter (some
years younger) is also named My. So which of the two gave its name to
*MySQL* is still a mystery, even for us.

Books about MySQL
=================

While this manual is still the right place for up to date techical
information, its primary goal is to contain everything there is to know
about *MySQL*. And it is sometimes nice to have a bound book to read in
bed or while you travel. Here are a list of books about MySQL (in
English).

Title                  MySQL                                              
                       (http://www2.newriders.com/cfm/prod_book.cfm?RecordID=584)
Publisher              New Riders                                         
Author                 Paul DuBois                                        
Pub Date               1st Edition December 1999                          
ISBN                   0735709211                                         
Pages                  800                                                
Price                  $49.99 US                                          
Downloadable examples  samp_db.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Examples/samp_db.tar.gz)

Foreword by Michael "Monty" Widenius, MySQL Moderator

In MySQL, Paul DuBois provides you with a comprehensive guide to one of
the most popular relational database systems. Paul has contributed to
the online documentation for MySQL, and is an active member of the
MySQL community. The principal MySQL developer, Monty Widenius, and a
network of his fellow developers reviewed the manuscript, providing
Paul with the kind of insight no one else could supply.

Instead of merely giving you a general overview of MySQL, Paul teaches
you how to make the most of its capabilities. Through two sample
database applications that run throughout the book, he gives you
solutions to problems you're sure to face. He helps you integrate MySQL
efficiently with third-party tools, such as PHP and Perl, enabling you
to generate dynamic Web pages through database queries. He teaches you
to write programs that access MySQL databases, and also provides a
comprehensive set of references to column types, operators, functions,
SQL syntax, MySQL programming, C API, Perl DBI, and PHP API. MySQL
simply gives you the kind of information you won't find anywhere else.

If you use MySQL, this book provides you with:
   * An introduction to MySQL and SQL

   * Coverage of MySQL's data types and how to use them

   * Thorough treatment of how to write client programs in C

   * A guide to using the Perl DBI and PHP APIs for developing
     command-line and Web-based applications

   * Tips on administrative issues such as user accounts, backup, crash
     recovery, and security

   * Help in choosing an ISP for MySQL access

   * A comprehensive reference for MySQL's data types, operators,
     functions, and SQL statements and utilities

   * Complete reference guides for MySQL's C API, the Perl DBI API, and
     PHP's MySQL-related functions

Title                  MySQL & mSQL (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/msql/noframes.html)
Publisher              O'Reilly                                           
Authors                Randy Jay Yarger, George Reese & Tim King          
Pub Date               1st Edition July 1999                              
ISBN                   1-56592-434-7, Order Number: 4347                  
Pages                  506                                                
Price                  $34.95                                             

This book teaches you how to use MySQL and mSQL, two popular and robust
database products that support key subsets of SQL on both Linux and
UNIX systems. Anyone who knows basic C, Java, Perl, or Python can write
a program to interact with a database, either as a stand-alone
application or through a Web page. This book takes you through the
whole process, from installation and configuration to programming
interfaces and basic administration.  Includes ample tutorial material.

The main features of MySQL
==========================

The following list describes some of the important characteristics of
*MySQL*:

   * Fully multi-threaded using kernel threads. That means it easily can
     use multiple CPUs if available.

   * C, C++, Eiffel, Java, Perl, PHP, Python and TCL APIs. *Note
     Clients::.

   * Works on many different platforms. *Note Which OS::.

   * Many column types: signed/unsigned integers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 bytes
     long, `FLOAT', `DOUBLE', `CHAR', `VARCHAR', `TEXT', `BLOB',
     `DATE', `TIME', `DATETIME', `TIMESTAMP', `YEAR', `SET' and `ENUM'
     types. *Note Column types::.

   * Very fast joins using an optimized one-sweep multi-join.

   * Full operator and function support in the `SELECT' and `WHERE'
     parts of queries. Example:
          mysql> SELECT CONCAT(first_name, " ", last_name) FROM tbl_name
                     WHERE income/dependents > 10000 AND age > 30;

   * SQL functions are implemented through a highly-optimized class
     library and should be as fast as they can get! Usually there
     shouldn't be any memory allocation at all after query
     initialization.

   * Full support for SQL `GROUP BY' and `ORDER BY' clauses. Support
     for group functions (`COUNT()', `COUNT(DISTINCT)', `AVG()',
     `STD()', `SUM()', `MAX()' and `MIN()').

   * Support for `LEFT OUTER JOIN' with ANSI SQL and ODBC syntax.

   * You can mix tables from different databases in the same query (as
     of version 3.22).

   * A privilege and password system which is very flexible and secure,
     and which allows host-based verification.  Passwords are secure
     since all password traffic when connecting to a server is
     encrypted.

   * ODBC (Open-DataBase-Connectivity) for Windows95 (with source). All
     ODBC 2.5 functions and many others.  You can, for example, use
     Access to connect to your *MySQL* server. *Note ODBC::.

   * Very fast B-tree disk tables with index compression.

   * 16 indexes per table are allowed. Each index may consist of 1 to
     16 columns or parts of columns. The maximum index length is 256
     bytes (this may be changed when compiling *MySQL*). An index may
     use a prefix of a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' field.

   * Fixed-length and variable-length records.

   * In-memory hash tables which are used as temporary tables.

   * Handles large databases.  We are using *MySQL* with some databases
     that contain 50,000,000 records.

   * All columns have default values.  You can use `INSERT' to insert a
     subset of a table's columns; those columns that are not explicitly
     given values are set to their default values.

   * Uses GNU Automake, Autoconf, and `libtool' for portability.

   * Written in C and C++. Tested with a broad range of different
     compilers.

   * A very fast thread-based memory allocation system.

   * No memory leaks. Tested with a commercial memory leakage detector
     (`purify').

   * Includes `myisamchk', a very fast utility for table checking,
     optimization and repair.  *Note Maintenance::.

   * Full support for the ISO-8859-1 Latin1 character set. For example,
     the Scandinavian characters *a, "a and "o are allowed in table and
     column names.

   * All data are saved in ISO-8859-1 Latin1 format. All comparisons
     for normal string columns are case insensitive.

   * Sorting is done according to the ISO-8859-1 Latin1 character set
     (the Swedish way at the moment). It is possible to change this in
     the source by adding new sort order arrays. To see an example of
     very advanced sorting, look at the Czech sorting code. *MySQL*
     supports many different character sets that can be specified at
     compile time.

   * Aliases on tables and columns as in the SQL92 standard.

   * `DELETE', `INSERT', `REPLACE', and `UPDATE' return how many rows
     were changed (affected).

   * Function names do not clash with table or column names. For
     example, `ABS' is a valid column name. The only restriction is
     that for a function call, no spaces are allowed between the
     function name and the `(' that follows it.  *Note Reserved words::.

   * All *MySQL* programs can be invoked with the `--help' or `-?'
     options to obtain online assistance.

   * The server can provide error messages to clients in many
     languages. *Note Languages::.

   * Clients connect to the *MySQL* server using TCP/IP connections or
     Unix sockets, or named pipes under NT.

   * The *MySQL*-specific `SHOW' command can be used to retrieve
     information about databases, tables and indexes. The `EXPLAIN'
     command can be used to determine how the optimizer resolves a
     query.

How stable is MySQL?
====================

This section addresses the questions, "how stable is *MySQL*?" and,
"can I depend on *MySQL* in this project?"  Here we will try to clarify
some issues and to answer some of the more important questions that
seem to concern many people.  This section has been put together from
information gathered from the mailing list (which is very active in
reporting bugs).

At TcX, *MySQL* has worked without any problems in our projects since
mid-1996. When *MySQL* was released to a wider public, we noticed that
there were some pieces of "untested code" that were quickly found by the
new users who made queries in a manner different than our own.  Each new
release has had fewer portability problems than the previous one (even
though each has had many new features), and we hope that it will be
possible to label one of the next releases "stable".

Each release of *MySQL* has been usable and there have been problems
only when users start to use code from "the gray zones". Naturally,
outside users can't know what the gray zones are; this section attempts
to indicate those that are currently known.  The descriptions deal with
the 3.22.x version of *MySQL*. All known and reported bugs are fixed in
the latest version, with the exception of the bugs listed in the bugs
section, which are things that are "design"-related.  *Note Bugs::.

*MySQL* is written in multiple layers and different independent
modules.  These modules are listed below with an indication of how
well-tested each of them is:

*The ISAM table handler -- Stable*
     This manages storage and retrieval of all data in *MySQL* 3.22 and
     earlier versions. In all *MySQL* releases there hasn't been a
     single (reported) bug in this code. The only known way to get a
     corrupted table is to kill the server in the middle of an update.
     Even that is unlikely to destroy any data beyond rescue, because
     all data are flushed to disk between each query.  There hasn't
     been a single bug report about lost data because of bugs in
     *MySQL*, either.

*The MyISAM table handler -- Beta*
     This is new in *MySQL* 3.23. It's largely based on the ISAM table
     code but has a lot of new very useful features.

*The parser and lexical analyser -- Stable*
     There hasn't been a single reported bug in this system for a long
     time.

*The C client code -- Stable*
     No known problems. In early 3.20 releases, there were some
     limitations in the send/receive buffer size. As of 3.21.x, the
     buffer size is now dynamic up to a default of 24M.

*Standard client programs -- Stable*
     These include `mysql', `mysqladmin' and `mysqlshow', `mysqldump',
     and `mysqlimport'.

*Basic SQL -- Stable*
     The basic SQL function system and string classes and dynamic memory
     handling. Not a single reported bug in this system.

*Query optimizer -- Stable*

*Range optimizer -- Gamma*

*Join optimizer -- Stable*

*Locking -- Gamma*
     This is very system-dependent. On some systems there are big
     problems using standard OS locking (`fcntl()').  In these cases,
     you should run the *MySQL* daemon with the `--skip-locking' flag.
     Problems are known to occur on some Linux systems and on SunOS
     when using NFS-mounted file systems.

*Linux threads -- Gamma*
     The only problem found has been with the `fcntl()' call, which is
     fixed by using the `--skip-locking' option to `mysqld'. Some people
     have reported lockup problems with the 0.5 release.

*Solaris 2.5+ pthreads -- Stable*
     We use this for all our production work.

*MIT-pthreads (Other systems) -- Gamma*
     There have been no reported bugs since 3.20.15 and no known bugs
     since 3.20.16. On some systems, there is a "misfeature" where some
     operations are quite slow (a 1/20 second sleep is done between
     each query). Of course, MIT-pthreads may slow down everything a
     bit, but index-based `SELECT' statements are usually done in one
     time frame so there shouldn't be a mutex locking/thread juggling.

*Other thread implementions -- Alpha - Beta*
     The ports to other systems are still very new and may have bugs,
     possibly in *MySQL*, but most often in the thread implementation
     itself.

*`LOAD DATA ...', `INSERT ... SELECT' -- Stable*
     Some people have thought they have found bugs here, but these
     usually have turned out to be misunderstandings. Please check the
     manual before reporting problems!

*`ALTER TABLE' -- Stable*
     Small changes in 3.22.12.

*DBD -- Stable*
     Now maintained by Jochen Wiedmann <wiedmann@neckar-alb.de>. Thanks!

*`mysqlaccess' -- Stable*
     Written and maintained by Yves Carlier <Yves.Carlier@rug.ac.be>.
     Thanks!

*`GRANT' -- Gamma*
     Big changes made in *MySQL* 3.22.12.

**MyODBC* (uses ODBC SDK 2.5) -- Gamma*
     It seems to work well with some programs.

TcX provides email support for paying customers, but the *MySQL*
mailing list usually provides answers to common questions. Bugs are
usually fixed right away with a patch; for serious bugs, there is almost
always a new release.

Year 2000 compliance
====================

*MySQL* itself has no problems with Year 2000 (Y2K) compliance:

   * *MySQL* uses Unix time functions and has no problems with dates
     until `2069'; all 2-digit years are regarded to be in the range
     `1970' to `2069', which means that if you store `01' in a `year'
     column, *MySQL* treats it as `2001'.

   * All *MySQL* date functions are stored in one file `sql/time.cc'
     and coded very carefully to be year 2000-safe.

   * In *MySQL* 3.22 and later versions, the new `YEAR' column type can
     store years `0' and `1901' to `2155' in 1 byte and display them
     using 2 or 4 digits.

You may run into problems with applications that use *MySQL* in a way
that is not Y2K-safe.  For example, many old applications store or
manipulate years using 2-digit values (which are ambiguous) rather than
4-digit values.  This problem may be compounded by applications that use
values such as `00' or `99' as "missing" value indicators.

Unfortunately, these problems may be difficult to fix, since different
applications may be written by different programmers, each of whom may
use a different set of conventions and date-handling functions.

Here is a simple demonstration illustrating that *MySQL* doesn't have
any problems with dates until the year 2030!

     mysql> DROP TABLE IF EXISTS y2k;
     mysql> CREATE TABLE y2k (date date, date_time datetime, time_stamp timestamp);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("1998-12-31","1998-12-31 23:59:59",19981231235959);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("1999-01-01","1999-01-01 00:00:00",19990101000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("1999-09-09","1999-09-09 23:59:59",19990909235959);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2000-01-01","2000-01-01 00:00:00",20000101000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2000-02-28","2000-02-28 00:00:00",20000228000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2000-02-29","2000-02-29 00:00:00",20000229000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2000-03-01","2000-03-01 00:00:00",20000301000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2000-12-31","2000-12-31 23:59:59",20001231235959);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2001-01-01","2001-01-01 00:00:00",20010101000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2004-12-31","2004-12-31 23:59:59",20041231235959);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2005-01-01","2005-01-01 00:00:00",20050101000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2030-01-01","2030-01-01 00:00:00",20300101000000);
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES ("2050-01-01","2050-01-01 00:00:00",20500101000000);
     mysql> SELECT * FROM y2k;
     +------------+---------------------+----------------+
     | date       | date_time           | time_stamp     |
     +------------+---------------------+----------------+
     | 1998-12-31 | 1998-12-31 23:59:59 | 19981231235959 |
     | 1999-01-01 | 1999-01-01 00:00:00 | 19990101000000 |
     | 1999-09-09 | 1999-09-09 23:59:59 | 19990909235959 |
     | 2000-01-01 | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | 20000101000000 |
     | 2000-02-28 | 2000-02-28 00:00:00 | 20000228000000 |
     | 2000-02-29 | 2000-02-29 00:00:00 | 20000229000000 |
     | 2000-03-01 | 2000-03-01 00:00:00 | 20000301000000 |
     | 2000-12-31 | 2000-12-31 23:59:59 | 20001231235959 |
     | 2001-01-01 | 2001-01-01 00:00:00 | 20010101000000 |
     | 2004-12-31 | 2004-12-31 23:59:59 | 20041231235959 |
     | 2005-01-01 | 2005-01-01 00:00:00 | 20050101000000 |
     | 2030-01-01 | 2030-01-01 00:00:00 | 20300101000000 |
     | 2050-01-01 | 2050-01-01 00:00:00 | 00000000000000 |
     +------------+---------------------+----------------+
     
     13 rows in set (0.00 sec)

This shows that the `DATE' and `DATETIME' types are will not give any
problems with future dates (they handle dates until the year 9999).

The `TIMESTAMP' type, that is used to store the current time, has a
range up to only `2030-01-01'. `TIMESTAMP' has a range of `1970' to
`2030' on 32-bit machines (signed value). On 64-bit machines it handles
times up to `2106' (unsigned value).

Even though *MySQL* is Y2K-compliant, it is your responsibility to
provide unambiguous input.  See *Note Y2K issues:: for *MySQL*'s rules
for dealing with ambiguous date input data (data containing 2-digit year
values).

General SQL information and tutorials
=====================================

This book has been recommended by a several people on the *MySQL*
mailing list:

     Judith S. Bowman, Sandra L. Emerson and Marcy Darnovsky
     The Practical SQL Handbook: Using Structured Query Language
     Second Edition
     Addison-Wesley
     ISBN 0-201-62623-3
     http://www.awl.com

This book has also received some recommendations by MySQL users:

     Martin Gruber
     Understanding SQL
     ISBN 0-89588-644-8
     Publisher Sybex 510 523 8233
     Alameda, CA USA

A SQL tutorial is available on the net at
`http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/2207/sql1.html'

SQL in 21 Tagen (online book in German language):
`http://www.mut.de/leseecke/buecher/sql/inhalt.htm'

Useful MySQL-related links
==========================

Tutorials
---------

   * A      beginner's tutoral of how to start using *MySQL* (http://www.devshed.com/resource/advanced/mysql/index.html)

   * `http://www.analysisandsolutions.com/code/mybasic.htm' Beginners
     *MySQL* Tutorial on how to install and set up *MySQL* on a Windows
     machine.

   * A lot of *MySQL*      tutorials (http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/MySQL/)

   * Setting      Up a MySQL Based Website (http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/1046/1/)

   *
     *MySQL*-perl tutorial (http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/backend/tutorials/tutorial1.html)

   *


     PHP/MySQL Tutorial (http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/databases/tutorials/tutorial4.html)

   * Hands on tutorial for MySQL (http://www.useractive.com/)

Porting MySQL / Using MySQL on different systems
------------------------------------------------

   * The MacOS Xclave (http://xclave.macnn.com/MySQL/).  Running MySQL
     on MacOSX

   * MySql for MacOSX Server (http://www.prnet.de/RegEx/mysql.html)

   * Client libraries for the Macintosh (http://www.lilback.com/macsql/)

Perl related links
------------------

   * Perl DBI with MySQL FAQ (http://haven.e-cactus.com/dbi_mysql)

MySQL discussion forums
-----------------------

   * Examples using *MySQL*; (check Top 20)
     (http://webdev.weberdev.com/)

Commercial applications that support MySQL
------------------------------------------

   * SupportWizard; Interactive helpdesk      on the web (This product includes a licensed copy of MySQL) (http://www.supportwizard.com/)

   * StWeb (http://www.stweb.org/) StWeb - Stratos Web and Application
     server - an easy-to-use, cross platform, Internet/Intranet
     development and deployment system for development of web-enabled
     applications. The standard version of StWeb has a native interface
     to MySql database.

   * Right Now Web; Web automation for      customer service (http://www.rightnowtech.com/)

   * Bazaar; Interactive Discussion      Forums with web interface (http://www.icaap.org/Bazaar/)

   * PhoneSweepT (http://www.phonesweep.com/) is the world's first
     commercial Telephone Scanner. Many break-ins in recent years have
     come not through the Internet, but through unauthorized dial-up
     modems. PhoneSweep lets you find these modems by repeatedly placing
     phone calls to every phone number that your organization controls.
     PhoneSweep has a built-in expert system that can recognize more
     than 250 different kinds of remote-access programs, including
     Carbon CopyT, pcANYWHERET, and Windows NT RAS. All information is
     stored in the SQL database. It then generates a comprehensive
     report detailing which services were discovered on which dial-up
     numbers in your organization.

SQL Clients/Report writers
--------------------------

   * *MySQL* Editor/Utility for MS Windows Platforms. (http://www.urbanresearch.com/software/utils/urbsql/index.html)

   * KDE MySQL client (http://www.xnot.com/kmysql)

   * KMySQL (http://www.penguinpowered.com/~kmysql) KMySQL is a
     database client for KDE that primarily supports *MySQL*.

   * Win32 gui client (http://www.ecker-software.de) A Win32 gui client
     by David Ecker.

   * Kiosk; a MySQL client for      database management (http://www.icaap.org/software/kiosk/). Written in Perl. Will be a part of Bazaar.

   *
















     A free report writer in Java (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Ridge/4280/GenericReportWriter/grwhome.html)

Web development tools that support *MySQL*
------------------------------------------

   * PHP: A server-side HTML-embedded scripting      language (http://www.php.net/)

   * The Midgard Application Server; a      powerful Web development environment based on MySQL and PHP (http://www.midgard-project.org)

   * SmartWorker is a platform for web      application development (http://www.smartworker.org)

   * XSP: e(X)tendible (s)erver (p)ages and is a      HTML embedded tag language written in Java (previously known as      XTAGS) (http://xsp.lentus.se/)

   * dbServ (http://www.dbServ.de/) is an extension to a web server to
     integrate databases output into your HTML code. You may use any
     HTML function in your output. Only the client will stop you. It
     works as standalone server or as JAVA servlet.

   * Platform independent ASP from Chili!Soft
     (http://www.chilisoft.com/)

   * *MySQL* + PHP demos (http://www.wernhart.priv.at/php/)

   * ForwardSQL: HTML interface to manipulate      *MySQL* databases (http://www.dbwww.com/)

   * WWW-SQL: Display database      information (http://www.daa.com.au/~james/www-sql/)

   * Minivend: A Web shopping cart (http://www.minivend.com/minivend/)

   * HeiTML: A server-side extension of HTML and      a 4GL language at the same time (http://www.heitml.com/)

   * Metahtml: A Dynamic Programming Language      for WWW Applications (http://www.metahtml.com/)

   * VelocityGen for Perl and TCL (http://www.binevolve.com/)

   * Hawkeye Internet Server Suite (http://hawkeye.net/)

   * Network Database Connection For Linux (http://www.fastflow.com/)

   * WDBI: Web browser as a universal front end      to databases which supports *MySQL* well. (http://www.wdbi.net/)

   * WebGroove Script: HTML compiler and      server-side scripting language (http://www.webgroove.com/)

   * A server-side web site scripting language (http://www.ihtml.com/)

   * How to use *MySQL* with      ColdFusion on Solaris (ftp://ftp.igc.apc.org/pub/myodbc/README)

   * Calistra's ODBC *MySQL* Administrator (http://calistra.com/MySQL/)

   * Webmerger (http://www.webmerger.com) This CGI tool interprets
     files and generates dynamic output based on a set of simple tags.
     Ready-to-run drivers for *MySQL* and PostgreSQL through ODBC.

   * PHPclub (http://phpclub.unet.ru/index_e.php3). Tips and tricks for
     PHP

   * MySQL and Perl Scripts (http://www.penguinservices.com/scripts)

   * The Widgetchuck; Web Site Tools and      Gadgets (http://www.widgetchuck.com)

   * AdCycle (http://www.adcycle.com/) advertising management software

   * pwPage (http://www.bidsystems.com/pwPage) provides an extremely
     fast and simple approach to the creation of data base forms.  That
     is, if a data base table exists and an HTML page has been
     constructed using a few simple guidelines, pwPage can be
     immediately used for table data selections, insertions, updates,
     deletions and selectable table content reviewing.

Databse design tools with MySQL support
---------------------------------------

   * "Dezign for      databases" is a database development tool using an rick> entity      relationship diagram (ERD). (http://www.heraut.demon.nl/dezign/dezign.html)

Web servers with *MySQL* tools
------------------------------

   * An Apache      authentication module (http://bourbon.netvision.net.il/mysql/mod_auth_mysql/)

   * The Roxen Challenger Web server (http://www.roxen.com/)

Extensions for other programs
-----------------------------

     A Delphi      interface to *MySQL*. (http://www.fichtner.net/delphi/mysql.delphi.phtml) With source code. By Matthias Fichtner.

   * *TmySQL*; A library      to use *MySQL* with Delphi (http://www.productivity.org/projects/mysql/)

   * Delphi      TDataset-component (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/2064/mysql.html)

   * *MySQL* support for BIND (The      Internet Domain Name Server) (http://www.seawood.org/msql_bind/)

   * MySQL support for      Sendmail and Procmail (http://www.inet-interactive.com/sendmail)

Using `MySQL' with other programs
---------------------------------

   *



     Using MySQL with Access (http://www.iserver.com/support/addonhelp/database/mysql/msaccess.html)

ODBC related links
------------------

   * Popular iODBC Driver Manager (libiodbc) now      available in Open Source format (http://www.iodbc.org/)

   * The FreeODBC Pages (http://users.ids.net/~bjepson/freeODBC/)

   * unixodbc (http:/http://genix.net/unixODBC/) The unixODBC Project
     goals are to develop and promote unixODBC to be the definitive
     standard for ODBC on the Linux platform.  This is to include GUI
     support for KDE.

*API* related links
-------------------

   * www.jppp.com (http://www.jppp.com) Partially implemented
     TDataset-compatible components for *MySQL*.

   * qpopmysql (http://www.riverstyx.net/qpopmysql/) A patch to allow
     POP3 authentication from a *MySQL* database.  There's also a link
     to Paul Khavkine's patch for Procmail to allow any MTA to deliver
     to users in a *MySQL* database.

   * Visual Basic class generator for      Active X (http://www.pbc.ottawa.on.ca)

   * Client libraries for the Macintosh (http://www.lilback.com/macsql/)

   * *MySQL*      binding to Free Pascal (http://tfdec1.fys.kuleuven.ac.be/~michael/fpc-linux/mysql)

   * SCMDB (http://www.dedecker.net/jessie/scmdb/).  SCMDB is an add-on
     for SCM that ports the mysql C library to scheme (SCM).  With this
     library scheme developers can make connections to a mySQL database
     and use embedded SQL in their programs.

Other *MySQL*-related links
---------------------------

   * Registry of Web providers who      support *MySQL* (http://www.wix.com/mysql-hosting) Links about using *MySQL* in Japan/Asia (http://www.softagency.co.jp/mysql/index.en.phtml)

   * Commercial Web defect      tracking system (http://www.open.com.au/products.html)

   * PTS: Project Tracking System (http://www.stonekeep.com/pts/)

   * Job and software tracking      system (http://tomato.nvgc.vt.edu/~hroberts/mot)

   * ExportSQL: A script      to export data from Access95+ (http://www.cynergi.net/non-secure/exportsql/)

   * SAL (Scientific      Applications on Linux) *MySQL* entry (http://SAL.KachinaTech.COM/H/1/MYSQL.html)

   * A consulting company      which mentions *MySQL* in the right company (http://www.infotech-nj.com/itech/index.shtml)

   * PMP Computer Solutions. Database developers      using *MySQL* and `mSQL' (http://www.pmpcs.com/)

   * Airborne Early Warning Association  (http://www.aewa.org)

   * *MySQL* UDF      Registry (http://abattoir.cc.ndsu.nodak.edu/~nem/mysql/udf/)

   * Y2K tester (http://21ccs.com/~gboersm/y2kmatrix/)

SQL and database interfaces
---------------------------

   * The JDBC database access API (http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/)

   * Patch for `mSQL' TCL (http://www.gagme.com/mysql)

   * EasySQL: An ODBC-like driver manager
     (http://www.amsoft.ru/easysql/)

   * A REXX interface      to SQL databases (http://www.lightlink.com/hessling/rexxsql.html)

   * TCL interface (http://www.binevolve.com/~tdarugar/tcl-sql)

Examples of MySQL use
---------------------

   * Little6 Inc (http://www.little6.com/about/linux/) An online
     contract and job finding site that is powered by *MySQL*, PHP3 and
     Linux.

   *

     DELECis (http://www.delec.com/is/products/prep/examples/BookShelf/index.html) A tool which makes it very easy to create an automatically
     generated table documentation. They have used *MySQL* as an
     example.

   * World Records (http://www.worldrecords.com) A search engine for
     information about music that uses *MySQL* and PHP.

   * A Contact      Database using *MySQL* and PHP (http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/1998/01/note/)

   * Web based interface and      Community Calender with PHP (http://modems.rosenet.net/mysql/)

   * Perl package to generate      html from a SQL table structure and for generating SQL statements      from an html form. (http://www.odbsoft.com/cook/sources.htm)

   * Basic telephone database using      `DBI'/`DBD' (http://www.gusnet.cx/proj/telsql/).

   *

     Installing      new Perl modules that require locally installed modules (http://www.iserver.com/support/contrib/perl5/modules.html)

   * JDBC examples by Daniel K. Schneider (http://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/java/staf2x/ex/jdbc/coffee-break)

   * SQL BNF (http://www.spade.com/linux/howto/PostgreSQL-HOWTO-41.html)

   * Object Oriented Concepts Inc; CORBA      applications with examples in source (http://www.ooc.com/)

   * DBWiz; Includes an example of how to      manage own cursors in VB (http://www.pbc.ottawa.on.ca/)

   * Pluribus (http://keilor.cs.umass.edu/pluribus/) Pluribus, is a
     free search engine that learns to improve the quality of its
     results over time. Pluribus works by recording which pages a user
     prefers among those returned for a query. A user votes for a page
     by selecting it; Pluribus then uses that knowledge to improve the
     quality of the results when someone else submits the same (or
     similar) query. Uses PHP and *MySQL*.

   * Stopbit (http://www.stopbit.com/) A technology news site using
     *MySQL* and PHP

   * Example scripts at Jokes2000 (http://www.jokes2000.com/scripts/)

   * FutureForum Web      Discussion Software (http://futurerealm.com/forum/futureforum.cgi)

   * `http://www.linuxsupportline.com/~kalendar/ KDE based calendar      manager' The calendar manager has both single user (file based)
     and multi user (*MySQL* database) support.

   * Example of storing/retrieving      images with *MySQL* and CGI (http://tim.desert.net/~tim/imger/)

   * Online shopping cart system
     (http://www.penguinservices.com/scripts)

   * Old Photo Album (http://www.city-gallery.com/album/) The album is
     a collaborative popular history of photography project that
     generates all pages from data stored in a *MySQL* database. Pages
     are dynamically generated through a php3 interface to the database
     content.  Users contribute images and descriptions. Contributed
     images are stored on the web server to avoid storing them in the
     database as BLOBs. All other information is stored in on the
     shared *MySQL* server.

General database links
----------------------

   * Database Jump Site (http://www.pcslink.com/~ej/dbweb.html)

   * Homepage of the webdb-l      (Web Databases) mailing list. (http://black.hole-in-the.net/guy/webdb/)

   * Perl      `DBI'/`DBD' modules homepage (http://www.symbolstone.org/technology/perl/DBI/index.html)

   * Cygwin tools. UNIX on top      of Windows (http://www.student.uni-koeln.de/cygwin/)

   * dbasecentral.com; Development and      distribution of powerful and easy-to-use database applications and      systems. (http://dbasecentral.com/)

   * Tek-Tips Forums (http://www.Tek-Tips.com) Tek-Tips Forums are 800+
     independent peer-to-peer non-commercial support forums for Computer
     Professionals.  Features include automatic e-mail notification of
     responses, a links library, and member confidentiality guaranteed.

There are also many web pages that use *MySQL*. *Note Users::. Send any
additions to this list to <webmaster@mysql.com>. We now require that
you show a *MySQL* logo somewhere (It is okay to have it on a "used
tools" page or something similar) to be added.

MySQL mailing lists and how to ask questions or report errors (bugs)
********************************************************************

The MySQL mailing lists
=======================

To subscribe to the main *MySQL* mailing list, send a message to the
electronic mail address <mysql-subscribe@lists.mysql.com>.

To unsubscribe from the main *MySQL* mailing list, send a message to
the electronic mail address <mysql-unsubscribe@lists.mysql.com>.

Only the address to which you send your messages is significant.  The
subject line and the body of the message are ignored.

If your reply address is not valid, you can specify your address
explicitly.  Adding a hyphen to the subscribe or unsubscribe command
word, followed by your address with the `@' character in your address
replaced by a `='.  For example, to subscribe `john@host.domain', send
a message to `mysql-subscribe-john=host.domain@lists.mysql.com'.

Mail to <mysql-subscribe@lists.mysql.com> or
<mysql-unsubscribe@lists.mysql.com> is handled automatically by the
ezmlm mailing list processor.  Information about ezmlm is available at
the ezmlm Website (http://www.ezmlm.org).

To post a message to the list itself, send your message to
`mysql@lists.mysql.com'.  However, please *do not* send mail about
subscribing or unsubscribing to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>, since any mail
sent to that address is distributed automatically to thousands of other
users.

Your local site may have many subscribers to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.
If so, it may have a local mailing list, so that messages sent from
`lists.mysql.com' to your site are propagated to the local list. In such
cases, please contact your system administrator to be added to or
dropped from the local *MySQL* list.

The following *MySQL* mailing lists exist:

`announce'
     This is for announcement of new versions of *MySQL* and related
     programs. This is a low volume list that we think all *MySQL*
     users should be on.

`mysql'
     The main list for general *MySQL* discussion. Please note that some
     topics are better discussed on the more-specialized lists. If you
     post to the wrong list, you may not get an answer!

`mysql-digest'
     The `mysql' list in digest form. That means you get all individual
     messages, sent as one large mail message once a day.

`bugs'
     On this list you should only post a full, repeatable bug report,
     using the mysqlbug script (if not running on Windows, in which
     case one should include a description of the operating system and
     the MySQL version).  You should preferable test the problem using
     the latest stable or development version of MySQL before posting!
     Anyone should be able to repeat the bug by just using 'mysql test <
     script' on the included test case.  All bugs posted on this list
     will be corrected or documented in the next MySQL release!  If
     there was only small code changes involved we will also post a
     patch that fixes the problem.

`bugs-digest'
     The `bugs' list in digest form

`developer'
     A list for people who work on the *MySQL* code. On this list one
     can also discuss MySQL development and post patches.

`developer-digest'
     A digest version of the `developer' list.

`java'
     Discussion about *MySQL* and Java. Mostly about the JDBC drivers.

`java-digest'
     A digest version of the `java' list.

`win32'
     All things concerning *MySQL* on Microsoft operating systems such
     as Windows NT.

`win32-digest'
     A digest version of the `win32' list.

`myodbc'
     All things concerning connecting to *MySQL* with ODBC.

`myodbc-digest'
     A digest version of the `myodbc' list.

`msql-mysql-modules'
     A list about the Perl support in *MySQL*.

`msql-mysql-modules-digest'
     A digest version of the `msql-mysql-modules' list.

You subscribe or unsubscribe to all lists in the same way as described
above.  In your subscribe or unsubscribe message, just put the
appropriate mailing list name rather than `mysql'.  For example, to
subscribe to or unsubscribe from the `myodbc' list, send a message to
<myodbc-subscribe@lists.mysql.com> or
<myodbc-unsubscribe@lists.mysql.com>.

Asking questions or reporting bugs
==================================

Before posting a bug report or question, please do the following:

   * Start by searching the *MySQL* online manual at:

          `http://www.mysql.com/Manual_chapter/manual_toc.html'

     We try to keep the manual up to date by updating it frequently
     with solutions to newly found problems!

   * Search the *MySQL* mailing list archives:

          `http://www.mysql.com/doc.html'

   * You can also use `http://www.mysql.com/search.html' to search all
     the web pages (including the manual) that are located at
     `http://www.mysql.com/'.

If you can't find an answer in the manual or the archives, check with
your local *MySQL* expert. If you still can't find an answer to your
question, go ahead and read the next section about how to send mail to
<mysql@lists.mysql.com>.

How to report bugs or problems
==============================

Writing a good bug report takes patience, but doing it right the first
time saves time for us and for you. This section will help you write
your report correctly so that you don't waste your time doing things
that may not help us much or at all.

We encourage everyone to use the `mysqlbug' script to generate a bug
report (or a report about any problem), if possible.  `mysqlbug' can be
found in the `scripts' directory in the source distribution, or, for a
binary distribution, in the `bin' directory under your *MySQL*
installation directory.  If you are unable to use `mysqlbug', you should
still include all the necessary information listed in this section.

The `mysqlbug' script helps you generate a report by determining much
of the following information automatically, but if something important
is missing, please include it with your message! Please read this
section carefully and make sure that all the information described here
is included in your report.

If you can make a test case which clearly shows the bug, you should post
it the the <bugs@list.mysql.com> list. Note that on this list you
should only post a full, repeatable bug report, using the mysqlbug
script (if not running on Windows, in which case one should include a
description of the operating system and the MySQL version).  You should
preferable test the problem using the latest stable or development
version of MySQL before posting!  Anyone should be able to repeat the
bug by just using 'mysql test < script' on the included test case.  All
bugs posted on this list will be corrected or documented in the next
MySQL release!  If there was only small code changes involved we will
also post a patch that fixes the problem.

Remember that it is possible to respond to a message containing too much
information, but not to one containing too little.  Often people omit
facts because they think they know the cause of a problem and assume
that some details don't matter.  A good principle is: if you are in
doubt about stating something, state it!  It is a thousand times faster
and less troublesome to write a couple of lines more in your report
than to be forced to ask again and wait for the answer because you
didn't include enough information the first time.

The most common errors are that people don't indicate the version
number of the *MySQL* distribution they are using, or don't indicate
what platform they have *MySQL* installed on (including the platform
version number).  This is highly relevant information and in 99 cases
out of 100 the bug report is useless without it!  Very often we get
questions like "Why doesn't this work for me?"  and then we find that
the feature requested wasn't implemented in that *MySQL* version, or
that a bug described in a report has been fixed already in newer *MySQL*
versions.  Sometimes the error is platform dependent; in such cases, it
is next to impossible to fix anything without knowing the operating
system and the version number of the platform.

Remember also to provide information about your compiler, if it is
related to the problem.  Often people find bugs in compilers and think
the problem is *MySQL* related. Most compilers are under development
all the time and become better version by version, too.  To determine
whether or not your problem depends on your compiler, we need to know
what compiler is used.  Note that every compiling problem should be
regarded as a bug report and reported accordingly.

It is most helpful when a good description of the problem is included
in the bug report.  That is, a good example of all the things you did
that led to the problem and the problem itself exactly described.  The
best reports are those that include a full example showing how to
reproduce the bug or problem.

If a program produces an error message, it is very important to include
the message in your report! If we try to search for something from the
archives using programs, it is better that the error message reported
exactly matches the one that the program produces.  (Even the case
sensitivity should be observed!) You should never try to remember what
the error message was; instead, copy and paste the entire message into
your report!

If you have a problem with MyODBC, you should try to genereate a MyODBC
trace file. *Note MyODBC bug report::.

Please remember that many of the people who will read your report will
do so using an 80-column display.  When generating reports or examples
using the `mysql' command line tool, you should therefore use the
`--vertical' option (or the `\G' statement terminator) for output which
would exceed the available width for such a display (for example, with
the `EXPLAIN SELECT' statement; see the example below).

Please include the following information in your report:

   * The version number of the *MySQL* distribution you are using (for
     example, *MySQL* 3.22.22). You can find out which version you are
     running by executing `mysqladmin version'. `mysqladmin' can be
     found in the `bin' directory under your *MySQL* installation
     directory.

   * The manufacturer and model of the machine you are working on.

   * The operating system name and version. For most operating systems,
     you can get this information by executing the Unix command `uname
     -a'.

   * Sometimes the amount of memory (real and virtual) is relevant.  If
     in doubt, include these values.

   * If you are using a source distribution of *MySQL*, the name and
     version number of the compiler used is needed.  If you have a
     binary distribution, the distribution name is needed.

   * If the problem occurs during compilation, include the exact error
     message(s) and also a few lines of context around the offending
     code in the file where the error occurred.

   * If any database table is related to the problem, include the
     output from `mysqldump --no-data db_name tbl_name1 tbl_name2 ...'
     This is very easy to do and is a powerful way to get information
     about any table in a database that will help us create a situation
     matching the one you have.

   * For speed-related bugs or problems with `SELECT' statements, you
     should always include the output of `EXPLAIN SELECT ...', and at
     least the number of rows that the `SELECT' statement produces.
     The more information you give about your situation, the more
     likely it is that someone can help you!  For example, the
     following is an example of a very good bug report (it should of
     course be posted with the `mysqlbug' script):

     Example run using the `mysql' command line tool (note the use of
     the `\G' statement terminator for statements whose output width
     would otherwise exceed that of an 80-column display device):

          mysql> SHOW VARIABLES;
          mysql> SHOW COLUMNS FROM ...\G
                 <output-from-SHOW-COLUMNS>
          mysql> EXPLAIN SELECT ...\G
                 <output-from-EXPLAIN>
          mysql> FLUSH STATUS;
          mysql> SELECT ...;
                 <A short version of the output from SELECT,
                 including the time taken to run the query>
          mysql> SHOW STATUS;
                 <output from SHOW STATUS>

   * If a bug or problem occurs while running *MySQL*, try to provide an
     input script that will reproduce the anomaly. This script should
     include any necessary source files. The more closely the script
     can reproduce your situation, the better.

     If you can't provide a script, you should at least include the
     output from `mysqladmin variables extended-status processlist' in
     your mail to provide some information of how your system is
     performing!

   * If you think that *MySQL* produces a strange result from a query,
     include not only the result, but also your opinion of what the
     result should be and an account describing the basis for your
     opinion.

   * When giving an example of the problem, it's better to use the
     variable names, table names, etc., that exist in your actual
     situation than to come up with new names. The problem could be
     related to the name of a variable, table, etc.!  These cases are
     rare, perhaps, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  After all,
     it should be easier for you to provide an example that uses your
     actual situation and it is by all means better for us.  In case you
     have data you don't want to show to others, you can use `ftp' to
     transfer it to `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/'.  If the
     data are really top secret and you don't want to show them even to
     us, then go ahead and provide an example using other names, but
     please regard this as the last choice.

   * Include all the options given to the relevant programs, if
     possible.  For example, indicate the options that you use when you
     start the `mysqld' daemon and that you use to run any *MySQL*
     client programs.  The options to programs like `mysqld' and
     `mysql', and to the `configure' script are often keys to answers
     and very relevant!  It is never a bad idea to include them anyway!
     If you use any modules, such as Perl or PHP, please include the
     version number(s) of those as well.

   * If you can't produce a test case in a few rows, or if the test
     table is too big to be mailed to the mailing list (more than 10
     rows), you should dump your tables using `mysqldump' and create a
     `README' file that describes your problem.

     Create a compressed archive of your files using `tar' and `gzip'
     or `zip', and use `ftp' to transfer the archive to
     `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/'.  Then send a short
     description of the problem to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.

   * If your question is related to the privilege system, please
     include the output of `mysqlaccess', the output of `mysqladmin
     reload' and all the error messages you get when trying to connect!
     When you test your privileges, you should first run
     `mysqlaccess'. After this, execute `mysqladmin reload version',
     and last you should try to connect with the program that gives you
     trouble.  `mysqlaccess' can be found in the `bin' directory under
     your *MySQL* installation directory.

   * If you have a patch for a bug, that is good.  But don't assume the
     patch is all we need or that we will use it even if you don't
     provide some necessary information such as test cases showing the
     bug that your patch fixes.  We might find problems with your patch
     or we might not understand it at all; if so, we can't use it.

     If we can't verify exactly what the patch is meant for, we won't
     use it.  Test cases will help us here.  Show that the patch will
     handle all the situations that may occur. If we find a borderline
     case (even a rare one) where the patch won't work, the patch may
     be useless.

   * Guesses about what the bug is, why it occurs, or what it depends
     on, are usually wrong. Even we can't guess such things without
     first using a debugger to determine the real cause of a bug.

   * Indicate in your mail message that you have checked the reference
     manual and mail archive so others know that you have tried to
     solve your problem yourself.

   * If you get a `parse error', please check your syntax closely! If
     you can't find something wrong with it, it's extremely likely that
     your current version of *MySQL* doesn't support the query you are
     using.  If you are using the current version and the manual at
     `http://www.mysql.com/doc.html' doesn't cover the syntax you are
     using, *MySQL* doesn't support your query.  In this case, your
     only options are to implement the syntax yourself or email
     <mysql-licensing@mysql.com> and ask for an offer to implement it!

     If the manual covers the syntax you are using, but you have an
     older version of *MySQL*, you should check the *MySQL* change
     history to see when the syntax was implemented.  *Note News::.  In
     this case, you have the option of upgrading to a newer version of
     *MySQL*.

   * If you have a problem such that your data appears corrupt or you
     get errors when you access some particular table, you should first
     check and then try repairing your tables with `myisamchk'.  *Note
     Maintenance::.

   * If you often get corrupted tables you should try to find out when
     and why this happens!  In this case, the
     `mysql-data-directory/'hostname'.err' file may contain some
     information about what happened.  Please include any relevant
     information from this file in your bug report!  Normally `mysqld'
     should *NEVER* crash a table if nothing killed it in the middle of
     an update!  If you can find the source of why `mysqld' dies, it's
     much easier for us to provide you with a fix for the problem!

   * If possible, download the most recent version of *MySQL* and check
     whether or not it solves your problem.  All versions of *MySQL* are
     thoroughly tested and should work without problems!  We believe in
     making everything as backward compatible as possible and you
     should be able to switch *MySQL* versions in minutes!  *Note Which
     version::.

If you are a support customer, please cross-post the bug report to
<mysql-support@mysql.com> for higher priority treatment, as well as to
the appropriate mailing list to see if someone else has experienced (and
perhaps solved) the problem.

For information on reporting bugs in *MyODBC*, see *Note ODBC
Problems::.

For solutions to some common problems, see *Note Problems::.

When answers are sent to you individually and not to the mailing list,
it is considered good etiquette to summarize the answers and send the
summary to the mailing list so that others may have the benefit of
responses you received that helped you solve your problem!

Guidelines for answering questions on the mailing list
======================================================

If you consider your answer to have broad interest, you may want to
post it to the mailing list instead of replying directly to the
individual who asked.  Try to make your answer general enough that
people other than the original poster may benefit from it.  When you
post to the list, please make sure that your answer is not a
duplication of a previous answer.

Try to summarize the essential part of the question in your reply;
don't feel obliged to quote the entire original message.

Please don't post mail messages from your browser with HTML mode turned
on!  Many users doesn't read mail with a browser!

MySQL licensing and support
***************************

This chapter describes *MySQL* licensing and support arrangements,
including:

   * Our licensing policies for non-Microsoft and Microsoft operating
     systems

   * The copyrights under which *MySQL* is distributed (*note
     Copyright::.)

   * Sample situations illustrating when a license is required (*note
     Licensing examples::.)

   * Licensing and support costs (*note Cost::.), and support benefits
     (*note Support::.)

MySQL licensing policy
======================

The formal terms of the license for non-Microsoft operating systems
such as Unix or OS/2 are specified in *Note Public license::.
Basically, our licensing policy is as follows:

   * For normal internal use, *MySQL* generally costs nothing.  You do
     not have to pay us if you do not want to.

   * A license is required if:

        - You sell the *MySQL* server directly or as a part of another
          product or service

        - You charge for installing and maintaining a *MySQL* server at
          some client site

        - You include *MySQL* in a distribution that is non
          redistributable and you charge for some part of that
          distribution

   * For circumstances under which a *MySQL* license is required, you
     need a license per machine that runs the `mysqld' server.
     However, a multiple-CPU machine counts as a single machine, and
     there is no restriction on the number of *MySQL* servers that run
     on one machine, or on the number of clients concurrently connected
     to a server running on that machine!

   * You do not need a license to include client code in commercial
     programs.  The client access part of *MySQL* is in the public
     domain. The `mysql' command line client includes code from the
     `readline' library that is under the GNU Public License.

   * For customers who have purchased 1 license or MySQL support, we
     provide additional functionality.  Currently, this means we
     provide the `myisampack' utility for creating fast compressed
     read-only databases.  (The server includes support for reading
     such databases but not the packing tool used to create them.)
     When support agreements generate sufficient revenue, we will
     release this tool under the same license as the *MySQL* server.

   * If your use of *MySQL* does not require a license, but you like
     *MySQL* and want to encourage further development, you are
     certainly welcome to purchase a license anyway.

   * If you use *MySQL* in a commercial context such that you profit by
     its use, we ask that you further the development of *MySQL* by
     purchasing some level of support.  We feel that if *MySQL* helps
     your business, it is reasonable to ask that you help *MySQL*.
     (Otherwise, if you ask us support questions, you are not only
     using for free something into which we've put a lot a work, you're
     asking us to provide free support, too.)

For use under Microsoft operating systems (Win95/Win98/WinNT), you need
a *MySQL* license after a trial period of 30 days, with the exception
that licenses may be obtained upon request at no cost for educational
use or for university- or government-sponsored research settings.
*Note Win license::. A shareware version of *MySQL*-Win32 that you can
try before buying is available at
`http://www.mysql.com/mysql_w32.htmy'.  After you have paid, you will
get a password that will enable you to access the newest *MySQL*-Win32
version.

If you have any questions as to whether or not a license is required
for your particular use of *MySQL*, please contact us.  *Note Contact
information::.

If you require a *MySQL* license, the easiest way to pay for it is to
use the license form at TcX's secure server at
`https://www.mysql.com/license.htmy'.  Other forms of payment are
discussed in *Note Payment information::.

Copyrights used by MySQL
========================

There are several different copyrights on the *MySQL* distribution:

  1. The *MySQL*-specific source needed to build the `mysqlclient'
     library and programs in the `client' directory is in the public
     domain. Each file that is in the public domain has a header which
     clearly states so. This includes everything in the `client'
     directory and some parts of the `mysys', `mystring' and `dbug'
     libraries.

  2. Some small parts of the source (GNU `getopt') are covered by the
     "GNU LIBRARY LIBRARY GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE".  See the
     `mysys/COPYING.LIB' file.

  3. Some small parts of the source (GNU `readline') are covered by the
     "GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE". See the `readline/COPYING' file.

  4. Some parts of the source (the `regexp' library) are covered by a
     Berkeley style copyright.

  5. The other source needed for the *MySQL* server on non-Microsoft
     platforms is covered by the "MySQL FREE PUBLIC LICENSE", which is
     based on the "Aladdin FREE PUBLIC LICENSE." *Note Public
     license::. When running *MySQL* on any Microsoft operating system,
     other licensing applies.

The following points set forth the philosophy behind our copyright
policy:

   * The SQL client library should be totally free so that it can be
     included in commercial products without limitations.

   * People who want free access to the software into which we have put
     a lot of work can have it, so long as they do not try to make
     money directly by distributing it for profit.

   * People who want the right to keep their own software proprietary,
     but also want the value from our work, can pay for the privilege.

   * That means normal in-house use is FREE. But if you use *MySQL* for
     something important to you, you may want to help further its
     development by purchasing a license or a support contract.  *Note
     Support::.

Possible future copyright changes
---------------------------------

We may choose to distribute older versions of *MySQL* with the GPL in
the future. However, these versions will be identified as *GNU MySQL*.
Also, all copyright notices in the relevant files will be changed to the
GPL.

Distributing MySQL commercially
===============================

This section is a clarification of the license terms that are set forth
in the "MySQL FREE PUBLIC LICENSE" (FPL).  *Note Public license::.

*MySQL* may be *used* freely, including by commercial entities for
evaluation or unsupported internal use. However, *distribution* for
commercial purposes of *MySQL*, or anything containing or derived from
*MySQL* in whole or in part, requires a written commercial license from
TcX AB, the sole entity authorized to grant such licenses.

You may not include *MySQL* "free" in a package containing anything for
which a charge is being made, except as noted below.

The intent of the exception provided in the second clause of the
license is to allow commercial organizations operating an FTP server or
a bulletin board to distribute *MySQL* freely from it, provided that:

  1. The organization complies with the other provisions of the FPL,
     which include among other things a requirement to distribute the
     full source code of *MySQL* and of any derived work, and to
     distribute the FPL itself along with *MySQL*;

  2. The only charge for downloading *MySQL* is a charge based on the
     distribution service and not one based on the content of the
     information being retrieved (i.e., the charge would be the same
     for retrieving a random collection of bits of the same size);

  3. The server or BBS is accessible to the general public, i.e., the
     phone number or IP address is not kept secret, and anyone may
     obtain access to the information (possibly by paying a
     subscription or access fee that is not dependent on or related to
     purchasing anything else).

If you want to distribute software in a commercial context that
incorporates *MySQL* and you do *not* want to meet these conditions, you
should contact TcX AB to find out about commercial licensing, which
involves a payment. The only ways you legally can distribute *MySQL* or
anything containing *MySQL* are by distributing *MySQL* under the
requirements of the FPL, or by getting a commercial license from TcX AB.

Example licensing situations
============================

This section describes some situations illustrating whether or not you
must license the *MySQL* server.  Generally these examples involve
providing *MySQL* as part of a product or service that you are selling
to a customer, or requiring that *MySQL* be used in conjunction with
your product.  In such cases, it is your responsibility to obtain a
license for the customer if one is necessary.  (This requirement is
waived if your customer already has a *MySQL* license.  But the seller
must send customer information and the license number to TcX, and the
license must be a full license, not an OEM license.)

Note that a single *MySQL* license covers any number of
CPUs/users/customers/`mysqld' servers on a machine!

Selling products that use MySQL
-------------------------------

To determine whether or not you need a *MySQL* license when selling
your application, you should ask whether the proper functioning of your
application is contingent on the use of *MySQL* and whether you include
*MySQL* with your product.  There are several cases to consider:

   * Does your application require *MySQL* to function properly?

     If your product requires *MySQL*, you need a license for any
     machine that runs the `mysqld' server.  For example, if you've
     designed your application around *MySQL*, then you've really made
     a commercial product that requires the engine, so you need a
     license.

     If your application does not require *MySQL*, you need not obtain a
     license.  For example, if *MySQL* just added some new optional
     features to your product (such as adding logging to a database if
     *MySQL* is used rather than logging to a text file), it should fall
     within normal use, and a license would not be required.

     In other words, you need a license if you sell a product designed
     specifically for use with *MySQL* or that requires the *MySQL*
     server to function at all.  This is true whether or not you provide
     *MySQL* for your client as part of your product distribution.

     It also depends on what you're doing for the client.  Do you plan
     to provide your client with detailed instructions on installing
     *MySQL* with your software?  Then your product may be contingent
     on the use of *MySQL*; if so, you need to buy a license.  If you
     are simply tying into a database that you expect already to have
     been installed by the time your software is purchased, then you
     probably don't need a license.

   * Do you include *MySQL* in a distribution and charge for that
     distribution?

     If you include *MySQL* with a distribution that you sell to
     customers, you will need a license for any machine that runs the
     `mysqld' server, because in this case you are selling a system
     that includes *MySQL*.

     This is true whether the use of *MySQL* with your product is
     required or optional.

   * Do you neither require for your product nor include *MySQL* with
     it?

     Suppose you want to sell a product that is designed generally to
     use "some database" and that can be configured to use any of
     several supported alternative database systems (*MySQL*,
     PostgreSQL, or something else).  That is, your product does not
     not require *MySQL*, but can support any database with a base
     level of functionality, and you don't rely on anything that only
     *MySQL* supports.  Does one of you owe us money if your customer
     actually does choose to use *MySQL*?

     In this case, if you don't provide, obtain or set up *MySQL* for
     the customer should the customer decide to use it, neither of you
     need a license.  If you do perform that service, see *Note *MySQL*
     services: MySQL services.

Selling MySQL-related services
------------------------------

If you perform *MySQL* installation on a client's machine and any money
changes hands for the service (directly or indirectly), then you must
buy a *MySQL* license.

If you sell an application for which *MySQL* is not strictly required
but can be used, a license may be indicated, depending on how *MySQL*
is set up.  Suppose your product neither requires *MySQL* nor includes
it in your product distribution, but can be configured to use *MySQL*
for those customers who so desire.  (This would be the case, for
example, if your product can use any of a number of database engines.)

If the customer obtains and installs *MySQL*, no license is needed.  If
you perform that service for your customer, then a license is needed
because then you are selling a service that includes *MySQL*.

ISP MySQL services
------------------

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) often host *MySQL* servers for their
customers.

If you are an ISP that allows customers to install and administer
*MySQL* for themselves on your machine with no assistance from you,
neither you nor your customer need a *MySQL* license.

If you charge for *MySQL* installation and administrative support as
part of your customer service, then you need a license because you are
selling a service that includes *MySQL*.

Running a web server using MySQL
--------------------------------

If you use *MySQL* in conjunction with a web server, you don't have to
pay for a license.

This is true even if you run a commercial web server that uses *MySQL*,
since you are not selling *MySQL* itself.  However, in this case we
would like you to purchase *MySQL* support, because *MySQL* is helping
your enterprise.

MySQL licensing and support costs
=================================

Our current license prices are shown below. All prices are in US
Dollars. If you pay by credit card, the currency is EURO (European
Union Euro) so the prices will differ slightly.

*Number of         *Price per     *Total*                
licenses*          copy*                                 
1                  US $200        US $200                
10 pack            US $150        US $1500               
50 pack            US $120        US $6000               

For high volume (OEM) purchases, the following prices apply:

*Number of         *Price per     *Minimum at one time*  *Minimum payment*  
licenses*          copy*                                                    
100-999            US $40         100                    US $4000           
1000-2499          US $25         200                    US $5000           
2500-4999          US $20         400                    US $8000           

For OEM purchases, you must act as the middle-man for eventual problems
or extension requests from your users. We also require that OEM
customers have at least an extended email support contract.

If you have a low-margin high-volume product, you can always talk to us
about other terms (for example, a percent of the sale price). If you do,
please be informative about your product, pricing, market and any other
information that may be relevant.

After buying 1 *MySQL* license, you will get a personal copy of the
`myisampack' utility.  You are not allowed to redistribute this utility
but you can distribute tables packed with it.

A full-price license is not a support agreement and includes very
minimal support. This means that we try to answer any relevant
question. If the answer is in the documentation, we will direct you to
the appropriate section. If you have not purchased a license or
support, we probably will not answer at all.

If you discover what we consider a real bug, we are likely to fix it in
any case. But if you pay for support we will notify you about the fix
status instead of just fixing it in a later release.

More comprehensive support is sold separately.  Descriptions of what
each level of support includes are given in *Note Support::.  Costs for
the various types of commercial support are shown below.  Support level
prices are in EURO (European Union Euro). One EURO is about 1.17 USD.

*Type of support*      *Cost per year*        
Basic email support    EURO 170               
Extended email         EURO 1000              
support                                       
Login support          EURO 2000              
Extended login         EURO 5000              
support                                       

You may upgrade from any lower level of support to a higher level of
support for the difference between the prices of the two support levels.

Payment information
-------------------

Currently we can take SWIFT payments, cheques or credit cards.

Payment should be made to:
     Postgirot Bank AB
     105 06 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
     
     TCX DataKonsult AB
     BOX 6434
     11382 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
     
     SWIFT address: PGSI SESS
     Account number: 96 77 06 - 3

Specify: license and/or support and your name and email address.

In Europe and Japan you can use EuroGiro (that should be less
expensive) to the same account.

If you want to pay by cheque, make it payable to "Monty Program KB" and
mail it to the address below:

     TCX DataKonsult AB
     BOX 6434, Torsgatan 21
     11382 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

If you want to pay by credit card over the Internet, you can use
TcX's secure license form (https://www.mysql.com/license.htmy).

You can also print a copy of the license form, fill it in and send it
by fax to:

+46-8-729 69 05

If you want us to bill you, you can use the license form and write "bill
us" in the comment field.  You can also mail a message to
<sales@mysql.com> (*not* <mysql@lists.mysql.com>!)  with your company
information and ask us to bill you.

Contact information
-------------------

For commercial licensing, or if you have any questions about any of the
information in this section, please contact the *MySQL* licensing team.
The much preferred method is by E-Mail to <mysql-licensing@mysql.com>.
Fax is also possible but handling of these may take much longer (Fax
+46-8-729 69 05).

     David Axmark
     Detron HB
     Kungsgatan 65 B
     753 21 UPPSALA
     SWEDEN
     Voice Phone +46-18-10 22 80     (Timezone GMT+1. Swedish and English spoken)

Types of commercial support
===========================

Basic email support
-------------------

Basic email support is a very inexpensive support option and should be
thought of more as a way to support our development of *MySQL* than as
a real support option.

At this support level, the *MySQL* mailing lists are the preferred
means of communication.  Questions normally should be mailed to the
primary mailing list (<mysql@lists.mysql.com>) or one of the other
regular lists (for example, <mysql-win32@lists.mysql.com> for
Windows-related *MySQL* questions), as someone else already may have
experienced and solved the problem you have.  *Note Asking questions::.

However, by purchasing basic email support, you also have access to the
support address <mysql-support@mysql.com>, which is not available as
part of the minimal support that you get by purchasing a *MySQL*
license.  This means that for especially critical questions, you can
cross-post your message to <mysql-support@mysql.com>.  (If the message
contains sensitive data, you should post only to
<mysql-support@mysql.com>.)

*REMEMBER!* to ALWAYS include your registration number and expiration
date when you send a message to <mysql-support@mysql.com>.

Basic email support includes the following types of service:

   * If your question is already answered in the manual, we will inform
     you of the correct section in which you can find the answer.  If
     the answer is not in the manual, we will point you in the right
     direction to solve your problem.

   * We guarantee a timely answer for your email messages.  We can't
     guarantee that we can solve any problem, but at least you will
     receive an answer if we can contact you by email.

   * We will help with unexpected problems when you install *MySQL*
     from a binary distribution on supported platforms.  This level of
     support does not cover installing *MySQL* from a source
     distribution.  "Supported" platforms are those for which *MySQL*
     is known to work.  *Note Which OS::.

   * We will help you with bugs and missing features. Any bugs that are
     found are fixed for the next *MySQL* release. If the bug is
     critical for you, we will mail you a patch for it as soon the bug
     is fixed.  Critical bugs always have the highest priority for us,
     to ensure that they are fixed as soon as possible.

   * Your suggestions for the further development of *MySQL* will be
     taken into consideration. By taking email support you have already
     helped the further development of *MySQL*. If you want to have
     more input, upgrade to a higher level of support.

   * If you want us to help optimize your system, you must upgrade to a
     higher level of support.

   * We include a binary version of the `myisampack' packing tool for
     creating fast compressed read-only databases. The current server
     includes support for reading such databases but not the packing
     tool used to create them.

Extended email support
----------------------

Extended email support includes everything in basic email support with
these additions:

   * Your email will be dealt with before mail from basic email support
     users and non-registered users.

   * Your suggestions for the further development of *MySQL* will
     receive strong consideration. Simple extensions that suit the basic
     goals of *MySQL* are implemented in a matter of days. By taking
     extended email support you have already helped the further
     development of *MySQL*.

   * Typical questions that are covered by extended email support are:

        - We will answer and (within reason) solve questions that
          relate to possible bugs in *MySQL*.  As soon as the bug is
          found and corrected, we will mail a patch for it.

        - We will help with unexpected problems when you install
          *MySQL* from a source or binary distribution on supported
          platforms.

        - We will answer questions about missing features and offer
          hints how to work around them.

        - We will provide hints on optimizing `mysqld' for your
          situation.

   * You are allowed to influence the priority of items on the *MySQL*
     TODO. This will ensure that the features you really need will be
     implemented sooner than they might be otherwise.

Login support
-------------

Login support includes everything in extended email support with these
additions:

   * Your email will be dealt with even before mail from extended email
     support users.

   * Your suggestions for the further development of *MySQL* will be
     taken into very high consideration.  Realistic extensions that can
     be implemented in a couple of hours and that suit the basic goals
     of *MySQL* will be implemented as soon as possible.

   * If you have a very specific problem, we can try to log in on your
     system to solve the problem "in place."

   * Like any database vendor, we can't guarantee that we can rescue
     any data from crashed tables, but if the worst happens we will
     help you rescue as much as possible. *MySQL* has proven itself
     very reliable, but anything is possible due to circumstances
     beyond our control (for example, if your system crashes or someone
     kills the server by executing a `kill -9' command).

   * We will provide hints on optimizing your system and your queries.

   * You are allowed to call a *MySQL* developer (in moderation) and
     discuss your *MySQL*-related problems.

Extended login support
----------------------

Extended login support includes everything in login support with these
additions:

   * Your email has the highest possible priority.

   * We will actively examine your system and help you optimize it and
     your queries. We may also optimize and/or extend *MySQL* to better
     suit your needs.

   * You may also request special extensions just for you. For example:
          mysql> select MY_CALCULATION(col_name1,col_name2) from tbl_name;

   * We will provide a binary distribution of all important *MySQL*
     releases for your system, as long as we can get an account on a
     similar system. In the worst case, we may require access to your
     system to be able to create a binary distribution.

   * If you can provide accommodations and pay for traveler fares, you
     can even get a *MySQL* developer to visit you and offer you help
     with your troubles. Extended login support entitles you to one
     personal encounter per year, but we are as always very flexible
     towards our customers!

Installing MySQL
****************

This chapter describes how to obtain and install *MySQL*:

   * For a list of sites from which you can obtain *MySQL*, see *Note
     Getting *MySQL*: Getting MySQL.

   * To see which platforms are supported, see *Note Which OS::.

   * Several versions of *MySQL* are available, in both binary and
     source distributions.  To determine which version and type of
     distribution you should use, see *Note Many versions::.

   * Installation instructions for binary and source distributions are
     described in *Note Installing binary::, and *Note Installing
     source::.  Each set of instructions includes a section on
     system-specific problems you may run into.

   * For post-installation procedures, see *Note Post-installation::.
     These procedures apply whether you install *MySQL* using a binary
     or source distribution.

How to get MySQL
================

Check the *MySQL* home page (http://www.mysql.com/) for information
about the current version and for downloading instructions.

However, the Internet connection at TcX is not so fast; we would
*prefer* that you do the actual downloading from one of the mirror sites
listed below.

Please report bad or out of date mirrors to <webmaster@mysql.com>.

*Europe:*

   *  Austria [Univ. of Technology/Vienna]
     WWW (http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/db/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/db/mysql/)

   *  Bulgaria [Naturella]   FTP (ftp://ftp.ntrl.net/pub/mirror/mysql)

   *  Croatia [HULK]   WWW (http://ftp.linux.hr/pub/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.linux.hr/pub/mysql/)

   *  Czech Republic [Masaryk University in Brno]
     WWW (http://mysql.linux.cz/index.html)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/mysql/)

   *  Czech Republic [www.sopik.cz]   WWW (http://www.mysql.cz/)

   *  Denmark [Borsen]   WWW ( http://mysql.borsen.dk/)

   *  Denmark [SunSITE]   WWW (http://SunSITE.auc.dk/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://SunSITE.auc.dk/pub/databases/mysql/)

   *  Estonia [OKinteractive]   WWW (http://mysql.mirror.ok.ee)

   *  France [minet]   WWW (http://www.minet.net/devel/mysql/)

   *  Finland [EUnet]  WWW (http://mysql.eunet.fi/)

   *  Finland [clinet]
     FTP (ftp://ftp.clinet.fi/mirrors/ftp.mysql.org/pub/mysql/)

   *  Germany [Bonn University, Bonn]
     WWW (http://www.wipol.uni-bonn.de/MySQL//)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.wipol.uni-bonn.de/pub/mirror/MySQL/)

   *  Germany [Wolfenbuettel]
     WWW (http://www.fh-wolfenbuettel.de/ftp/pub/database/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.fh-wolfenbuettel.de/pub/database/mysql/)

   *  Germany [Staufen]   WWW (http://mysql.staufen.de/)

   *  Germany [Cable & Wireless]
     FTP (ftp://ftp.ecrc.net/pub/database/mysql/)

   *  Greece [NTUA, Athens]   WWW (http://www.ntua.gr/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/databases/mysql/)

   *  Island [GM]   WWW (http://mysql.gm.is/)
     WWW (ftp://ftp.gm.is/pub/mysql)

   *  Italy [Teta Srl]   WWW (http://www.teta.it/mysql/)

   *  Ireland [Ireland On-Line/Dublin]   WWW (http://mysql.iol.ie)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.iol.ie/pub/mysql)

   *  Poland [Sunsite]   WWW (http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/unix/mysql/)

   *  Portugal [lerianet]   WWW (http://mysql.leirianet.pt)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.leirianet.pt/pub/mysql/)

   *  Russia [DirectNet]   WWW (http://mysql.directnet.ru)

   *  Russia [IZHCOM]   WWW (http://mysql.udm.net/)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.izhcom.ru/pub/mysql/)

   *  Russia [Scientific Center/Chernogolovka]
     FTP (ftp://ftp.chg.ru/pub/databases/mysql/)

   *  Romania [Timisoara]   WWW (http://www.dnttm.ro/mysql)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.dnttm.ro/pub/mysql)

   *  Romania [Bucharest]   WWW (http://www.lbi.ro/MySQL)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.lbi.ro/mirrors/ftp.tcx.se)

   *  Spain [MasterD] WWW (http://mysql.masterd.es)

   *  Sweden [Sunet]
     WWW (http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/unix/databases/relational/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/unix/databases/relational/mysql/)

   *  Switzerland [Sunsite]
     WWW (http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/ftp/mirror/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/mysql/)

   *  UK [Omnipotent/UK]   WWW (http://mysql.omnipotent.net/)
     FTP (ftp://mysql.omnipotent.net/)

   *  UK [PLiG/UK]   WWW (http://ftp.plig.org/pub/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.plig.org/pub/mysql/)

   *  UK [SunSITE]  WWW (http://sunsite.org.uk/packages/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://sunsite.org.uk/packages/mysql/)

   *  Ukraine [PACO]  WWW (http://mysql.paco.net.ua)
     FTP (ftp://mysql.paco.net.ua/)

*North America:*

   *  Canada [Tryc]   WWW (http://web.tryc.on.ca/mysql/)

   *  Canada [Cyberus]   WWW (http://mysql.cyberus.ca/)
     FTP (ftp://mysql.cyberus.ca/)

   *  USA [Hurricane Electric/San Jose]   WWW (http://mysql.he.net)

   *  USA [Meltzer/New York State]   FTP (ftp://ftp.meltzer.org/pub/mysql/)

   *  USA [Circle Net/North Carolina]   WWW (http://www.mysql.net)

   *  USA [Gina net/Florida]   WWW (http://www.gina.net/mysql/)

   *  USA [Wisconsin University/Wisconsin]
     WWW (http://mirror.sit.wisc.edu/mysql/)
     FTP (ftp://mirror.sit.wisc.edu/mirrors/mysql/)

   *  USA [DIGEX]   FTP (ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/packages/database/mysql/)

*South America:*

   *  Brazil [Matrix]   WWW (http://mysql.matrix.com.br)

   *  Chile [Vision]   WWW (http://mysql.vision.cl/)

*Asia:*

   *  China [Freecode]   WWW (http://mysql.freecode.com.cn)

   *  China [Netfirm]   WWW (http://mysql.netfirm.net)

   *  Korea [KREONet]   WWW (http://linux.kreonet.re.kr/mysql/)

   *  Japan [Soft Agency]   WWW (http://www.softagency.co.jp/MySQL)

   *  Japan [Nagoya Syouka University]
     WWW (http://mirror.nucba.ac.jp/mirror/mysql)
     FTP (ftp://mirror.nucba.ac.jp/mirror/mysql)

   *  Singapore [HJC]  WWW (http://mysql.hjc.edu.sg)
     FTP (ftp://ftp.hjc.edu.sg/mysql)

   *  Taiwan [HT]   WWW (http://mysql.ht.net.tw)

*Australia:*

   *  Australia [AARNet/Queensland]
     WWW (http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/mysql)
     FTP (ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/mysql)

   *  Australia [Blue Planet/Melbourne]   WWW (http://mysql.bluep.com/)

   *  Australia [ITworks Consulting/Victoria]
     WWW (http://mysql.itworks.com.au)

*Africa:*

   *  South-Africa [Mweb/]   WWW (http://www.mysql.mweb.co.za)

   *  South-Africa [The Internet Solution/Johannesburg]
     FTP (ftp://ftp.is.co.za/linux/mysql/)

Operating systems supported by MySQL
====================================

We use GNU Autoconf so it is possible to port *MySQL* to all modern
systems with working Posix threads and a C++ compiler. (To compile only
the client code, a C++ compiler is required but not threads.)  We use
and develop the software ourselves primarily on Sun Solaris (versions
2.5 & 2.6) and to a lesser extent on RedHat Linux 5.0.

*MySQL* has been reported to compile sucessfully on the following
operating system/thread package combinations.  Note that for many
operating systems, the native thread support works only in the latest
versions.

   * AIX 4.x with native threads

   * BSDI 2.x with the included MIT-pthreads package

   * BSDI 3.0, 3.1 and 4.x with native threads

   * DEC UNIX 4.x with native threads

   * FreeBSD 2.x with the included MIT-pthreads package

   * FreeBSD 3.x with native threads

   * HP-UX 10.20 with the included MIT-pthreads package

   * HP-UX 11.x with the native threads.

   * Linux 2.0+ with LinuxThreads 0.7.1 or `glibc' 2.0.7

   * MacOS X Server

   * NetBSD 1.3/1.4 Intel and NetBSD 1.3 Alpha (Requires GNU make)

   * OpenBSD > 2.5 with native therads. OpenBSD < 2.5 with the included
     MIT-pthreads package

   * OS/2 Warp 3, FixPack 29 and OS/2 Warp 4, FixPack 4

   * SGI Irix 6.x with native threads

   * Solaris 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 with native threads on SPARC and x86

   * SunOS 4.x with the included MIT-pthreads package

   * SCO OpenServer with a recent port of the FSU Pthreads package

   * SCO UnixWare 7.0.1

   * Tru64 Unix

   * Win95, Win98 and NT (the newest version is currently available
     only for users with a *MySQL* license or *MySQL* email support).
     For those who wish to test before they buy, we have released
     *MySQL* 3.22.30 (http://www.mysql.com/mysql_w32.htmy) (an older
     stable version) as shareware.

Which MySQL version to use
==========================

The first decision to make is whether you want to use the latest
development release or the last stable release:

   * Normally, if you are beginning to use *MySQL* for the first time or
     trying to port it to some system for which there is no binary
     distribution, we recommend going with the development release
     (currently 3.22.x). This is because there are usually no really
     serious bugs in the development release, and you can easily test
     it on your machine with the `crash-me' and benchmark tests.  *Note
     Benchmarks::.

   * Otherwise, if you are running an old system and want to upgrade,
     but don't want to take chances with 3.22, you should upgrade to
     3.21.33.  We have tried to fix only fatal bugs and make small,
     relatively safe changes to that version.

The second decision to make is whether you want to use a source
distribution or a binary distribution:

   * If you want to run *MySQL* on a platform for which a current binary
     distribution exists, use that.  Generally, it will be easier to
     install than a source distribution.

   * If you want to read (and/or modify) the C and C++ code that makes
     up *MySQL*, you should get a source distribution. The source code
     is always the ultimate manual. Source distributions also contain
     more tests and examples than binary distributions.

The *MySQL* naming scheme uses release numbers that consist of three
numbers and a suffix.  For example, a release name like
`mysql-3.21.17-beta' is interpreted like this:

   * The first number (`3') describes the file format.  All version 3
     releases have the same file format. When a version 4 appears, every
     table will have to be converted to the new format (nice tools for
     this will be included, of course).

   * The second number (`21') is the release level. Normally there are
     two to choose from. One is the release/stable branch (currently
     `21') and the other is the development branch (currently `22') .
     Normally both are stable, but the development version may have
     quirks, missing documentation on new features or may fail to
     compile on some systems.

   * The third number (`17') is the version number within the release
     level. This is incremented for each new distribution. Usually you
     want the latest version for the release level you have choosen.

   * The suffix (`beta') indicates the stability level of the release.
     The possible suffixes are:

        - `alpha' indicates that the release contains some large
          section of new code that hasn't been 100% tested.  Known bugs
          (usually there are none) should be documented in the News
          section.  *Note News::.  There are also new commands and
          extensions in most alpha releases.  Active development, that
          may involve major code changes, can occur on an alpha
          release, but everything will be tested before doing a
          release.  There should be no known bugs in any `MySQL'
          release.

        - `beta' means that all new code has been tested. No major new
          features that could cause corruption on old code is added .
          There should be no known bugs.  A version changes from alpha
          to beta when there hasn't been any reported fatal bugs within
          an alpha version for at least a month and we don't plan to
          add any features that could make any old command more
          unreliable.

        - `gamma' is a beta that has been around a while and seems to
          work fine.  Only minior fixes are added. This is what many
          other companies call a release.

        - If there is no suffix, it means that the version has been run
          for a while at many different sites with no reports of bugs
          other than platform-specific bugs.  Only critical bug fixes
          are applied to the release. This is what we call a stable
          release.

All versions of *MySQL* are run through our standard tests and
benchmarks to ensure that they are relatively safe to use.  Since the
standard tests are extended over time to check for all previously found
bugs, the test suite keeps getting better.

Note that all releases have been tested at least with:

An internal test suite
     This is part of a production system for a customer. It has many
     tables with hundreds of megabytes of data.

The *MySQL* benchmark suite
     This runs a range of common queries. It is also a test to see
     whether the latest batch of optimizations actually made the code
     faster.  *Note Benchmarks::.

The `crash-me' test
     This tries to determine what features the database supports and
     what its capabilities and limitations are.  *Note Benchmarks::.

Another test is that we use the newest *MySQL* version in our internal
production environment, on at least one machine.  We have more than 100
gigabytes of data to work with.

How and when updates are released
=================================

*MySQL* is evolving quite rapidly here at TcX and we want to share this
with other *MySQL* users. We try to make a release when we have very
useful features that others seem to have a need for.

We also try to help out users who request features that are easy to
implement. We also take note of what our licensed users want to have and
we especially take note of what our extended email supported customers
want and try to help them out.

No one has to download a new release. The News section will tell you if
the new release has something you really want. *Note News::.

We use the following policy when updating *MySQL*:

   * For each minor update, the last number in the version string is
     incremented.  When there are major new features or minor
     incompatibilities with previous versions, the second number in the
     version string is incremented. When the file format changes, the
     first number is increased.

   * Stable tested releases are meant to appear about 1-2 times a year,
     but if small bugs are found, a release with only bug-fixes will be
     released.

   * Working releases are meant to appear about every 1-8 weeks.

   * Binary distributions for some platforms will be made by us for
     major releases.  Other people may make binary distributions for
     other systems but probably less frequently.

   * We usually make patches available as soon as we have located and
     fixed small bugs.

   * For non-critical but annoying bugs, we will make patches available
     if they are sent to us. Otherwise we will combine many of them
     into a larger patch.

   * If there is, by any chance, a fatal bug in a release we will make
     a new release as soon as possible. We would like other companies
     to do this, too. :)

The current stable release is 3.22; We have already moved active
development to 3.23. Bugs will still be fixed in the stable version. We
don't believe in a complete freeze, as this also leaves out bug fixes
and things that "must be done". "Somewhat frozen" means that we may add
small things that "almost surely will not affect anything that's
already working".

Installation layouts
====================

This section describes the default layout of the directories created by
installing binary and source distributions.

A binary distribution is installed by unpacking it at the installation
location you choose (typically `/usr/local/mysql') and creates the
following directories in that location:

*Directory*            *Contents of directory*                            
`bin'                  Client programs and the `mysqld' server            
`data'                 Log files, databases                               
`include'              Include (header) files                             
`lib'                  Libraries                                          
`scripts'              `mysql_install_db'                                 
`share/mysql'          Error message files                                
`sql-bench'            Benchmarks                                         

A source distribution is installed after you configure and compile it.
By default, the installation step installs files under `/usr/local', in
the following subdirectories:

*Directory*            *Contents of directory*                            
`bin'                  Client programs and scripts                        
`include/mysql'        Include (header) files                             
`info'                 Documentation in Info format                       
`lib/mysql'            Libraries                                          
`libexec'              The `mysqld' server                                
`share/mysql'          Error message files                                
`sql-bench'            Benchmarks and `crash-me' test                     
`var'                  Databases and log files.                           

Within an installation directory, the layout of a source installation
differs from that of a binary installation in the following ways:

   * The `mysqld' server is installed in the `libexec' directory rather
     than in the `bin' directory.

   * The data directory is `var' rather than `data'.

   * `mysql_install_db' is installed in the `/usr/local/bin' directory
     rather than in `/usr/local/mysql/scripts'.

   * The header file and library directories are `include/mysql' and
     `lib/mysql' rather than `include' and `lib'.

Installing a MySQL binary distribution
======================================

You need the following tools to install a *MySQL* binary distribution:

   * GNU `gunzip' to uncompress the distribution.

   * A reasonable `tar' to unpack the distribution. GNU `tar' is known
     to work.

An alternative installation method under Linux is to use RPM (RedHat
Package Manager) distributions. *Note Linux-RPM::.

If you run into problems, *PLEASE ALWAYS USE* `mysqlbug' when posting
questions to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.  Even if the problem isn't a bug,
`mysqlbug' gathers system information that will help others solve your
problem.  By not using `mysqlbug', you lessen the likelihood of getting
a solution to your problem!  You will find `mysqlbug' in the `bin'
directory after you unpack the distribution.  *Note Bug reports::.

The basic commands you must execute to install and use a *MySQL* binary
distribution are:

     shell> gunzip < mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xvf -
     shell> ln -s mysql-VERSION-OS mysql
     shell> cd mysql
     shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
     shell> bin/safe_mysqld &

You can add new users using the `bin/mysql_setpermission' script if you
install the `DBI' and `Msql-Mysql-modules' Perl modules.

Here follows a more detailed description:

To install a binary distribution, follow the steps below, then proceed
to *Note Post-installation::, for post-installation setup and testing:

  1. Pick the directory under which you want to unpack the
     distribution, and move into it.  In the example below, we unpack
     the distribution under `/usr/local' and create a directory
     `/usr/local/mysql' into which *MySQL* is installed.  (The
     following instructions therefore assume you have permission to
     create files in `/usr/local'.  If that directory is protected, you
     will need to perform the installation as `root'.)

  2. Obtain a distribution file from one of the sites listed in *Note
     Getting *MySQL*: Getting MySQL.

     *MySQL* binary distributions are provided as compressed `tar'
     archives and have names like `mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz', where
     `VERSION' is a number (e.g., `3.21.15'), and `OS' indicates the
     type of operating system for which the distribution is intended
     (e.g., `pc-linux-gnu-i586').

  3. Unpack the distribution and create the installation directory:

          shell> gunzip < mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xvf -
          shell> ln -s mysql-VERSION-OS mysql

     The first command creates a directory named `mysql-VERSION-OS'.
     The second command makes a symbolic link to that directory.  This
     lets you refer more easily to the installation directory as
     `/usr/local/mysql'.

  4. Change into the installation directory:

          shell> cd mysql

     You will find several files and subdirectories in the `mysql'
     directory.  The most important for installation purposes are the
     `bin' and `scripts' subdirectories.

    `bin'
          This directory contains client programs and the server You
          should add the full pathname of this directory to your `PATH'
          environment variable so that your shell finds the *MySQL*
          programs properly.

    `scripts'
          This directory contains the `mysql_install_db' script used to
          initialize the server access permissions.

  5. If you would like to use `mysqlaccess' and have the *MySQL*
     distribution in some nonstandard place, you must change the
     location where `mysqlaccess' expects to find the `mysql' client.
     Edit the `bin/mysqlaccess' script at approximately line 18. Search
     for a line that looks like this:

          $MYSQL     = '/usr/local/bin/mysql';    # path to mysql executable

     Change the path to reflect the location where `mysql' actually is
     stored on your system.  If you do not do this, you will get a
     `broken pipe' error when you run `mysqlaccess'.

  6. Create the *MySQL* grant tables (necessary only if you haven't
     installed *MySQL* before):
          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db

     Note that *MySQL* versions older than 3.22.10 started the *MySQL*
     server when you run `mysql_install_db'.  This is no longer true!

  7. If you want to install support for the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' interface,
     see *Note Perl support::.

  8. If you would like *MySQL* to start automatically when you boot your
     machine, you can copy `support-files/mysql.server' to the location
     where your system has its startup files. More information can be
     found in the `support-files/mysql.server' script itself, and in
     *Note Automatic start::.


After everything has been unpacked and installed, you should initialize
and test your distribution.

You can start the *MySQL* server with the following command:

     shell> bin/safe_mysqld &

*Note Post-installation::.

Linux RPM notes
---------------

The recommended way to install *MySQL* on Linux is by using an RPM
file. The *MySQL* RPMs are currently being built on a RedHat 5.2 system
but should work on other versions of Linux that support `rpm' and use
`glibc'.

If you have problems with an RPM file, for example `Sorry, the host
'xxxx' could not be looked up', see *Note Binary notes-Linux::.

The RPM files you may want to use are:

   * `MySQL-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The *MySQL* server.  You will need this unless you only want to
     connect to another *MySQL* server running on another machine.

   * `MySQL-client-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The standard *MySQL* client programs. You probably always want to
     install this package.

   * `MySQL-bench-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     Tests and benchmarks. Requires Perl and msql-mysql-modules RPMs.

   * `MySQL-devel-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     Libraries and include files needed if you want to compile other
     *MySQL* clients, such as the Perl modules.

   * `MySQL-VERSION.src.rpm'

     This contains the source code for all of the above packages. It
     can also be used to try to build RPMs for other architectures (for
     example, Alpha or SPARC).

To see all files in an RPM package:
     shell> rpm -qpl MySQL-VERSION.i386.rpm

To perform a standard minimal installation, run this command:

     shell> rpm -i MySQL-VERSION.i386.rpm MySQL-client-VERSION.i386.rpm

To install just the client package:

     shell> rpm -i MySQL-client-VERSION.i386.rpm

The RPM places data in `/var/lib/mysql'. The RPM also creates the
appropriate entries in `/etc/rc.d/' to start the server automatically
at boot time.  (This means that if you have performed a previous
installation, you may want to make a copy of your previously-installed
*MySQL* startup file if you made any changes to it, so you don't lose
your changes.)

After installing the RPM file(s), the `mysqld' demon should be running
and you should now be able to start using MySQL.  *Note
Post-installation::.

If something goes wrong, can find more information in the binary
installation chapter. *Note Installing binary::.

Building client programs
------------------------

If you compile *MySQL* clients that you've written yourself or that you
obtain from a third party, they must be linked using the
`-lmysqlclient' option on the link command.  You may also need to
specify a `-L' option to tell the linker where to find the library.  For
example, if the library is installed in `/usr/local/mysql/lib', use
`-L/usr/local/mysql/lib -lmysqlclient' on the link command.

For clients that use *MySQL* header files, you may need to specify a
`-I' option when you compile them (for example,
`-I/usr/local/mysql/include'), so the compiler can find the header
files.

System-specific issues
----------------------

The following sections indicate some of the issues that have been
observed to occur on particular systems when installing *MySQL* from a
binary distribution.

Linux notes
...........

*MySQL* needs at least Linux 2.0.

The binary release is linked with `-static', which means you not
normally need not worry about which version of the system libraries you
have. You need not install LinuxThreads, either.  A program linked with
`-static' is slightly bigger than a dynamically-linked program but also
slightly faster (3-5%).  One problem however is that you can't use user
definable functions (UDFs) with a statically-linked program.  If you
are going to write or use UDF functions (this is something only for C
or C++ programmers) you must compile *MySQL* yourself, using dynamic
linking.

If you are using a `libc'-based system (instead of a `glibc2' system),
you will probably get some problems with hostname resolving and
getpwnam() with the binary release. (This is because `glibc'
unfortunately depends on some external libraries to resolve hostnames
and getwpent() , even when compiled with `-static'). In this case you
probably get the following error message when you run
`mysql_install_db':

     Sorry, the host 'xxxx' could not be looked up

or the following error when you try to run mysqld with the `--user'
option:

     getpwnam: No such file or directory

You can solve this problem one of the following ways:

   * Get a *MySQL* source distribution (an RPM or the `tar'
     distribution) and install this instead.

   * Execute `mysql_install_db --force'; This will not execute the
     `resolveip' test in `mysql_install_db'.  The downside is that you
     can't use host names in the grant tables; you must use IP numbers
     instead (except for `localhost').  If you are using an old *MySQL*
     release that doesn't support `--force' you have to remove the
     `resolveip' test in `mysql_install' with an editor.

   * Start mysqld with `su' instead of using `--user'.

The Linux-Intel binary and RPM releases of *MySQL* are configured for
the highest possible speed. We are always trying to use the fastest
stable compiler available.

*MySQL* Perl support requires Perl 5.004_03 or newer.

HP-UX notes
...........

Some of the binary distributions of *MySQL* for HP-UX is distributed as
an HP depot file and as a tar file.  To use the depot file you must be
running at least HP-UX 10.x to have access to HP's software depot tools.

The HP version of *MySQL* was compiled on an HP 9000/8xx server under
HP-UX 10.20, and uses MIT-pthreads. It is known to work well under this
configuration.  *MySQL* 3.22.26 and newer can also be built with HP's
native thread package.

Other configurations that may work:

   * HP 9000/7xx running HP-UX 10.20+

   * HP 9000/8xx running HP-UX 10.30

The following configurations almost definitely won't work:

   * HP 9000/7xx or 8xx running HP-UX 10.x where x < 2

   * HP 9000/7xx or 8xx running HP-UX 9.x

To install the distribution, use one of the commands below, where
`/path/to/depot' is the full pathname of the depot file:

   * To install everything, including the server, client and
     development tools:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.full

   * To install only the server:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.server

   * To install only the client package:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.client

   * To install only the development tools:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.developer

The depot places binaries and libraries in `/opt/mysql' and data in
`/var/opt/mysql'. The depot also creates the appropriate entries in
`/sbin/init.d' and `/sbin/rc2.d' to start the server automatically at
boot time. Obviously, this entails being `root' to install.

To install the HP-UX tar distribution, you must have a copy of GNU
`tar'.

Installing a MySQL source distribution
======================================

You need the following tools to build and install *MySQL* from source:

   * GNU `gunzip' to uncompress the distribution.

   * A reasonable `tar' to unpack the distribution. GNU `tar' is known
     to work.

   * A working ANSI C++ compiler. `gcc' >= 2.8.1, `egcs' >= 1.0.2, SGI
     C++ and SunPro C++ are some of the compilers that are known to
     work.  `libg++' is not needed when using `gcc'.  `gcc' 2.7.x has a
     bug that makes it impossible to compile some perfectly legal C++
     files, such as `sql/sql_base.cc'. If you only have `gcc' 2.7.x,
     you must upgrade your `gcc' to be able to compile *MySQL*.

   * A good `make' program.  GNU `make' is always recommended and is
     sometimes required.  If you have problems, we recommend trying GNU
     `make' 3.75 or newer.

If you run into problems, *PLEASE ALWAYS USE `mysqlbug'* when posting
questions to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.  Even if the problem isn't a bug,
`mysqlbug' gathers system information that will help others solve your
problem.  By not using `mysqlbug', you lessen the likelihood of getting
a solution to your problem!  You will find `mysqlbug' in the `scripts'
directory after you unpack the distribution.  *Note Bug reports::.

Quick installation overview
---------------------------

The basic commands you must execute to install a *MySQL* source
distribution are (from an unpacked `tar' file):

     shell> configure
     shell> make
     shell> make install
     shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
     shell> /usr/local/mysql/bin/safe_mysqld &

If you start from a source RPM, then do the following.

     shell> rpm --rebuild MySQL-VERSION.src.rpm

This will make a binary RPM that you can install.

You can add new users using the `bin/mysql_setpermission' script if you
install the `DBI' and `Msql-Mysql-modules' Perl modules.

Here follows a more detailed description:

To install a source distribution, follow the steps below, then proceed
to *Note Post-installation::, for post-installation initialization and
testing.

  1. Pick the directory under which you want to unpack the
     distribution, and move into it.

  2. Obtain a distribution file from one of the sites listed in *Note
     Getting *MySQL*: Getting MySQL.

     *MySQL* source distributions are provided as compressed `tar'
     archives and have names like `mysql-VERSION.tar.gz', where
     `VERSION' is a number like 3.23.10-alpha.

  3. Unpack the distribution into the current directory:
          shell> gunzip < mysql-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -
     This command creates a directory named `mysql-VERSION'.

  4. Change into the top-level directory of the unpacked distribution:
          shell> cd mysql-VERSION

  5. Configure the release and compile everything:
          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
          shell> make
     When you run `configure', you might want to specify some options.
     Run `./configure --help' for a list of options.  *Note `configure'
     options: configure options, discusses some of the more useful
     options.

     If `configure' fails, and you are going to send mail to
     <mysql@lists.mysql.com> to ask for assistance, please include any
     lines from `config.log' that you think can help solve the problem.
     Also include the last couple of lines of output from `configure'
     if `configure' aborts. Post the bug report using the `mysqlbug'
     script.  *Note Bug reports::.

     If the compile fails, see *Note Compilation problems::, for help
     with a number of common problems.

  6. Install everything:
          shell> make install
     You might need to run this command as `root'.

  7. Create the *MySQL* grant tables (necessary only if you haven't
     installed *MySQL* before):
          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db

     Note that *MySQL* versions older than 3.22.10 started the *MySQL*
     server when you run `mysql_install_db'.  This is no longer true!

  8. If you want to install support for the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' interface,
     see *Note Perl support::.

  9. If you would like *MySQL* to start automatically when you boot your
     machine, you can copy `support-files/mysql.server' to the location
     where your system has its startup files. More information can be
     found in the `support-files/mysql.server' script itself, and in
     *Note Automatic start::.

After everything has been installed, you should initialize and test your
distribution.

You can start the *MySQL* server with the following command, where
`BINDIR' is the directory in which `safe_mysqld' is installed
(`/usr/local/bin' by default):

     shell> BINDIR/safe_mysqld &

If that command fails immediately with `mysqld daemon ended' then you
can find some information in the file
`mysql-data-directory/'hostname'.err'.  The likely reason is that you
already have another `mysqld' server running.  *Note Multiple servers::.

*Note Post-installation::.

Applying patches
----------------

Sometimes patches appear on the mailing list or are placed in the
patches area (ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/Downloads/Patches) of the
*MySQL* FTP site.

To apply a patch from the mailing list, save the message in which the
patch appears in a file, change into the top-level directory of your
*MySQL* source tree and run these commands:

     shell> patch -p1 < patch-file-name
     shell> rm config.cache
     shell> make clean

Patches from the FTP site are distributed as plain text files or as
files compressed with `gzip' files.  Apply a plain patch as shown above
for mailing list patches.  To apply a compressed patch, change into the
top-level directory of your *MySQL* source tree and run these commands:

     shell> gunzip < patch-file-name.gz | patch -p1
     shell> rm config.cache
     shell> make clean

After applying a patch, follow the instructions for a normal source
install, beginning with the `./configure' step.  After running the `make
install' step, restart your *MySQL* server.

You may need to bring down any currently running server before you run
`make install'.  (Use `mysqladmin shutdown' to do this.)  Some systems
do not allow you to install a new version of a program if it replaces
the version that is currently executing.

Typical `configure' options
---------------------------

The `configure' script gives you a great deal of control over how you
configure your *MySQL* distribution.  Typically you do this using
options on the `configure' command line.  You can also affect
`configure' using certain environment variables.  For a list of options
supported by `configure', run this command:

     shell> ./configure --help

Some of the more commonly-used `configure' options are described below:

   * To compile just the *MySQL* client libraries and client programs
     and not the server, use the `--without-server' option:

          shell> ./configure --without-server

     If you don't have a C++ compiler, `mysql' will not compile (it is
     the one client program that requires C++).  In this case, you can
     remove the code in `configure' that tests for the C++ compiler and
     then run `./configure' with the `--without-server' option. The
     compile step will still try to build `mysql', but you can ignore
     any warnings about `mysql.cc'.  (If `make' stops, try `make -k' to
     tell it to continue with the rest of the build even if errors
     occur.)

   * If you don't want your log files and database directories located
     under `/usr/local/var', use a `configure' command something like
     one of these:
          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
                     --localstatedir=/usr/local/mysql/data
     The first command changes the installation prefix so that
     everything is installed under `/usr/local/mysql' rather than the
     default of `/usr/local'.  The second command preserves the default
     installation prefix, but overrides the default location for
     database directories (normally `/usr/local/var') and changes it to
     `/usr/local/mysql/data'.

   * If you are using Unix and you want the *MySQL* socket located
     somewhere other than the default location (normally in the
     directory `/tmp' or `/var/run', use a `configure' command like
     this:
          shell> ./configure --with-unix-socket-path=/usr/local/mysql/tmp/mysql.sock
     Note that the given file must be an absolute pathname!

   * If you want to compile statically-linked programs (e.g., to make a
     binary distribution, to get more speed or to work around problems
     with some RedHat distributions), run `configure' like this:

          shell> ./configure --with-client-ldflags=-all-static \
                     --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

   * If you are using `gcc' and don't have `libg++' or `libstdc++'
     installed, you can tell `configure' to use `gcc' as your C++
     compiler:

          shell> CC=gcc CXX=gcc ./configure

     When you use `gcc' as your C++ compiler, it will not attempt to
     link in `libg++' or `libstdc++'.

     If the build fails and produces errors about your compiler or
     linker not being able to create the shared library
     `libmysqlclient.so.#' (`#' is a version number), you can work
     around this problem by giving the `--disable-shared' option to
     `configure'.  In this case, `configure' will not build a shared
     `libmysqlclient.so.#' library.

   * You can configure *MySQL* not to use `DEFAULT' column values for
     non-`NULL' columns (i.e., columns that are not allowed to be
     `NULL').  This causes `INSERT' statements to generate an error
     unless you explicitly specify values for all columns that require a
     non-`NULL' value.  To suppress use of default values, run
     `configure' like this:

          shell> CXXFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS ./configure

   * By default, *MySQL* uses the ISO-8859-1 (Latin1) character set. To
     change the default set, use the `--with-charset' option:
          shell> ./configure --with-charset=CHARSET
     `CHARSET' may be one of `big5', `cp1251', `cp1257', `czech',
     `danish',`dec8', `dos', `euc_kr', `gb2312' `gbk', `german1',
     `hebrew', `hp8', `hungarian', `koi8_ru', `koi8_ukr', `latin1',
     `latin2', `sjis', `swe7', `tis620', `ujis', `usa7', `win1251' or
     `win1251ukr'.  *Note Character sets::.

     Note that if you want to change the character set, you must do a
     `make distclean' between configurations!

     If you want to convert characters between the server and the
     client, you should take a look at the `SET OPTION CHARACTER SET'
     command.  *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

     *Warning:* If you change character sets after having created any
     tables, you will have to run `myisamchk -r -q' on every table. Your
     indexes may be sorted incorrectly otherwise.  (This can happen if
     you install *MySQL*, create some tables, then reconfigure *MySQL*
     to use a different character set and reinstall it.)

   * To configure *MySQL* with debugging code, use the `--with-debug'
     option:
          shell> ./configure --with-debug
     This causes a safe memory allocator to be included that can find
     some errors and that provides output about what is happening.
     *Note Debugging server::.

   * If your client programs are using threads, you need to compile the
     *MySQL* client library to be thread safe with
     `--with-thread-safe-client'; This forces the library to use thread
     safe functions calls for some functions that are not thread safe by
     default. You pay a very small performance penalty by doing this but
     generally it's quite safe to use this option.

   * Options that pertain to particular systems can be found in the
     system-specific sections later in this chapter.  *Note Source
     install system issues::.

Problems compiling?
===================

All *MySQL* programs compile cleanly for us with no warnings on Solaris
using `gcc'. On other systems, warnings may occur due to differences in
system include files. See *Note MIT-pthreads::, for warnings that may
occur when using MIT-pthreads.  For other problems, check the list
below.

The solution to many problems involves reconfiguring.  If you do need to
reconfigure, take note of the following:

   * If `configure' is run after it already has been run, it may use
     information that was gathered during its previous invocation.  This
     information is stored in `config.cache'.  When `configure' starts
     up, it looks for that file and reads its contents if it exists, on
     the assumption that the information is still correct.  That
     assumption is invalid when you reconfigure.

   * Each time you run `configure', you must run `make' again to
     recompile.  However, you may want to remove old object files from
     previous builds first, since they were compiled using different
     configuration options.

To prevent old configuration information or object files from being
used, run these commands before rerunning `configure':

     shell> rm config.cache
     shell> make clean

Alternatively, you can run `make distclean'.

The list below describes some of the problems compiling *MySQL* that
have been found to occur most often:

   * If you get errors when compiling `sql_yacc.cc' such as the ones
     shown below, you have probably run out of memory or swap space:

          Internal compiler error: program cc1plus got fatal signal 11
            or
          Out of virtual memory
            or
          Virtual memory exhausted

     The problem is that `gcc' requires huge amounts of memory to
     compile `sql_yacc.cc' with inline functions.  Try running
     `configure' with the `--with-low-memory' option:

          shell> ./configure --with-low-memory

     This option causes `-fno-inline' to be added to the compile line
     if you are using `gcc' and `-O0' if you are using something else.
     You should try the `--with-low-memory' option even if you have so
     much memory and swap space that you think you can't possibly have
     run out.  This problem has been observed to occur even on systems
     with generous hardware configurations, and the `--with-low-memory'
     option usually fixes it.

   * By default, `configure' picks `c++' as the compiler name and GNU
     `c++' links with `-lg++'.  If you are using `gcc', that behavior
     can cause problems during configuration such as this:

          configure: error: installation or configuration problem:
          C++ compiler cannot create executables.

     You might also observe problems during compilation related to
     `g++', `libg++' or `libstdc++'.

     One cause of these problems is that you may not have `g++', or you
     may have `g++' but not `libg++' or `libstdc++'.  Take a look at
     the `config.log' file.  It should contain the exact reason why
     your c++ compiler didn't work!  To work around these problems, you
     can use `gcc' as your C++ compiler.  Try setting the environment
     variable `CXX' to `"gcc -O3"'.  For example:

          shell> CXX="gcc -O3" ./configure

     This works because `gcc' compiles C++ sources as well as `g++'
     does, but does not link in `libg++' or `libstdc++' by default.

     Another way to fix these problems, of course, is to install `g++',
     `libg++' and `libstdc++'.

   * If your compile fails with errors such as any of the following,
     you must upgrade your version of `make' to GNU `make':

          making all in mit-pthreads
          make: Fatal error in reader: Makefile, line 18:
          Badly formed macro assignment
            or
          make: file `Makefile' line 18: Must be a separator (:
            or
          pthread.h: No such file or directory

     Solaris and FreeBSD are known to have troublesome `make' programs.

     GNU `make' version 3.75 is known to work.

   * If you want to define flags to be used by your C or C++ compilers,
     do so by adding the flags to the `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS'
     environment variables.  You can also specify the compiler names
     this way using `CC' and `CXX'.  For example:

          shell> CC=gcc
          shell> CFLAGS=-O6
          shell> CXX=gcc
          shell> CXXFLAGS=-O6
          shell> export CC CFLAGS CXX CXXFLAGS

     See *Note TcX binaries::, for a list of flag definitions that have
     been found to be useful on various systems.

   * If you get an error message like this, you need to upgrade your
     `gcc' compiler:

          client/libmysql.c:273: parse error before `__attribute__'

     `gcc' 2.8.1 is known to work, but we recommend using `egcs' 1.0.3a
     or newer instead.

   * If you get errors such as those shown below when compiling
     `mysqld', `configure' didn't correctly detect the type of the last
     argument to `accept()', `getsockname()' or `getpeername()':

          cxx: Error: mysqld.cc, line 645: In this statement, the referenced
               type of the pointer value "&length" is "unsigned long", which
               is not compatible with "int".
          new_sock = accept(sock, (struct sockaddr *)&cAddr, &length);

     To fix this, edit the `config.h' file (which is generated by
     `configure').  Look for these lines:

          /* Define as the base type of the last arg to accept */
          #define SOCKET_SIZE_TYPE XXX

     Change `XXX' to `size_t' or `int', depending on your operating
     system.  (Note that you will have to do this each time you run
     `configure', since `configure' regenerates `config.h'.)

   * The `sql_yacc.cc' file is generated from `sql_yacc.yy'.  Normally
     the build process doesn't need to create `sql_yacc.cc', because
     *MySQL* comes with an already-generated copy.  However, if you do
     need to recreate it, you might encounter this error:

          "sql_yacc.yy", line xxx fatal: default action causes potential...

     This is a sign that your version of `yacc' is deficient.  You
     probably need to install `bison' (the GNU version of `yacc') and
     use that instead.

   * If you need to debug `mysqld' or a *MySQL* client, run `configure'
     with the `--with-debug' option, then recompile and link your
     clients with the new client library.  *Note Debugging client::.

MIT-pthreads notes
==================

This section describes some of the issues involved in using
MIT-pthreads.

Note that on Linux you should NOT use MIT-pthreads but install
LinuxThreads!  *Note Linux::.

If your system does not provide native thread support, you will need to
build *MySQL* using the MIT-pthreads package.  This includes most
FreeBSD systems, SunOS 4.x, Solaris 2.4 and earlier, and some others.
*Note Which OS::.

   * On most systems, you can force MIT-pthreads to be used by running
     `configure' with the `--with-mit-threads' option:

          shell> ./configure --with-mit-threads

     Building in a non-source directory is not supported when using
     MIT-pthreads, because we want to minimize our changes to this code.

   * MIT-pthreads doesn't support the `AF_UNIX' protocol used to
     implement Unix sockets.  This means that if you compile using
     MIT-pthreads, all connections must be made using TCP/IP (which is
     a little slower).  If you find after building *MySQL* that you
     cannot connect to the local server, it may be that your client is
     attempting to connect to `localhost' using a Unix socket as the
     default. Try making a TCP/IP connection with `mysql' by using a
     host option (`-h' or `--host') to specify the local host name
     explicitly.

   * The checks that determine whether or not to use MIT-pthreads occur
     only during the part of the configuration process that deals with
     the server code.  If you have configured the distribution using
     `--without-server' to build only the client code, clients will not
     know whether or not MIT-pthreads is being used and will use Unix
     socket connections by default.  Since Unix sockets do not work
     under MIT-pthreads, this means you will need to use `-h' or
     `--host' when you run client programs.

   * When *MySQL* is compiled using MIT-pthreads, system locking is
     disabled by default for performance reasons. You can tell the
     server to use system locking with the `--use-locking' option.

   * Sometimes the pthread `bind()' command fails to bind to a socket
     without any error message (at least on Solaris). The result is
     that all connections to the server fail.  For example:

          shell> mysqladmin version
          mysqladmin: connect to server at '' failed;
          error: 'Can't connect to mysql server on localhost (146)'

     The solution to this is to kill the `mysqld' server and restart it.
     This has only happened to us when we have forced the server down
     and done a restart immediately.

   * With MIT-pthreads, the `sleep()' system call isn't interruptible
     with `SIGINT' (break). This is only noticeable when you run
     `mysqladmin --sleep'.  You must wait for the `sleep()' call to
     terminate before the interrupt is served and the process stops.

   * When linking you may receive warning messages like these (at least
     on Solaris); they can be ignored:

          ld: warning: symbol `_iob' has differing sizes:
              (file /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) value=0x4;
          file /usr/lib/libc.so value=0x140);
              /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) definition taken
          ld: warning: symbol `__iob' has differing sizes:
              (file /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) value=0x4;
          file /usr/lib/libc.so value=0x140);
              /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) definition taken

   * Some other warnings also can be ignored:

          implicit declaration of function `int strtoll(...)'
          implicit declaration of function `int strtoul(...)'

   * We haven't gotten `readline' to work with MIT-pthreads. (This isn't
     needed, but may be interesting for someone.)

Perl installation comments
==========================

Installing Perl on Unix
-----------------------

Perl support for *MySQL* is provided by means of the `DBI'/`DBD' client
interface.  *Note Perl::.  The Perl `DBD'/`DBI' client code requires
Perl 5.004 or later.  The interface *will not work* if you have an
older version of Perl.

*MySQL* Perl support also requires that you've installed *MySQL* client
programming support.  If you installed *MySQL* from RPM files, client
programs are in the client RPM, but client programming support is in
the developer RPM.  Make sure you've installed the latter RPM.

As of release 3.22.8, Perl support is distributed separately from the
main *MySQL* distribution.  If you want to install Perl support, the
files you will need can be obtained from `http://www.mysql.com/Contrib'.

The Perl distributions are provided as compressed `tar' archives and
have names like `MODULE-VERSION.tar.gz', where `MODULE' is the module
name and `VERSION' is the version number.  You should get the
`Data-Dumper', `DBI', and `Msql-Mysql-modules' distributions and
install them in that order.  The installation procedure is shown below.
The example shown is for the `Data-Dumper' module, but the procedure is
the same for all three distributions.

  1. Unpack the distribution into the current directory:
          shell> gunzip < Data-Dumper-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -
     This command creates a directory named `Data-Dumper-VERSION'.

  2. Change into the top-level directory of the unpacked distribution:
          shell> cd Data-Dumper-VERSION

  3. Build the distribution and compile everything:
          shell> perl Makefile.PL
          shell> make
          shell> make test
          shell> make install

The `make test' command is important, because it verifies that the
module is working.  Note that when you run that command during the
`Msql-Mysql-modules' installation to exercise the interface code, the
*MySQL* server must be running or the test will fail.

It is a good idea to rebuild and reinstall the `Msql-Mysql-modules'
distribution whenever you install a new release of *MySQL*,
particularly if you notice symptoms such as all your `DBI' scripts
dumping core after you upgrade *MySQL*.

If you don't have the right to install Perl modules in the system
directory or if you to install local Perl modules, the following
reference may help you:

     `http://www.iserver.com/support/contrib/perl5/modules.html'

Look under the heading `Installing New Modules that Require Locally
Installed Modules'.

Installing ActiveState Perl on Win32
------------------------------------

To install the *MySQL* `DBD' module with ActiveState Perl on Win32, you
should do the following:

   * Open a DOS shell.

   * If required, set the HTTP_proxy variable. For example, you might
     try: `set HTTP_proxy=my.proxy.com:3128'

   * Start the PPM program: `C:\perl\bin\ppm.pl'

   * If you have not already done so, install `DBI': `install DBI'

   * If this succeeds, install `DBD::mysql:'
     `http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/ppd/DBD-mysql.ppd'

If you can't get the above to work, you should instead install the
*MyODBC* driver and connect to *MySQL* server through ODBC.

     use DBI;
     $dbh= DBI->connect("DBI:ODBC:$dsn","$user","$password") ||
       die "Got error $DBI::errstr when connecting to $dsn\n";

Installing the MySQL Perl distribution on Win32
-----------------------------------------------

The *MySQL* Perl distribution contains `DBI', `DBD:MySQL' and
`DBD:ODBC'.

   * Get the Perl distribution for Win32 from
     `http://www.mysql.com/download.html'.

   * Unzip the distribution in `C:' so that you get a `C:\PERL'
     directory.

   * Add the directory `C:\PERL\BIN' to your path.

   * Add the directory `C:\PERL\BIN\MSWin32-x86-thread' or
     `C:\PERL\BIN\MSWin32-x86' to your path.

   * Test that `perl' works by executing `perl -v' in a DOS shell.

Problems using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' interface
---------------------------------------------

If Perl reports that it can't find the `../mysql/mysql.so' module, then
the problem is probably that Perl can't locate the shared library
`libmysqlclient.so'.

You can fix this by any of the following methods:

   * Compile the `Msql-Mysql-modules' distribution with `perl
     Makefile.PL -static -config' rather than `perl Makefile.PL'

   * Copy `libmysqlclient.so' to the directory where your other shared
     libraries are located (probably `/usr/lib' or `/lib').

   * On `Linux' you can add the pathname of the directory where
     `libmysqlclient.so' is located to the `/etc/ld.so.conf' file.

   * Add the pathname of the directory where `libmysqlclient.so' is
     located to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable.

If you get the following errors from `DBD-mysql', you are probably
using `gcc' (or using an old binary compiled with `gcc'):

     /usr/bin/perl: can't resolve symbol '__moddi3'
     /usr/bin/perl: can't resolve symbol '__divdi3'

Add `-L/usr/lib/gcc-lib/... -lgcc' to the link command when the
`mysql.so' library gets built (check the output from `make' for
`mysql.so' when you compile the Perl client).  The `-L' option should
specify the pathname of the directory where `libgcc.a' is located on
your system.

Another cause of this problem may be that Perl and *MySQL* aren't both
compiled with `gcc'.  In this case, you can solve the mismatch by
compiling both with `gcc'.

If you want to use the Perl module on a system that doesn't support
dynamic linking (like SCO) you can generate a static version of Perl
that includes `DBI' and `DBD-mysql'.  The way this works is that you
generate a version of Perl with the `DBI' code linked in and install it
on top of your current Perl.  Then you use that to build a version of
Perl that additionally has the `DBD' code linked in, and install that.

On SCO, you must have the following environment variables set:

     shell> LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/progressive/lib
     or
     shell> LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/ccs/lib:/usr/progressive/lib:/usr/skunk/lib
     shell> LIBPATH=/usr/lib:/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/ccs/lib:/usr/progressive/lib:/usr/skunk/lib
     shell> MANPATH=scohelp:/usr/man:/usr/local1/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/skunk/man:

First, create a Perl that includes a statically-linked `DBI' by running
these commands in the directory where your `DBI' distribution is
located:

     shell> perl Makefile.PL -static -config
     shell> make
     shell> make install
     shell> make perl

Then you must install the new Perl. The output of `make perl' will
indicate the exact `make' command you will need to execute to perform
the installation.  On SCO, this is `make -f Makefile.aperl inst_perl
MAP_TARGET=perl'.

Next, use the just-created Perl to create another Perl that also
includes a statically-linked `DBD::mysql' by running these commands in
the directory where your `Msql-Mysql-modules' distribution is located:

     shell> perl Makefile.PL -static -config
     shell> make
     shell> make install
     shell> make perl

Finally, you should install this new Perl.  Again, the output of `make
perl' indicates the command to use.

System-specific issues
======================

The following sections indicate some of the issues that have been
observed to occur on particular systems when installing *MySQL* from a
source distribution.

Solaris notes
-------------

On Solaris, you may run into trouble even before you get the *MySQL*
distribution unpacked!  Solaris `tar' can't handle long file names, so
you may see an error like this when you unpack *MySQL*:

     x mysql-3.22.12-beta/bench/Results/ATIS-mysql_odbc-NT_4.0-cmp-db2,informix,ms-sql,mysql,oracle,solid,sybase, 0 bytes, 0 tape blocks
     tar: directory checksum error

In this case, you must use GNU `tar' (`gtar') to unpack the
distribution.  You can find a precompiled copy for Solaris at
`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/'.

Sun native threads work only on Solaris 2.5 and higher. For 2.4 and
earlier versions, *MySQL* will automatically use MIT-pthreads. *Note
MIT-pthreads::.

If you get the following error from configure:

     checking for restartable system calls... configure: error can not run test
     programs while cross compiling

This means that you have something wrong with your compiler
installation!  In this case you should upgrade your compiler to a newer
version.  You may also be able to solve this problem by inserting the
following row into the `config.cache' file:

     ac_cv_sys_restartable_syscalls=${ac_cv_sys_restartable_syscalls='no'}

If you are using Solaris on a SPARC, the recommended compiler is `egcs'
1.1.2 or newer.  You can find this at `http://egcs.cygnus.com/'.  Note
that `egs' 1.1.1 and `gcc' 2.8.1 don't work reliably on SPARC!

The recommended `configure' line when using `egcs' 1.1.2 is:

     shell> CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O6" \
            CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O6 -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-low-memory

If you have the Sun Workshop 4.2 compiler, you can run `configure' like
this:

CC=cc CFLAGS="-xstrconst -Xa -xO4 -native -mt" CXX=CC CXXFLAGS="-xO4
-native -noex -mt" ./configure -prefix=/usr/local/mysql

     shell> CC=cc CFLAGS="-Xa -fast -xO4 -native -xstrconst -mt" \
            CXX=CC CXXFLAGS="-noex -XO4 -mt" \
            ./configure

You may also have to edit the `configure' script to change this line:

     #if !defined(__STDC__) || __STDC__ != 1

to this:

     #if !defined(__STDC__)

If you turn on `__STDC__' with the `-Xc' option, the Sun compiler can't
compile with the Solaris `pthread.h' header file. This is a Sun bug
(broken compiler or broken include file).

If `mysqld' issues the error message shown below when you run it, you
have tried to compile *MySQL* with the Sun compiler without enabling the
multi-thread option (`-mt'):

     libc internal error: _rmutex_unlock: rmutex not held

Add `-mt' to `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS' and try again.

If you get the following error when compiling *MySQL* with `gcc', it
means that your `gcc' is not configured for your version of Solaris!

     shell> gcc -O3 -g -O2 -DDBUG_OFF  -o thr_alarm ...
     ./thr_alarm.c: In function `signal_hand':
     ./thr_alarm.c:556: too many arguments to function `sigwait'

The proper thing to do in this case is to get the newest version of
`egcs' and compile it with your current `gcc' compiler!  At least for
Solaris 2.5, almost all binary versions of `gcc' have old, unusable
include files that will break all programs that use threads (and
possibly other programs)!

Solaris doesn't provide static versions of all system libraries
(`libpthreads' and `libdl'), so you can't compile *MySQL* with
`--static'.  If you try to do so, you will get the error:

     ld: fatal: library -ldl: not found

If too many processes try to connect very rapidly to `mysqld', you will
see this error in the *MySQL* log:

     Error in accept: Protocol error

You might try starting the server with the `--set-variable back_log=50'
option as a workaround for this.

If you are linking your own *MySQL* client, you might get the following
error when you try to execute it:

     ld.so.1: ./my: fatal: libmysqlclient.so.#: open failed: No such file or directory

The problem can be avoided by one of the following methods:

   * Link the client with the following flag (instead of `-Lpath'):
     `-Wl,r/full-path-to-libmysqlclient.so'.

   * Copy `libmysqclient.so' to `/usr/lib'.

   * Add the pathname of the directory where `libmysqlclient.so' is
     located to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable before running
     your client.

Solaris 2.7 notes
-----------------

You can normally use a Solaris 2.6 binary on Solaris 2.7.  Most of the
Solaris 2.6 issues also apply for Solaris 2.7.

Note that *MySQL* 3.23.4 and above should be able to autodetect Solaris
2.7 and enable workarounds for the following problems!

Solaris 2.7 has some bugs in the include files. You may see the
following error when you use `gcc':

     /usr/include/widec.h:42: warning: `getwc' redefined
     /usr/include/wchar.h:326: warning: this is the location of the previous
     definition

If this occurs, you can do the following to fix the problem:

Copy `/usr/include/widec.h' to `.../lib/gcc-lib/os/gcc-version/include'
and change line 41 from:

     #if     !defined(lint) && !defined(__lint)
     
     to
     
     #if     !defined(lint) && !defined(__lint) && !defined(getwc)

Alternatively, you can edit `/usr/include/widec.h' directly.  Either
way, after you make the fix, you should remove `config.cache' and run
`configure' again!

If you get errors like this when you run `make', it's because
`configure' didn't detect the `curses.h' file (probably because of the
error in `/usr/include/widec.h':

     In file included from mysql.cc:50:
     /usr/include/term.h:1060: syntax error before `,'
     /usr/include/term.h:1081: syntax error before `;'

The solution to this is to do one of the following steps:

   * Edit `/usr/include/widec.h' as indicted above and rerun configure

   * Remove the `#define HAVE_TERM' line from `config.h' file and run
     `make' again.

   * Configure with `CFLAGS=-DHAVE_CURSES CXXFLAGS=-DHAVE_CURSES
     ./configure'

Solaris x86 notes
-----------------

If you are using `gcc' or `egcs' on Solaris x86 and you experience
problems with core dumps under load, you should use the following
`configure' command:

     shell> CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O6 -fomit-frame-pointer" \
            CXX=gcc \
            CXXFLAGS="-O6 -fomit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

This will avoid problems with the `libstdc++' library and with C++
exceptions.

If this doesn't help, you should compile a debug version and run it
with a trace file or under `gdb'.  *Note Debugging server::.

SunOS 4 notes
-------------

On SunOS 4, MIT-pthreads is needed to compile *MySQL*, which in turn
means you will need GNU `make'.

Some SunOS 4 systems have problems with dynamic libraries and
`libtool'. You can use the following `configure' line to avoid this
problem:

     shell> ./configure --disable-shared --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

When compiling `readline', you may get warnings about duplicate defines.
These may be ignored.

When compiling `mysqld', there will be some `implicit declaration of
function' warnings. These may be ignored.

Linux notes (all Linux versions)
--------------------------------

*MySQL* uses LinuxThreads on Linux.  If you are using an old Linux
version that doesn't have `glibc2', you must install LinuxThreads before
trying to compile *MySQL*. `http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Linux'

Note that `glibc' versions before and including 2.1.1 has a fatal bug in
`pthread_mutex_timedwait' handling, which is used when you do `INSERT
DELAYED'. If you are using `INSERT DELAYED', you *MUST* add the
following patch to your glibc library:
`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Patches/glibc-pthread_cond_timedwait.patch'.
*MySQL* 3.23.7 contains a temporary workaround for this bug.

If you can't start `mysqld' or if `mysql_install_db' doesn't work,
please continue reading!  This only happens on Linux system with
problems in the LinuxThreads or `libc'/`glibc' libraries. There are a
lot of simple workarounds to get *MySQL* to work!  The simplest is to
use the binary version of *MySQL* (not the RPM) for Linux x86.  One nice
aspect of this version is that it's probably 10% faster than any
version you would compile yourself!  *Note Compile and link options::.

One known problem with the binary distribution is that with older Linux
systems that use `libc' (like RedHat 4.x or Slackware), you will get
some non-fatal problems with hostname resolution *Note Binary
notes-Linux::.

`myisamchk' hangs with `libc.so.5.3.12'. Upgrading to the newest `libc'
fixes this problem.

When using LinuxThreads you will see a minimum of three processes
running. These are in fact threads. There will be one thread for the
LinuxThreads manager, one thread to handle connections, and one thread
to handle alarms and signals.

If you see a dead `mysqld' daemon process with `ps', this usually means
that you have found a bug in *MySQL* or you have got a corrupted table.
*Note Crashing::.

If you are using LinuxThreads and `mysqladmin shutdown' doesn't work,
you must upgrade to LinuxThreads 0.7.1 or newer.

If you are using RedHat, you might get errors like this:

     /usr/bin/perl is needed...
     /usr/sh is needed...
     /usr/sh is needed...

If so, you should upgrade your version of `rpm' to
`rpm-2.4.11-1.i386.rpm' and `rpm-devel-2.4.11-1.i386.rpm' (or later).

You can get the upgrades of libraries to RedHat 4.2 from
`ftp://ftp.redhat.com/updates/4.2/i386'. Or
`http://www.sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/redhat/code/rpm/'
for other distributions.

If you are linking your own *MySQL* client and get the error:

     ld.so.1: ./my: fatal: libmysqlclient.so.4: open failed: No such file or directory

when executing them, the problem can be avoided by one of the following
methods:

   * Link the client with the following flag (instead of `-Lpath'):
     `-Wl,r/path-libmysqlclient.so'.

   * Copy `libmysqclient.so' to `/usr/lib'.

   * Add the pathname of the directory where `libmysqlclient.so' is
     located to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable before running
     your client.

If you are using the Fujitsu compiler `(fcc / FCC)' you will have some
problems compiling *MySQL* because the Linux header files are very
`gcc' oriented.

The following `configure' line should work with `fcc/FCC':

     CC=fcc CFLAGS="-O -K fast -K lib -K omitfp -Kpreex -D_GNU_SOURCE -DCONST=const -DNO_STRTOLL_PROTO" CXX=FCC CXXFLAGS="-O -K fast -K lib  -K omitfp -K preex --no_exceptions --no_rtti -D_GNU_SOURCE -DCONST=const -Dalloca=__builtin_alloca -DNO_STRTOLL_PROTO '-D_EXTERN_INLINE=static __inline'" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static --disable-shared --with-low-memory

Linux-x86 notes
...............

*MySQL* requires `libc' version 5.4.12 or newer. It's known to work
with `libc' 5.4.46. `glibc' version 2.0.6 and later should also work.
There have been some problems with the `glibc' RPMs from RedHat so if
you have problems, check whether or not there are any updates!  The
`glibc' 2.0.7-19 and 2.0.7-29 RPMs are known to work.

On some older Linux distributions, `configure' may produce an error
like this:

     Syntax error in sched.h. Change _P to __P in the /usr/include/sched.h file.
     See the Installation chapter in the Reference Manual.

Just do what the error message says and add an extra underscore to the
`_P' macro that has only one underscore, then try again.

You may get some warnings when compiling; those shown below can be
ignored:

     mysqld.cc -o objs-thread/mysqld.o
     mysqld.cc: In function `void init_signals()':
     mysqld.cc:315: warning: assignment of negative value `-1' to `long unsigned int'
     mysqld.cc: In function `void * signal_hand(void *)':
     mysqld.cc:346: warning: assignment of negative value `-1' to `long unsigned int'

In Debian GNU/Linux, if you want *MySQL* to start automatically when
the system boots, do the following:

     shell> cp support-files/mysql.server /etc/init.d/mysql.server
     shell> /usr/sbin/update-rc.d mysql.server defaults 99

`mysql.server' can be found in the `share/mysql' directory under the
*MySQL* installation directory, or in the `support-files' directory of
the *MySQL* source tree.

If `mysqld' always core dumps when it starts up, the problem may be that
you have an old `/lib/libc.a'.  Try renaming it, then remove
`sql/mysqld' and do a new `make install' and try again.  This problem
has been reported on some Slackware installations. RedHat 5.0 has also
a similar problem with some new `glibc' versions.  *Note
Linux-RedHat50::.

If you get the following error when linking `mysqld', it means that
your `libg++.a' is not installed correctly:

     /usr/lib/libc.a(putc.o): In function `_IO_putc':
     putc.o(.text+0x0): multiple definition of `_IO_putc'

You can avoid using `libg++.a' by running `configure' like this:

     shell> CXX=gcc ./configure

RedHat 5.0 notes
................

If you have any problems with *MySQL* on RedHat, you should start by
upgrading `glibc' to the newest possible version!

If you install all the official RedHat patches (including
`glibc-2.0.7-19' and `glibc-devel-2.0.7-19'), both the binary and
source distributions of *MySQL* should work without any trouble!

The updates are needed since there is a bug in `glibc' 2.0.5 in how
`pthread_key_create' variables are freed. With `glibc' 2.0.5, you must
use a statically-linked *MySQL* binary distribution. If you want to
compile from source, you must install the corrected version of
LinuxThreads from `http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Linux' or upgrade your
`glibc'.

If you have an incorrect version of `glibc' or LinuxThreads, the symptom
is that `mysqld' crashes after each connection. For example,
`mysqladmin version' will crash `mysqld' when it finishes!

Another symptom of incorrect libraries is that `mysqld' crashes at once
when it starts. On some Linux systems, this can be fixed by configuring
like this:

     shell> ./configure --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

On Redhat 5.0, the easy way out is to install the `glibc' 2.0.7-19 RPM
and run `configure' *without* the `--with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static'
option.

For the source distribution of `glibc' 2.0.7, a patch that is easy to
apply and is tested with *MySQL* may be found at:
     `http://www.mysql.com/Download/Linux/glibc-2.0.7-total-patch.tar.gz'

If you experience crashes like these when you build *MySQL*, you can
always download the newest binary version of *MySQL*.  This is
statically-linked to avoid library conflicts and should work on all
Linux systems!

*MySQL* comes with an internal debugger that can generate trace files
with a lot of information that can be used to find and solve a wide
range of different problems.  *Note Debugging server::.

RedHat 5.1 notes
................

The `glibc' of RedHat 5.1 (`glibc' 2.0.7-13) has a memory leak, so to
get a stable *MySQL* version, you must upgrade `glibc' to 2.0.7-19,
downgrade `glibc' or use a binary version of `mysqld'. If you don't do
this, you will encounter memory problems (out of memory, etc., etc.).
The most common error in this case is:

     Can't create a new thread (errno 11). If you are not out of available
     memory, you can consult the manual for any possible OS dependent bug

After you have upgraded to `glibc' 2.0.7-19, you can configure *MySQL*
with dynamic linking (the default), but you *cannot* run `configure'
with the `--with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static' option until you have
installed `glibc' 2.0.7-19 from source!

You can check which version of `glibc' you have with `rpm -q glibc'.

Linux-SPARC notes
.................

In some implementations, `readdir_r()' is broken.  The symptom is that
`SHOW DATABASES' always returns an empty set.  This can be fixed by
removing `HAVE_READDIR_R' from `config.h' after configuring and before
compiling.

Some problems will require patching your Linux installation.  The patch
can be found at `http://www.mysql.com/patches/Linux-sparc-2.0.30.diff'.
This patch is against the Linux distribution `sparclinux-2.0.30.tar.gz'
that is available at `vger.rutgers.edu' (a version of Linux that was
never merged with the official 2.0.30).  You must also install
LinuxThreads 0.6 or newer.

Thanks to <jacques@solucorp.qc.ca> for this information.

Linux-Alpha notes
.................

The big problem on Linux-Alpha is that there are still some problems
with threads in `glibc' on this platform.  You should start by getting
the newest `glibc' version you can find.

Note that before you run any programs that use threads (like `mysqld',
`thr_alarm' or `thr_lock'), you should raise the shared memory limit
(with `ulimit'). The *MySQL* benchmarks are known to fail if you forget
to do this!

Configure *MySQL* with the following command:

     shell> CC=gcc CCFLAGS="-Dalpha_linux_port" \
            CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -Dalpha_linux_port -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

Try to compile `mysys/thr_lock' and `mysys/thr_alarm'.  Test that these
programs work!  (Invoke each one with no arguments.  Each should end
with `test_succeeded' if everything was okay.)

After installing *MySQL*, uncomment the `ulimit' command in
`safe_mysqld' and add options to increase shared memory.

Note that Linux-Alpha is still an alpha-quality platform for *MySQL*.
With the newest `glibc', you have a very good chance of it working.

If you have problems with signals (*MySQL* dies unexpectedly under high
load) you may have found an OS bug with threads and signals. In this
case you can tell *MySQL* not to use signals by configuring with:

     shell> CFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM \
            CXXFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM \
            ./configure ...

This doesn't affect the performance of *MySQL*, but has the side effect
that you can't kill clients that are "sleeping" on a connection with
`mysqladmin kill' or `mysqladmin shutdown'.  Instead, the client will
die when it issues its next command.

MkLinux notes
.............

*MySQL* should work on MkLinux with the newest `glibc' package (tested
with `glibc' 2.0.7).

Qube2 Linux notes
.................

To get *MySQL* to work on Qube2, (Linux Mips), you need the newest
`glibc' libraries (`glibc-2.0.7-29C2' is known to work). You must also
use the `egcs' C++ compiler (`egcs-1.0.2-9' or newer).

Alpha-DEC-Unix notes
--------------------

When compiling threaded programs under Digital UNIX, the documentation
recommends using the `-pthread' option for `cc' and `cxx' and the
libraries `-lmach -lexc' (in addition to `-lpthread').  You should run
`configure' something like this:

     shell> CC="cc -pthread" CXX="cxx -pthread -O" \
            ./configure --with-named-thread-libs="-lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc"

When compiling `mysqld', you may see a couple of warnings like this:

     mysqld.cc: In function void handle_connections()':
     mysqld.cc:626: passing long unsigned int *' as argument 3 of
     accept(int,sockadddr *, int *)'

You can safely ignore these warnings. They occur because `configure'
can detect only errors, not warnings.

If you start the server directly from the command line, you may have
problems with it dying when you log out.  (When you log out, your
outstanding processes receive a `SIGHUP' signal.)  If so, try starting
the server like this:

     shell> nohup mysqld [options] &

`nohup' causes the command following it to ignore any `SIGHUP' signal
sent from the terminal.  Alternatively, start the server by running
`safe_mysqld', which invokes `mysqld' using `nohup' for you.

Alpha-DEC-OSF1 notes
--------------------

If you have problems compiling and have DEC `CC' and `gcc' installed,
try running `configure' like this:

     shell> CC=cc CFLAGS=-O CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

If you get problems with the `c_asm.h' file, you can create and use a
'dummy' `c_asm.h' file with:

     shell> touch include/c_asm.h
     shell> CC=gcc CFLAGS=-I./include \
            CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

On OSF1 V4.0D and compiler "DEC C V5.6-071 on Digital UNIX V4.0 (Rev.
878)" the compiler had some strange behavior (undefined `asm' symbols).
`/bin/ld' also appears to be broken (problems with `_exit undefined'
errors occuring while linking `mysqld').  On this system, we have
managed to compile *MySQL* with the following `configure' line, after
replacing `/bin/ld' with the version from OSF 4.0C:

     shell> CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

With the Digital compiler "C++ V6.1-029", the following should work:

     CC=cc -pthread
     CFLAGS=-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed -speculate all -arch host
     CXX=cxx -pthread
     CXXFLAGS=-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed -speculate all -arch host
     export CC CFLAGS CXX CXXFLAGS
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/mysql/mysql --with-low-memory --enable-large-files --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static --disable-shared --with-named-thread-libs="-lmach -lexc -lc"

In some versions of OSF1, the `alloca()' function is broken. Fix this
by removing the line in `config.h' that defines `'HAVE_ALLOCA''.

The `alloca()' function also may have an incorrect prototype in
`/usr/include/alloca.h'.  This warning resulting from this can be
ignored.

`configure' will use the following thread libraries automatically:
`--with-named-thread-libs="-lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc"'.

When using `gcc', you can also try running `configure' like this:

     shell> CFLAGS=-D_PTHREAD_USE_D4 CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure ....

If you have problems with signals (*MySQL* dies unexpectedly under high
load) you may have found an OS bug with threads and signals. In this
case you can tell *MySQL* not to use signals by configuring with:

     shell> CFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM \
            CXXFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM \
            ./configure ...

This doesn't affect the performance of *MySQL*, but has the side effect
that you can't kill clients that are "sleeping" on a connection with
`mysqladmin kill' or `mysqladmin shutdown'.  Instead, the client will
die when it issues its next command.

With `gcc' 2.95.2, you will probably run into the following compile
error:

     sql_acl.cc:1456: Internal compiler error in `scan_region', at except.c:2566
     Please submit a full bug report.

To fix this you should change to the `sql' directory and do a 'cut and
paste' of the last `gcc' line, but change `-O3' to `-O0' (or add `-O0'
immediately after `gcc' if you don't have any `-O' option on your
compile line. After this is done you can just change back to the top
level directly and run `make' again.

SGI-Irix notes
--------------

If you are using Irix 6.5.3 or newer `mysqld' will only be able to
create threads if you run it as a user with `CAP_SCHED_MGT' privileges
(like root) or give the `mysqld' server this privilege with the
following shell command:

     chcap "CAP_SCHED_MGT+epi" /opt/mysql/libexec/mysqld

You may have to undefine some things in `config.h' after running
`configure' and before compiling.

In some Irix implementations, the `alloca()' function is broken. If the
`mysqld' server dies on some `SELECT' statements, remove the lines from
`config.h' that define `HAVE_ALLOC' and `HAVE_ALLOCA_H'.  If
`mysqladmin create' doesn't work, remove the line from `config.h' that
defines `HAVE_READDIR_R'. You may have to remove the `HAVE_TERM_H' line
as well.

SGI recommends that you install all of the patches on this page as a
set:
http://support.sgi.com/surfzone/patches/patchset/6.2_indigo.rps.html

At the very minimum, you should install the latest kernel rollup, the
latest `rld' rollup, and the latest `libc' rollup.

You definately need all the POSIX patches on this page, for pthreads
support:

http://support.sgi.com/surfzone/patches/patchset/6.2_posix.rps.html

If you get the something like the following error when compiling
`mysql.cc':

     "/usr/include/curses.h", line 82: error(1084): invalid combination of type

Then type the following in the top-level directory of your *MySQL*
source tree:

     shell> extra/replace bool curses_bool < /usr/include/curses.h > include/curses.h
     shell> make

There have also been reports of scheduling problems.  If only one
thread is running, things go slow. Avoid this by starting another
client. This may lead to a 2-to-10-fold increase in execution speed
thereafter for the other thread.  This is a poorly-understood problem
with Irix threads; you may have to improvise to find solutions until
this can be fixed.

If you are compiling with `gcc', you can use the following `configure'
command:

     shell> CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-thread-safe-client --with-named-thread-libs=-lpthread

FreeBSD notes
-------------

FreeBSD 3.x is recommended for running MySQL since it the thread package
is much more integrated.

The easiest and therefor the preferred way to install is to use the
mysql-server and mysql-client ports available on
`http://www.freebsd.org'

Using these gives you:
   * A working *MySQL* with all optimizations known to work on your
     version of FreeBSD enabled.

   * Automatic configuration and build.

   * Startup scripts installed in /usr/local/etc/rc.d

   * Ability to see which files that are installed with pkg_info -L.
     And to remove them all with pkg_delete if you no longer want
     *MySQL* on that machine.

It is recomended to use MIT-pthreads on FreeBSD 2.x and native threads
on versions 3 and up. It is possible to run with with native threads on
some late 2.2.x versions but you may encounter problems shutting down
mysqld.

Be sure to have your name resolver setup correct. Otherwise you may
experience resolver delays or failures when connecting to mysqld.

Make sure that the `localhost' entry in the `/etc/hosts' file is
correct (otherwise you will have problems connecting to the database).
The `/etc/hosts' file should start with a line:

     127.0.0.1       localhost localhost.your.domain

If you notice that `configure' will use MIT-pthreads, you should read
the MIT-pthreads notes. *Note MIT-pthreads::.

If you get an error from `make install' that it can't find
`/usr/include/pthreads', `configure' didn't detect that you need
MIT-pthreads. This is fixed by executing these commands:

     shell> rm config.cache
     shell> ./configure --with-mit-threads

The behavior of FreeBSD `make' is slightly different from that of GNU
`make'. If you have `make'-related problems, you should install GNU
`make'.

FreeBSD is also known to have a very low default file handle limit.
*Note Not enough file handles::. Uncomment the ulimit -n section in
safe_mysqld or raise the limits for the mysqld user in /etc/login.conf
(and rebuild it witg cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf) also be sure you set the
appropriate Class for this user in the password file if you are not
using the default (use: chpass mysqld-user-name)

If you have a problem with `SELECT NOW()' returning values in GMT and
not your local time, you have to set the `TZ' environment variable to
your current timezone.  This should be done for the environment in which
the server runs, for example, in `safe_mysqld' or `mysql.server'.

To get a secure and stable system you should only use FreeBSD kernels
that are marked `-STABLE'

NetBSD notes
------------

To compile on NetBSD you need GNU `make'. Otherwise the compile will
crash when `make' tries to run `lint' on C++ files.

OpenBSD 2.5 notes
-----------------

On OpenBSD 2.5, you can compile *MySQL* with native threads with the
following options:

     CFLAGS=-pthread CXXFLAGS=-pthread ./configure --with-mit-threads=no

BSD/OS notes
------------

BSD/OS 2.x notes
................

If you get the following error when compiling *MySQL*, your `ulimit'
value for virtual memory is too low:

     item_func.h: In method `Item_func_ge::Item_func_ge(const Item_func_ge &)':
     item_func.h:28: virtual memory exhausted
     make[2]: *** [item_func.o] Error 1

Try using `ulimit -v 80000' and run `make' again.  If this doesn't work
and you are using `bash', try switching to `csh' or `sh'; some BSDI
users have reported problems with `bash' and `ulimit'.

If you are using `gcc', you may also use have to use the
`--with-low-memory' flag for `configure' to be able to compile
`sql_yacc.cc'.

If you have a problem with `SELECT NOW()' returning values in GMT and
not your local time, you have to set the `TZ' environment variable to
your current timezone.  This should be done for the environment in which
the server runs, for example in `safe_mysqld' or `mysql.server'.

BSD/OS 3.x notes
................

Upgrade to BSD/OS 3.1. If that is not possible, install BSDIpatch
M300-038.

Use the following command when configuring *MySQL*:

     shell> env CXX=shlicc++ CC=shlicc2 \
            ./configure \
                --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
                --localstatedir=/var/mysql \
                --without-perl \
                --with-unix-socket-path=/var/mysql/mysql.sock

The following is also known to work:

     shell> env CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
            ./configure \
                --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
                --with-unix-socket-path=/var/mysql/mysql.sock

You can change the directory locations if you wish, or just use the
defaults by not specifying any locations.

If you have problems with performance under heavy load, try using the
`--skip-thread-priority' option to `safe_mysqld'!  This will run all
threads with the same priority; on BSDI 3.1, this gives better
performance (at least until BSDI fixes their thread scheduler).

If you get the error `virtual memory exhausted' while compiling, you
should try using `ulimit -v 80000' and run `make' again.  If this
doesn't work and you are using `bash', try switching to `csh' or `sh';
some BSDI users have reported problems with `bash' and `ulimit'.

BSD/OS 4.x notes
................

BSDI 4.x has some thread related bugs.  If you want to use *MySQL* on
this, you should install all thread related patches. At least M400-023
should be installed.

On some BSDI 4.x systems, you may get problems with shared libraries.
The symptom is that you can't execute any client programs, like for
example `mysqladmin'.  In this case you need to reconfigure not to use
shared libraries with the `--disable-shared' option to configure.

SCO notes
---------

The current port is tested only on a "sco3.2v5.0.4" and "sco3.2v5.0.5"
system.  There has also been a lot of progress on a port to "sco
3.2v4.2".

For the moment the recommended compiler on OpenServer is gcc 2.95.2.
With this you should be able to compile `MySQL' with just:

     CC=gcc CXX=gcc ./configure ... (options)

  1. For OpenServer 5.0.X you need to use GDS in Skunkware 95 (95q4c).
     This is necessary because GNU `gcc' 2.7.2 in Skunkware 97 does not
     have GNU `as'.  You can also use `egcs' 1.1.2 or newer
     `http://www.egcs.com/'.  If you are using `egcs' 1.1.2 you have to
     execute the following command:

          shell> cp -p /usr/include/pthread/stdtypes.h /usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/i386-pc-sco3.2v5.0.5/egcs-2.91.66/include/pthread/

  2. You need the port of GCC 2.5.? for this product and the Development
     system.  They are required on this version of SCO UNIX.  You cannot
     just use the GCC Dev system.

  3. You should get the FSU Pthreads package and install it first.
     This can be found at
     `http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE_wrappers/FSU-threads.tar.gz'.
     You can also get a precompiled package from



     `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/Downloads/SCO/FSU-threads-3.5c.tar.gz'.

  4. FSU Pthreads can be compiled with SCO UNIX 4.2 with tcpip.  Or
     OpenServer 3.0 or Open Desktop 3.0 (OS 3.0 ODT 3.0), with the SCO
     Development System installed using a good port of GCC 2.5.X ODT or
     OS 3.0 you will need a good port of GCC 2.5.? There are a lot of
     problems without a good port.  The port for this product requires
     the SCO UNIX Development system.  Without it, you are missing the
     libraries and the linker that is needed.

  5. To build FSU Pthreads on your system, do the following:
       1. Run `./configure' in the `threads/src' directory and select
          the SCO OpenServer option. This command copies
          `Makefile.SCO5' to `Makefile'.

       2. Run `make'.

       3. To install in the default `/usr/include' directory, login as
          root, then `cd' to the `thread/src' directory, and run `make
          install'.

  6. Remember to use GNU `make' when making *MySQL*.

  7. On OSR 5.0.5, you should use the following configure line:
          shell> CC="gcc -DSCO" CXX="gcc -DSCO" ./configure
     The `-DSCO' is needed to help configure detect some thread
     functions properly.  If you forget `-DSCO', you will get the
     following error message while compiling:
          my_pthread.c: In function `my_pthread_mutex_init':
          my_pthread.c:374: `pthread_mutexattr_default' undeclared (first use this function)

  8. If you don't start `safe_mysqld' as root, you probably will get
     only the default 110 open files per process.  `mysqld' will write
     a note about this in the log file.

  9. With SCO 3.2V5.0.5, you should use a FSU Pthreads version 3.5c or
     newer.  The following `configure' command should work:
          shell> CC="gcc -belf" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared

 10. With SCO 3.2V4.2, you should use a FSU Pthreads version 3.5c or
     newer.  The following `configure' command should work:
          shell> CFLAGS="-D_XOPEN_XPG4" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-D_XOPEN_XPG4" \
                 ./configure \
                     --with-debug --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
                     --with-named-thread-libs="-lgthreads -lsocket -lgen -lgthreads" \
                     --with-named-curses-libs="-lcurses"
     You may get some problems with some include files. In this case,
     you can find new SCO-specific include files at











     `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/Downloads/SCO/SCO-3.2v4.2-includes.tar.gz'.
     You should unpack this file in the `include' directory of your
     *MySQL* source tree.

SCO development notes:

   * *MySQL* should automatically detect FSU Pthreads and link `mysqld'
     with `-lgthreads -lsocket -lgthreads'.

   * The SCO development libraries are reentrant in FSU Pthreads. SCO
     claims that its libraries' functions are reentrant, so they must
     be reentrant with FSU Pthreads. FSU Pthreads on OpenServer tries
     to use the SCO scheme to make reentrant library.

   * FSU Pthreads (at least the version at `www.mysql.com') comes
     linked with GNU `malloc'.  If you encounter problems with memory
     usage, make sure that `gmalloc.o' is included in `libgthreads.a'
     and `libgthreads.so'.

   * In FSU Pthreads, the following system calls are pthreads-aware:
     `read()', `write()', `getmsg()', `connect()', `accept()',
     `select()' and `wait()'.

If you want to install DBI on SCO, you have to edit the `Makefiles' in
DBI-xxx and each subdirectory:

     OLD:                                  NEW:
     CC = cc                               CC = gcc -belf
     CCCDLFLAGS = -KPIC -W1,-Bexport       CCCDLFLAGS = -fpic
     CCDLFLAGS = -wl,-Bexport              CCDLFLAGS =
     
     LD = ld                               LD = gcc -belf -G -fpic
     LDDLFLAGS = -G -L/usr/local/lib       LDDLFLAGS = -L/usr/local/lib
     LDFLAGS = -belf -L/usr/local/lib      LDFLAGS = -L/usr/local/lib
     
     LD = ld                               LD = gcc -belf -G -fpic
     OPTIMISE = -Od         		      OPTIMISE = -O1
     
     OLD:
     CCCFLAGS = -belf -dy -w0 -U M_XENIX -DPERL_SCO5 -I/usr/local/include
     
     NEW:
     CCFLAGS = -U M_XENIX -DPERL_SCO5 -I/usr/local/include

This is because the Perl dynaloader will not load the `DBI' modules if
they were compiled with `icc' or `cc'.

Perl works best when compiled with `cc'.

SCO Unixware 7.0 notes
----------------------

You must use a version of *MySQL* at least as recent as 3.22.13, since
that version fixes some portability problems under Unixware.

We have been able to compile *MySQL* with the following `configure'
command on UnixWare 7.0.1:

     shell> CC=cc CXX=CC ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

If you want to use `gcc', you must use `gcc' 2.95.2 or newer.

IBM-AIX notes
-------------

Automatic detection of `xlC' is missing from Autoconf, so a `configure'
command something like this is needed when using the IBM compiler:

     shell> CC="xlc_r -ma -O3 -qstrict -DHAVE_INT_8_16_32" \
            CXX="xlC_r -ma -O3 -qstrict -DHAVE_INT_8_16_32" \
            ./configure

If you change the `-O3' to `-O2' in the above configure line, you must
also remove the `-qstrict' option (this is a limitation in the IBM C
compiler).

If you are using `egcs' to compile *MySQL*, you *MUST* use the
`-fno-exceptions' flag, as the exception handling in `egcs' is not
thread-safe!  (This is tested with `egcs' 1.1.)  We recommend the
following `configure' line with `egcs' and `gcc' on AIX:

     shell> CXX=gcc \
            CXXFLAGS="-felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-debug --with-low-memory

If you have problems with signals (*MySQL* dies unexpectedly under high
load) you may have found an OS bug with threads and signals. In this
case you can tell *MySQL* not to use signals by configuring with:

     shell> CFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM CXX=gcc \
            CXXFLAGS="-felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM" \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-debug --with-low-memory

This doesn't affect the performance of *MySQL*, but has the side effect
that you can't kill clients that are "sleeping" on a connection with
`mysqladmin kill' or `mysqladmin shutdown'.  Instead, the client will
die when it issues its next command.

On some versions of AIX, linking with `libbind.a' makes `getservbyname'
core dump. This is an AIX bug and should be reported to IBM.

HP-UX 10.20 notes
-----------------

There are a couple of "small" problems when compiling *MySQL* on HP-UX.
We recommend that you use `gcc' instead of the HP-UX native compiler,
because `gcc' produces better code!

We recommend one to use gcc 2.95 on HP-UX.  Don't use high optimization
flags (like -O6) as this may not be safe on HP-UX.

Note that MIT-pthreads can't be compiled with the HP-UX compiler,
because it can't compile `.S' (assembler) files.

The following configure line should work:

     CFLAGS="-DHPUX -I/opt/dce/include" CXXFLAGS="-DHPUX -I/opt/dce/include -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" CXX=gcc ./configure --with-pthread --with-named-thread-libs='-ldce' --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared

If you are compiling `gcc' 2.95 yourself, you should NOT link it with
the DCE libraries (`libdce.a' or `libcma.a') if you want to compile
*MySQL* with MIT-pthreads.  If you mix the DCE and MIT-pthreads
packages you will get a `mysqld' to which you cannot connect.  Remove
the DCE libraries while you compile `gcc' 2.95!

HP-UX 11.x notes
----------------

Here is some information that a HP-UX 11.x user sent us:

Note that some of these things are already fixed in *MySQL* 3.23.

Note: binary distribution for hp-ux 10.20 pa1.1 dumps core on hp-ux
11.0 pa2.0 during `scripts/mysql_install_db'. As such, I feel it
necessary to build from scratch. This was a mildly painful process so I
am sharing my work so others may benefit.

   *       Environment:
                proper compilers.
                   setenv CC cc
                   setenv CXX aCC
                flags
                   setenv CFLAGS -D_REENTRANT
                   setenv CXXFLAGS -D_REENTRANT
                   setenv CPPFLAGS -D_REENTRANT
               % aCC -V
               aCC: HP ANSI C++ B3910B X.03.14.06
               % cc -V /tmp/empty.c
               cpp.ansi: HP92453-01 A.11.02.00 HP C Preprocessor (ANSI)
               ccom: HP92453-01 A.11.01.00 HP C Compiler
               cc: "/tmp/empty.c", line 1: warning 501: Empty source file.

   *        configuration:
               ./configure  --with-pthread        \
               --prefix=/source-control/mysql     \
               --with-named-thread-libs=-lpthread \
               --with-low-memory

   *     added '#define _CTYPE_INCLUDED' to include/m_ctype.h. This
     symbol is the one defined in HP's /usr/include/ctype.h:

               /* Don't include std ctype.h when this is included */
               #define _CTYPE_H
               #define __CTYPE_INCLUDED
               #define _CTYPE_INCLUDED
               #define _CTYPE_USING   /* Don't put names in global namespace. */

   * I had to use the compile-time flag `-D_REENTRANT' to get the
     compiler to recognize the prototype for `localtime_r'.
     Alternatively I could have supplied the prototype for
     `localtime_r'. But I wanted to catch other bugs without needing to
     run into them. I wasn't sure where I needed it so I added it to
     all flags.

   * The optimization flags used by *MySQL* (-O3) are not recognized by
     HP's compilers. I did not change the flags.

   * *MySQL* uses implicit conversion of string literals to `char *'.
     This is a deprecated feature. I did not change the behaviour.

Comments from another user that built *MySQL* with `gcc' 2.95.1:

     If you get the error:

          In file included from /usr/include/unistd.h:11,
                           from ../include/global.h:125,
                           from mysql_priv.h:15,
                           from item.cc:19:
          /usr/include/sys/unistd.h:184: declaration of C function `int pthread_atfork(void (*)(...), void (*)
          (...), void (*)(...))' conflicts with
          /usr/include/sys/pthread.h:440: previous declaration `int pthread_atfork(void (*)(), void (*)(), voi
          d (*)())' here
          In file included from item.h:306,
                           from mysql_priv.h:158,
                           from item.cc:19:

     The problem is that HP-UX doesn't define `pthreads_atfork()'
     consistently amoung itself.  It has conflicting prototypes in
     `/usr/include/sys/unistd.h':184 and
     `/usr/include/sys/pthread.h':440 (I post the details below).

     My solution was to copy `/usr/include/sys/unistd.h' into
     `mysql/include' and edit `unistd.h' and change it to match the
     definition in `pthread.h'.  Here's the diff:

          183,184c183,184
          <      extern int pthread_atfork(void (*prepare)(), void (*parent)(),
          <                                                                  void (*child)());
          ---
          >      extern int pthread_atfork(void (*prepare)(void), void (*parent)(void),
          >                                                                  void (*child)(void));

MacOS X notes
-------------

You can get *MySQL* to work on MacOS X by following the links to the
MacOS X ports. *Note Useful Links::.

*MySQL* 3.23.7 should include all patches necessary to configure it on
MacOSX. You must however first install the pthread package from
MySql for MacOSX Server (http://www.prnet.de/RegEx/mysql.html) before
configuring MySQL.

You might want to also add aliases to your shell's resource file to
access `mysql' and `mysqladmin' from the command line.

     alias mysql '/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql'
     alias mysqladmin '/usr/local/mysql/libexec/mysqladmin'

Win32 notes
===========

This section describes installation and use of *MySQL* on Win32.  This
is also described in the `README' file that comes with the *MySQL*
Win32 distribution.

Installing MySQL on Win32
-------------------------

If you don't have a registered version of *MySQL*, you should first
download the shareware version from:

*MySQL* 3.22.30 (http://www.mysql.com/mysql_w32.htmy)

If you plan to connect to *MySQL* from some other program, you will
probably also need the *MyODBC* driver. You can find this at the
*MySQL* download page (http://www.mysql.com/download.htmy).

To install either distribution, unzip it in some empty directory and
run the `Setup.exe' program.

By default, *MySQL*-Win32 is configured to be installed in `C:\mysql'.
If you want to install *MySQL* elsewhere, install it in `C:\mysql',
then move the installation to where you want it.  If you do move
*MySQL*, you must tell `mysqld' where everything is by supplying
options to `mysqld'. Use `C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --help' to display all
options!  For example, if you have moved the *MySQL* distribution to
`D:\programs\mysql', you must start `mysqld' with:
`D:\programs\mysql\bin\mysqld --basedir D:\programs\mysql'

With the registered version of *MySQL*, you can also create a
`C:\my.cnf' file that holds any default options for the *MySQL* server.
Copy the file `\mysql\my-example.cnf' to `C:\my.cnf' and edit this to
suit your setup.  Note that you should specify all paths with `/'
instead of `\'. If you use `\', you need to specify this twice, as `\'
is the escape character in *MySQL*.  *Note Option files::.

Starting MySQL on Win95 / Win98
-------------------------------

*MySQL* uses TCP/IP to connect a client to a server. (This will allow
any machine on your network to connect to your *MySQL* server). Because
of this, you must install TCP/IP on your machine before starting
*MySQL*.  You can find TCP/IP on your Windows CD-ROM.

Note that if you are using an old Win95 release (for example OSR2), it's
likely that you have an old Winsock package!  *MySQL* requires Winsock
2!  You can get the newest Winsock from
Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com).  Win98 has as default the new
Winsock 2 library, so the above doesn't apply for Win98.

There are 2 different *MySQL* servers you can use:

`mysqld'    Compiled with full debugging and automatic memory allocation  
            checking                                                      
`mysqld-opt'Optimized for a Pentium processor.                            

Both of the above should work on any Intel processor >= i386.

To start the `mysqld' server, you should start a MS-DOS window and type:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqld

This will start `mysqld' in the background without a window.

You can kill the *MySQL* server by executing:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root shutdown

Note that Win95/Win98 don't support creation of named pipes.  On
Win95/Win98, you can only use named pipes to connect to a remote
*MySQL* running on an NT server.

If `mysqld' doesn't start please check whether or not the
`\mysql\mysql.err' file contains any reason for this.  You can also try
to start it with `mysqld --standalone';  In this case you may get some
useful information on the screen that may help solve this.

The last option is to start `mysqld' with `--debug'.  In this case
`mysqld' will write a log file in `\mysqld.trace' that should contain
the reason why `mysqld' doesn't start.  If you make a bug report about
this, please only send the lines where something seams to go wrong to
the mailing list!

Starting MySQL on NT
--------------------

The Win95/Win98 section also applies to *MySQL* on NT, with the
following differences:

To get *MySQL* to work with TCP/IP, you must install service pack 3 (or
newer)!

For NT, the server name is `mysqld-nt'.  Normally you should install
*MySQL* as a service on NT:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt --install

(You could use the `mysqld' or `mysqld-opt' servers on NT, but those
cannot be started as a service or use named pipes.)

You can start and stop the *MySQL* service with:

     NET START mysql
     NET STOP mysql

Note that in this case you can't use any other options for `mysqld-nt'!

You can also run `mysqld-nt' as a standalone program on NT if you need
to start `mysqld-nt' with any options!  If you start `mysqld-nt'
without options on NT, `mysqld-nt' tries to starts itself as a service
with the default service options.  If you have stopped `mysqld-nt', you
have to start it with `NET START mysql'.

The service is installed with the name `MySql'. Once installed, it must
be started using Services Control Manager (SCM) Utility (found in
Control Panel) or by using the `NET START MySQL' command. If any
options are desired, they must be specified as "Startup parameters" in
the SCM utility before you start the *MySQL* service.  Once running,
`mysqld-nt' can be stopped using `mysqladmin' or from the SCM utility
or by using the command `NET STOP MySQL'. If you use SCM to stop
`mysqld-nt', there is a strange message from SCM about `mysqld shutdown
normally'.  When run as a service, `mysqld-nt' has no access to a
console and so no messages can be seen.

On NT you can get the following service error messages:

Permission Denied      Means that it cannot find `mysqld-nt.exe'          
Cannot Register        Means that the path is incorrect                   

If you have problems installing `mysqld-nt' as a service, try starting
it with the full path:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt --install

If this doesn't work, you can get `mysqld-nt' to start properly by
fixing the path in the registry!

If you don't want to start `mysqld-nt' as a service, you can start it as
follows:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt --standalone

or

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --standalone --debug

The last version gives you a debug trace in `C:\mysqld.trace'.

Running MySQL on Win32
----------------------

*MySQL* supports TCP/IP on all Win32 platforms and named pipes on NT.
The default is to use named pipes for local connections on NT and
TCP/IP for all other cases if the client has TCP/IP installed.  The
host name specifies which protocol is used:

*protocol*                                                                
NULL (none)            On NT, try named pipes first; if that doesn't      
                       work, use TCP/IP. On Win95/Win98, TCP/IP is used.  
.                      Named pipes                                        
localhost              TCP/IP to current host                             
hostname               TCP/IP                                             
*Host name*


You can force a *MySQL* client to use named pipes by specifying the
`--pipe' option.  Use the `--socket' option to specify the name of the
pipe.

You can test whether or not *MySQL* is working by executing the
following commands:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow
     C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow -u root mysql
     C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin version status proc
     C:\mysql\bin\mysql test

If `mysqld' is slow to answer to connections on Win95/Win98, there is
probably a problem with your DNS. In this case, start `mysqld' with
`--skip-name-resolve' and use only `localhost' and IP numbers in the
*MySQL* grant tables.  You can also avoid DNS when connecting to a
`mysqld-nt' *MySQL* server running on NT by using the `--pipe' argument
to specify use of named pipes.  This works for most *MySQL* clients.

There are two versions of the *MySQL* command line tool: `mysql'     Compiled on native Win32, which offers very limited text      
            editing capabilities.                                         
`mysqlc'    Compiled with the Cygnus GNU compiler and libraries, which    
            offers `readline' editing.                                    



If you want to use `mysqlc.exe', you must copy
`C:\mysql\lib\cygwinb19.dll' to `\windows\system' (or similar place).

The default privileges on Win32 give all local users full privileges to
all databases.  To make *MySQL* more secure, you should set a password
for all users and remove the row in the `mysql.user' table that has
`Host='localhost'' and `User='''.

You should also add a password for the `root' user: (The following
example starts by removing the anonymous user, that allows anyone to
access the 'test' database)

     C:\mysql\bin\mysql mysql
     mysql> DELETE FROM user WHERE Host='localhost' AND User='';
     mysql> QUIT
     C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin reload
     C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root password your_password

After you've set the password, if you want to take down the `mysqld'
server, you can do so using this command:

     mysqladmin --user=root --password=your_password shutdown

If you are using the old shareware version of *MySQL* 3.21 under
windows, the above command will fail with an error: `parse error near
'SET OPTION password''.  This is because the old shareware version,
which is based on MySQL 3.21, doesn't have the `SET PASSWORD' command.
The fix is in this case is to upgrade to the 3.22 shareware version.

With the registered *MySQL* version you can easily add new users and
change privileges with `GRANT' and `REVOKE' commands.  *Note GRANT::.
With the Windows shareware version on has to use `INSERT', `UPDATE' and
`DELETE' one the tables in the `mysql' database to manage users and
their privileges.  *Note Access denied::.

Connecting to a remote MySQL from Win32 with SSH
------------------------------------------------

Here is a note about how to connect to get a secure connection to
remote MySQL server with SSH (by David Carlson).

   * Install SSH client on your windows machine - I used a free SSH
     client from `http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ci2/ssh/'.  Other useful
     links:
     `http://www.npaci.edu/Security/npaci_security_software.html' and
     `http://www.npaci.edu/Security/samples/ssh32_windows/index.html'.

   * Start SSH. Set Host Name = yourmysqlserver name or IP address. Set
     userid=your userid to log in to your server

   * Click on "local forwards". Set `local port: 3306', `host:
     localhost', `remote port: 3306'

   * Save everything, otherwise you'll have to redo it the next time.

   * Log in to your server with SSH.

   * Start some ODBC application (for example Access)

   * Create a new file and link to mySQL using the ODBC driver the same
     way you normally do except for server, user "localhost".

That's it. It works very well with a direct Internet connection. I'm
having problems with SSH conflicting with my Win95 network and Wingate -
but that'll be the topic of a posting on another software company's
usegroup!

MySQL-Win32 compared to Unix MySQL
----------------------------------

*MySQL*-Win32 has by now proven itself to be very stable. This version
of *MySQL* has the same features as the corresponding Unix version with
the following exceptions:

*Win95 and threads*
     Win95 leaks about 200 bytes of main memory for each thread
     creation.  Because of this, you shouldn't run `mysqld' for an
     extended time on Win95 if you do many connections, since each
     connection in *MySQL* creates a new thread!  WinNT and Win98 don't
     suffer from this bug.

*Blocking read*
     *MySQL* uses a blocking read for each connection.  This means that:

        * A connection will not be disconnected automatically after 8
          hours, as happens with the Unix version of *MySQL*.

        * If a connection "hangs," it's impossible to break it without
          killing *MySQL*.

        * `mysqladmin kill' will not work on a sleeping connection.

        * `mysqladmin shutdown' can't abort as long as there are
          sleeping connections.

     We plan to fix this in the near future.

*UDF functions*
     For the moment, *MySQL*-Win32 does not support user definable
     functions.

*`DROP DATABASE'*
     You can't drop a database that is in use by some thread.

*Killing *MySQL* from the task manager*
     You can't kill *MySQL* from the task manager or with the shutdown
     utility in Windows95. You must take it down with `mysqladmin
     shutdown'.

*Case-insensitive names*
     Filenames are case insensitive on Win32, so database and table
     names are also case insensitive in *MySQL* for Win32.  The only
     restriction is that database and table names must be given in the
     same case throughout a given statement.  The following query would
     not work because it refers to a table both as `my_table' and as
     `MY_TABLE':
          SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE MY_TABLE.col=1;

*The `\' directory character*
     Pathname components in Win95 are separated by `\' characters,
     which is also the escape character in *MySQL*.  If you are using
     `LOAD DATA INFILE' or `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE', you must double
     the `\' character or use Unix style filenames `/' characters:
          LOAD DATA INFILE "C:\\tmp\\skr.txt" INTO TABLE skr;
          SELECT * FROM skr INTO OUTFILE 'C:/tmp/skr.txt';

*`Can't open named pipe' error*
     If you use the shareware version of *MySQL*-Win32 on NT with the
     newest mysql-clients you will get the following error:

          error 2017: can't open named pipe to host: . pipe...

     This is because the release version of *MySQL* uses named pipes on
     NT by default.  You can avoid this error by using the
     `--host=localhost' option to the new *MySQL* clients or create a
     file `C:\my.cnf' that contains the following information:

          [client]
          host = localhost

*`Access denied for user' error*
     If you get the error `Access denied for user: 'some-user@unknown'
     to database 'mysql'' when accessing a *MySQL* server on the same
     machine, this means that *MySQL* can't resolve your host name
     properly.

     To fix this, you should create a file `\windows\hosts' with the
     following information:

          127.0.0.1       localhost

Here are some open issues for anyone who might want to help us with the
Win32 release:

   * Make a single user `MYSQL.DLL' server.  This should include
     everything in a standard *MySQL* server, except thread creation.
     This will make *MySQL* much easier to use in applications that
     don't need a true client/server and don't need to access the
     server from other hosts.

   * Add some nice "start" and "shutdown" icons to the *MySQL*
     installation.

   * Create a tool to manage registry entries for the *MySQL* startup
     options.  The registry entry reading is already coded into
     `mysqld.cc', but it should be recoded to be more "parameter"
     oriented.  The tool should also be able to update the `\my.cnf'
     file if the user would prefer to use this instead of the registry.

   * When registering `mysqld' as a service with `--install' (on NT) it
     would be nice if you could also add default options on the command
     line.  For the moment, the workaround is to update the `C:\my.cnf'
     file instead.

   * When you suspend a laptop running Win95, the `mysqld' daemon
     doesn't accept new connections when the laptop is resumed.  We
     don't know if this is a problem with Win95, TCP/IP or *MySQL*.

   * It would be real nice to be able to kill `mysqld' from the task
     manager.  For the moment, you must use `mysqladmin shutdown'.

   * Port `readline' to Win32 for use in the `mysql' command line tool.

   * GUI versions of the standard *MySQL* clients (`mysql',
     `mysqlshow', `mysqladmin', and `mysqldump') would be nice.

   * It would be nice if the socket "read" and "write" functions in
     `net.c' were interruptible. This would make it possible to kill
     open threads with `mysqladmin kill' on Win32.

   * Documentation of which Windows programs work with
     *MySQL*-Win32/*MyODBC* and what must be done to get them working.

   * `mysqld' always starts in the "C" locale and not in the default
     locale.  We would like to have `mysqld' use the current locale for
     the sort order.

   * Port `sqlclient' to Win32 (almost done) and add more features to
     it!

   * Add more options to MysqlManager.

   * Change the communication protocol between the server and client to
     use Windows internal communication instead of sockets and TCP/IP.

   * Implement UDF functions with `.DLL's.

   * Add macros to use the faster thread-safe increment/decrement
     methods provided by Win32.

Other Win32-specific issues are described in the `README' file that
comes with the *MySQL*-Win32 distribution.

OS/2 notes
==========

*MySQL* uses quite a few open files. Because of this, you should add
something like the following to your `CONFIG.SYS' file:

     SET EMXOPT=-c -n -h1024

If you don't do this, you will probably run into the following error:

     File 'xxxx' not found (Errcode: 24)

When using *MySQL* with OS/2 Warp 3, FixPack 29 or above is required.
With OS/2 Warp 4, FixPack 4 or above is required. This is a requirement
of the Pthreads library.  *MySQL* must be installed in a partition that
supports long file names such as HPFS, FAT32, etc.

The `INSTALL.CMD' script must be run from OS/2's own `CMD.EXE' and may
not work with replacement shells such as `4OS2.EXE'.

The `scripts/mysql-install-db' script has been renamed: it is now called
`install.cmd' and is a REXX script which will set up the default
*MySQL* security settings and create the WorkPlace Shell icons for
*MySQL*.

Dynamic module support is compiled in but not fully tested. Dynamic
modules should be compiled using the Pthreads runtime library.

     gcc -Zdll -Zmt -Zcrtdll=pthrdrtl -I../include -I../regex -I.. \
         -o example udf_example.cc -L../lib -lmysqlclient udf_example.def
     mv example.dll example.udf

*Note:* Due to limitations in OS/2, UDF module name stems must not
exceed 8 characters. Modules are stored in the `/mysql2/udf' directory;
the `safe-mysqld.cmd' script will put this directory in the
`BEGINLIBPATH' environment variable. When using UDF modules, specified
extensions are ignored -- it is assumed to be `.udf'.  For example, in
Unix, the shared module might be named `example.so' and you would load
a function from it like this:

     CREATE FUNCTION metaphon RETURNS STRING SONAME "example.so";

Is OS/2, the module would be named `example.udf', but you would not
specify the module extension:

     CREATE FUNCTION metaphon RETURNS STRING SONAME "example";

TcX binaries
============

As a service, TcX provides a set of binary distributions of *MySQL*
that are compiled at TcX or at sites where customers kindly have given
us access to their machines.

These distributions are generated with
`scripts/make_binary_distribution' and are configured with the
following compilers and options:

SunOS 4.1.4 2 sun4c with `gcc' 2.7.2.1
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --disable-shared'

SunOS 5.5.1 sun4u with `egcs' 1.0.3a
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O6 -fomit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O6
     -fomit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-low-memory'

SunOS 5.6 sun4u with `egcs' 2.90.27
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O6 -fomit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O6
     -fomit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-low-memory'

SunOS 5.6 i86pc with `gcc' 2.8.1
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-low-memory'

Linux 2.0.33 i386 with `pgcc' 2.90.29 (`egcs' 1.0.3a)
     `CFLAGS="-O6 -mpentium -mstack-align-double -fomit-frame-pointer"
     CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O6 -mpentium -mstack-align-double
     -fomit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --enable-assembler --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static'

SCO 3.2v5.0.4 i386 with `gcc' 2.7-95q4
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql'

AIX 2 4 with `gcc' 2.7.2.2
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql'

OSF1 V4.0 564 alpha with `gcc' 2.8.1
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS=-O CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-low-memory'

Irix 6.3 IP32 with `gcc' 2.8.0
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql'

BSDI BSD/OS 3.1 i386 with `gcc' 2.7.2.1
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql'

BSDI BSD/OS 2.1 i386 with `gcc' 2.7.2
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql'

Anyone who has more optimal options for any of the configurations listed
above can always mail them to the developer's mailing list at
<developer@lists.mysql.com>.

RPM distributions prior to *MySQL* 3.22 are user-contributed.
Beginning with 3.22, some RPMs are TcX-generated.

Post-installation setup and testing
===================================

Once you've installed *MySQL* (from either a binary or source
distribution), you need to initialize the grant tables, start the server
and make sure that the server works okay.  You may also wish to arrange
for the server to be started and stopped automatically when your system
starts up and shuts down.

Normally you install the grant tables and start the server like this
for installation from a source distribution:

     shell> ./scripts/mysql_install_db
     shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
     shell> ./bin/safe_mysqld &

For a binary distribution, do this:

     shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
     shell> ./bin/mysql_install_db
     shell> ./bin/safe_mysqld &

Testing is most easily done from the top-level directory of the *MySQL*
distribution.  For a binary distribution, this is your installation
directory (typically something like `/usr/local/mysql').  For a source
distribution, this is the main directory of your *MySQL* source tree.

In the commands shown below in this section and in the following
subsections, `BINDIR' is the path to the location in which programs
like `mysqladmin' and `safe_mysqld' are installed.  For a binary
distribution, this is the `bin' directory within the distribution.  For
a source distribution, `BINDIR' is probably `/usr/local/bin', unless
you specified an installation directory other than `/usr/local' when
you ran `configure'.  `EXECDIR' is the location in which the `mysqld'
server is installed.  For a binary distribution, this is the same as
`BINDIR'.  For a source distribution, `EXECDIR' is probably
`/usr/local/libexec'.

Testing is described in detail below:

  1. If necessary, start the `mysqld' server and set up the initial
     *MySQL* grant tables containing the privileges that determine how
     users are allowed to connect to the server.  This is normally done
     with the `mysql_install_db' script:

          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db

     Typically, `mysql_install_db' needs to be run only the first time
     you install *MySQL*.  Therefore, if you are upgrading an existing
     installation, you can skip this step. (However, `mysql_install_db'
     is quite safe to use and will not update any tables that already
     exist, so if you are unsure what to do, you can always run
     `mysql_install_db'.)

     `mysql_install_db' creates six tables (`user', `db', `host',
     `tables_priv', `columns_priv' and `func') in the `mysql' database.
     A description of the initial privileges is given in *Note Default
     privileges::.  Briefly, these privileges allow the *MySQL* `root'
     user to do anything, and allow anybody to create or use databases
     with a name of `'test'' or starting with `'test_''.

     If you don't set up the grant tables, the following error will
     appear in the log file when you start the server:

          mysqld: Can't find file: 'host.frm'

     The above may also happens with a binary *MySQL* distribution if
     you don't start *MySQL* by executing exactly `./bin/safe_mysqld'!

     You might need to run `mysql_install_db' as `root'.  However, if
     you prefer, you can run the *MySQL* server as an unprivileged
     (non-`root') user, provided that user can read and write files in
     the database directory.  Instructions for running *MySQL* as an
     unprivileged user are given in *Note Changing *MySQL* user:
     Changing MySQL user.

     If you have problems with `mysql_install_db', see *Note
     `mysql_install_db': mysql_install_db.

     There are some alternatives to running the `mysql_install_db'
     script as it is provided in the *MySQL* distribution:

        * You may want to edit `mysql_install_db' before running it, to
          change the initial privileges that are installed into the
          grant tables.  This is useful if you want to install *MySQL*
          on a lot of machines with the same privileges.  In this case
          you probably should need only to add a few extra `INSERT'
          statements to the `mysql.user' and `mysql.db' tables!

        * If you want to change things in the grant tables after
          installing them, you can run `mysql_install_db', then use
          `mysql -u root mysql' to connect to the grant tables as the
          *MySQL* `root' user and issue SQL statements to modify the
          grant tables directly.

        * It is possible to recreate the grant tables completely after
          they have already been created.  You might want to do this if
          you've already installed the tables but then want to recreate
          them after editing `mysql_install_db'.

     For more information about these alternatives, see *Note Default
     privileges::.

  2. Start the *MySQL* server like this:
          shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
          shell> bin/safe_mysqld &
     If you have problems starting the server, see *Note Starting
     server::.

  3. Use `mysqladmin' to verify that the server is running.  The
     following commands provide a simple test to check that the server
     is up and responding to connections:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin version
          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin variables

     The output from `mysqladmin version' varies slightly depending on
     your platform and version of *MySQL*, but should be similar to
     that shown below:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin version
          mysqladmin  Ver 6.3 Distrib 3.22.9-beta, for pc-linux-gnu on i686
          TCX Datakonsult AB, by Monty
          
          Server version          3.22.9-beta
          Protocol version        10
          Connection              Localhost via UNIX socket
          TCP port                3306
          UNIX socket             /tmp/mysql.sock
          Uptime:                 16 sec
          
          Running threads: 1  Questions: 20  Reloads: 2  Open tables: 3

     To get a feeling for what else you can do with `BINDIR/mysqladmin',
     invoke it with the `--help' option.

  4. Verify that you can shut down the server:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin -u root shutdown

  5. Verify that you can restart the server.  Do this using
     `safe_mysqld' or by invoking `mysqld' directly.  For example:

          shell> BINDIR/safe_mysqld --log &

     If `safe_mysqld' fails, try running it from the *MySQL*
     installation directory (if you are not already there).  If that
     doesn't work, see *Note Starting server::.

  6. Run some simple tests to verify that the server is working.  The
     output should be similar to what is shown below:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqlshow
          +-----------+
          | Databases |
          +-----------+
          | mysql     |
          +-----------+
          
          shell> BINDIR/mysqlshow mysql
          Database: mysql
          +--------------+
          |    Tables    |
          +--------------+
          | columns_priv |
          | db           |
          | func         |
          | host         |
          | tables_priv  |
          | user         |
          +--------------+
          
          shell> BINDIR/mysql -e "select host,db,user from db" mysql
          +------+--------+------+
          | host | db     | user |
          +------+--------+------+
          | %    | test   |      |
          | %    | test_% |      |
          +------+--------+------+

     There is also a benchmark suite in the `sql-bench' directory
     (under the *MySQL* installation directory) that you can use to
     compare how *MySQL* performs on different platforms. The
     `sql-bench/Results' directory contains the results from many runs
     against different databases and platforms.  To run all tests,
     execute these commands:

          shell> cd sql-bench
          shell> run-all-tests

     If you don't have the `sql-bench' directory, you are probably
     using an RPM for a binary distribution.  (Source distribution RPMs
     include the benchmark directory.) In this case, you must first
     install the benchmark suite before you can use it.  Beginning with
     *MySQL* 3.22, there are benchmark RPM files named
     `mysql-bench-VERSION-i386.rpm' that contain benchmark code and
     data.

     If you have a source distribution, you can also run the tests in
     the `tests' subdirectory. For example, to run
     `auto_increment.tst', do this:

          shell> BINDIR/mysql -vvf test < ./tests/auto_increment.tst

     The expected results are shown in the `./tests/auto_increment.res'
     file.

Problems running `mysql_install_db'
-----------------------------------

This section lists problems you might encounter when you run
`mysql_install_db':

*`mysql_install_db' doesn't install the grant tables*
     You may find that `mysql_install_db' fails to install the grant
     tables and terminates after displaying the following messages:

          starting mysqld daemon with databases from XXXXXX
          mysql daemon ended

     In this case, you should examine the log file very carefully!  The
     log should be located in the directory `XXXXXX' named by the error
     message, and should indicate why `mysqld' didn't start.  If you
     don't understand what happened, include the log when you post a
     bug report using `mysqlbug'!  *Note Bug reports::.

*There is already a `mysqld' daemon running*
     In this case, you have probably don't have to run
     `mysql_install_db' at all.  You have to run `mysql_install_db'
     only once, when you install *MySQL* the first time.

*Installing a second `mysqld' daemon doesn't work when one daemon is running*
     This can happen when you already have an existing *MySQL*
     installation, but want to put a new installation in a different
     place (e.g., for testing, or perhaps you simply want to run two
     installations at the same time).  Generally the problem that
     occurs when you try to run the second server is that it tries to
     use the same socket and port as the old one.  In this case you
     will get the error message: `Can't start server: Bind on TCP/IP
     port: Address already in use' or `Can't start server : Bind on
     unix socket...'  You can start the new server with a different
     socket and port as follows:

          shell> MYSQL_UNIX_PORT=/tmp/mysqld-new.sock
          shell> MYSQL_TCP_PORT=3307
          shell> export MYSQL_UNIX_PORT MYSQL_TCP_PORT
          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
          shell> bin/safe_mysqld &

     After this, you should edit your server boot script to start both
     daemons with different sockets and ports.  For example, it could
     invoke `safe_mysqld' twice, but with different `--socket', `--port'
     and `--basedir' options for each invocation.

*You don't have write access to `/tmp'*
     If you don't have write access to create a socket file at the
     default place (in `/tmp') or permission to create temporary files
     in `/tmp,' you will get an error when running `mysql_install_db'
     or when starting or using `mysqld'.

     You can specify a different socket and temporary directory as
     follows:

          shell> TMPDIR=/some_tmp_dir/
          shell> MYSQL_UNIX_PORT=/some_tmp_dir/mysqld.sock
          shell> export TMPDIR MYSQL_UNIX_PORT

     `some_tmp_dir' should be the path to some directory for which you
     have write permission.

     After this you should be able to run `mysql_install_db' and start
     the server with these commands:

          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
          shell> BINDIR/safe_mysqld &

*`mysqld' crashes immediately*
     If you are running RedHat 5.0 with a version of `glibc' older than
     2.0.7-5, you should make sure you have installed all `glibc'
     patches!  There is a lot of information about this in the *MySQL*
     mail archives.  Links to the mail archives are available at the
     online *MySQL* documentation page (http://www.mysql.com/doc.html).
     Also, see *Note Linux::.

     You can also start `mysqld' manually using the
     `--skip-grant-tables' option and add the privilege information
     yourself using `mysql':

          shell> BINDIR/safe_mysqld --skip-grant-tables &
          shell> BINDIR/mysql -u root mysql

     From `mysql', manually execute the SQL commands in
     `mysql_install_db'.  Make sure you run `mysqladmin
     flush-privileges' or `mysqladmin reload' afterward to tell the
     server to reload the grant tables.

Problems starting the MySQL server
----------------------------------

Generally, you start the `mysqld' server in one of three ways:

   * By invoking `mysql.server'.  This script is used primarily at
     system startup and shutdown, and is described more fully in *Note
     Automatic start::.

   * By invoking `safe_mysqld', which tries to determine the proper
     options for `mysqld' and then runs it with those options.

   * On NT you should install `mysqld' as a service as follows:
          bin\mysqld-nt --install               # Install MySQL as a service

     You can now start/stop `mysqld' as follows:
          NET START mysql
          NET STOP mysql

     Note that in this case you can't use any other options for
     `mysqld'!

     You can remove the service as follows:
          bin\mysqld-nt --remove                # remove MySQL as a service

   * By invoking `mysqld' directly.

Whichever method you use to start the server, if it fails to start up
correctly, check the log file to see if you can find out why.  Log files
are located in the data directory (typically `/usr/local/mysql/data'
for a binary distribution, `/usr/local/var' for a source distribution),
`\mysql\mysql.err' on Windows.  Look in the data directory for files
with names of the form `host_name.err' and `host_name.log' where
`host_name' is the name of your server host.  Then check the last few
lines of these files:

     shell> tail host_name.err
     shell> tail host_name.log

When the `mysqld' daemon starts up, it changes directory to the data
directory.  This is where it expects to write log files and the pid
(process ID) file, and where it expects to find databases.

The data directory location is hardwired in when the distribution is
compiled.  However, if `mysqld' expects to find the data directory
somewhere other than where it really is on your system, it will not work
properly.  If you have problems with incorrect paths, you can find out
what options `mysqld' allows and what the default path settings are by
invoking `mysqld' with the `--help' option.  You can override the
defaults by specifying the correct pathnames as command-line arguments
to `mysqld'.  (These options can be used with `safe_mysqld' as well.)

Normally you should need to tell `mysqld' only the base directory under
which *MySQL* is installed.  You can do this with the `--basedir'
option.  You can also use `--help' to check the effect of changing path
options (note that `--help' *must* be the final option of the `mysqld'
command).  For example:

     shell> EXECDIR/mysqld --basedir=/usr/local --help

Once you determine the path settings you want, start the server without
the `--help' option.

If you get the following error, it means that some other program (or
another `mysqld' server) is already using the TCP/IP port or socket
`mysqld' is trying to use:

     Can't start server: Bind on TCP/IP port: Address already in use
       or
     Can't start server : Bind on unix socket...

Use `ps' to make sure that you don't have another `mysqld' server
running.  If you can't find another server running, you can try to
execute the command `telnet your-host-name tcp-ip-port-number' and press
`RETURN' a couple of times.  If you don't get a error message like
`telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused',
something is using the TCP/IP port `mysqld' is trying to use.  *Note
`mysql_install_db': mysql_install_db, and *Note Multiple servers::.

The `safe_mysqld' script is written so that it normally is able to start
a server that was installed from either a source or a binary version of
*MySQL*, even if these install the server in slightly different
locations.  `safe_mysqld' expects one of these conditions to be true:

   * The server and databases can be found relative to the directory
     from which `safe_mysqld' is invoked.  `safe_mysqld' looks under
     its working directory for `bin' and `data' directories (for binary
     distributions) or for `libexec' and `var' directories (for source
     distributions).  This condition should be met if you execute
     `safe_mysqld' from your *MySQL* installation directory (for
     example, `/usr/local/mysql' for a binary distribution).

   * If the server and databases cannot be found relative to its
     working directory, `safe_mysqld' attempts to locate them by
     absolute pathnames.  Typical locations are `/usr/local/libexec'
     and `/usr/local/var'.  The actual locations are determined when
     the distribution was built from which `safe_mysqld' comes.  They
     should be correct if *MySQL* was installed in a standard location.

Since `safe_mysqld' will try to find the server and databases relative
to its own working directory, you can install a binary distribution of
*MySQL* anywhere, as long as you start `safe_mysqld' from the *MySQL*
installation directory:

     shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
     shell> bin/safe_mysqld &

If `safe_mysqld' fails, even when invoked from the *MySQL* installation
directory, you can modify it to use the path to `mysqld' and the
pathname options that are correct for your system.  Note that if you
upgrade *MySQL* in the future, your modified version of `safe_mysqld'
will be overwritten, so you should make a copy of your edited version
that you can reinstall.

If `mysqld' is currently running, you can find out what path settings
it is using by executing this command:

     shell> mysqladmin variables
     
     or
     
     shell> mysqladmin -h 'your-host-name' variables

If `safe_mysqld' starts the server but you can't connect to it, you
should make sure you have an entry in `/etc/hosts' that looks like this:

     127.0.0.1       localhost

This problem occurs only on systems that don't have a working thread
library and for which *MySQL* must be configured to use MIT-pthreads.

On Windows, you can try to start `mysqld' as follows:

     C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --standalone --debug

This will not run in the background and it should also write a trace in
`\mysqld.trace', which may help you determine the source of your
problems. *Note Win32::.

Starting and stopping MySQL automatically
-----------------------------------------

The `mysql.server' script can be used to start or stop the server, by
invoking it with `start' or `stop' arguments:

     shell> mysql.server start
     shell> mysql.server stop

`mysql.server' can be found in the `share/mysql' directory under the
*MySQL* installation directory, or in the `support-files' directory of
the *MySQL* source tree.

Before `mysql.server' starts the server, it changes directory to the
*MySQL* installation directory, then invokes `safe_mysqld'.  You might
need to edit `mysql.server' if you have a binary distribution that
you've installed in a non-standard location.  Modify it to `cd' into
the proper directory before it runs `safe_mysqld'. If you want the
server to run as some specific user, you can change the
`mysql_daemon_user=root' line to use another user.  You can also modify
`mysql.server' to pass other options to `safe_mysqld'.

`mysql.server stop' brings down server by sending a signal to it.  You
can take down the server manually by executing `mysqladmin shutdown'.

You might want to add these start and stop commands to the appropriate
places in your `/etc/rc*' files when you start using *MySQL* for
production applications.  Note that if you modify `mysql.server', then
if you upgrade *MySQL* sometime, your modified version will be
overwritten, so you should make a copy of your edited version that you
can reinstall.

If your system uses `/etc/rc.local' to start external scripts, you
should append the following to it:
     /bin/sh -c 'cd /usr/local/mysql ; ./bin/safe_mysqld &'

You can also add options for `mysql.server' in a global `/etc/my.cnf'
file.  A typical `/etc/my.cnf' file might look like this:

     [mysqld]
     datadir=/usr/local/mysql/var
     socket=/tmp/mysqld.sock
     port=3306
     
     [mysql.server]
     user=mysql
     basedir=/usr/local/mysql

The `mysql.server' script uses the following variables: `user',
`datadir', `basedir', `bindir' and `pid-file'.

*Note Option files::.

Option files
------------

*MySQL* 3.22 can read default startup options for the server and for
clients from option files.

*MySQL* reads default options from the following files on Unix:

*Filename*             *Purpose*                                          
`/etc/my.cnf'          Global options                                     
`DATADIR/my.cnf'       Server-specific options                            
`~/.my.cnf'            User-specific options                              

`DATADIR' is the *MySQL* data directory (typically
`/usr/local/mysql/data' for a binary installation, or `/usr/local/var'
for a source installation).  Note that this is the directory that was
specified at configuration time, not the one specified with `--datadir'
when `mysqld' starts up!  (`--datadir' has no effect on where the
server looks for option files, because it looks for them before it
processes any command-line arguments.)

*MySQL* reads default options from the following files on Win32:

*Filename*             *Purpose*                                          
`windows-system-directory\my.ini'                                                   
`C:\my.cnf'            Global options                                     
`C:\mysql\data\my.cnf' Server-specific options                            

Note that you on Win32 should specify all paths with `/' instead of
`\'. If you use `\', you need to specify this twice, as `\' is the
escape character in *MySQL*.

*MySQL* tries to read option files in the order listed above.  If
multiple option files exist, an option specified in a file read later
takes precedence over the same option specified in a file read earlier.
Options specified on the command line take precedence over options
specified in any option file.  Some options can be specified using
environment variables.  Options specified on the command line or in
option files take precedence over environment variable values.

The following programs support option files:  `mysql', `mysqladmin',
`mysqld', `mysqldump', `mysqlimport', `mysql.server', `myisamchk' and
`myisampack'.

You can use option files to specify any long option that a program
supports!  Run the program with `--help' to get a list of available
options.

An option file can contain lines of the following forms:

`#comment'
     Comment lines start with `#' or `;'. Empty lines are ignored.

`[group]'
     `group' is the name of the program or group for which you want to
     set options.  After a group line, any `option' or `set-variable'
     lines apply to the named group until the end of the option file or
     another group line is given.

`option'
     This is equivalent to `--option' on the command line.

`option=value'
     This is equivalent to `--option=value' on the command line.

`set-variable = variable=value'
     This is equivalent to `--set-variable variable=value' on the
     command line.  This syntax must be used to set a `mysqld' variable.

The `client' group allows you to specify options that apply to all
*MySQL* clients (not `mysqld'). This is the perfect group to use to
specify the password you use to connect to the server.  (But make sure
the option file is readable and writable only to yourself.)

Note that for options and values, all leading and trailing blanks are
automatically deleted.  You may use the escape sequences `\b', `\t',
`\n', `\r', `\\' and `\s' in your value string (`\s' == blank).

Here is a typical global option file:

     [client]
     port=3306
     socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
     
     [mysqld]
     port=3306
     socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
     set-variable = key_buffer=16M
     set-variable = max_allowed_packet=1M
     
     [mysqldump]
     quick

Here is typical user option file:

     [client]
     # The following password will be sent to all standard MySQL clients
     password=my_password
     
     [mysql]
     no-auto-rehash

If you have a source distribution, you will find a sample configuration
file named `my-example.cnf' in the `support-files' directory.  If you
have a binary distribution, look in the `DIR/share/mysql' directory,
where `DIR' is the pathname to the *MySQL* installation directory
(typically `/usr/local/mysql'). You can copy `my-example.cnf' to your
home directory (rename the copy to `.my.cnf') to experiment with.

To tell a *MySQL* program not to read any option files, specify
`--no-defaults' as the first option on the command line.  This *MUST*
be the first option or it will have no effect!  If you want to check
which options are used, you can give the option `--print-defaults' as
the first option.

If you want to force the use of a specific config file, you can use the
option `--defaults-file=full-path-to-default-file'. If you do this,
only the specified file will be read.

Note for developers:  Option file handling is implemented simply by
processing all matching options (i.e., options in the appropriate group)
before any command line arguments. This works nicely for programs that
use the last instance of an option that is specified multiple times. If
you have an old program that handles multiply-specified options this
way but doesn't read option files, you need add only two lines to give
it that capability.  Check the source code of any of the standard
*MySQL* clients to see how to do this.

Is there anything special to do when upgrading/downgrading MySQL?
=================================================================

You can always move the *MySQL* form and data files between different
versions on the same architecture as long as you have the same base
version of *MySQL*. The current base version is 3. If you change the
character set by recompiling *MySQL* (which may also change the sort
order), you must run `myisamchk -r -q' on all tables.  Otherwise your
indexes may not be ordered correctly.

If you are paranoid and/or afraid of new versions, you can always
rename your old `mysqld' to something like
`mysqld'-'old-version-number'.  If your new `mysqld' then does
something unexpected, you can simply shut it down and restart with your
old `mysqld'!

When you do an upgrade you should also backup your old databases, of
course.  Sometimes it's good to be a little paranoid!

After an upgrade, if you experience problems with recompiled client
programs, like `Commands out of sync' or unexpected core dumps, you
probably have used an old header or library file when compiling your
programs.  In this case you should check the date for your `mysql.h'
file and `libmysqlclient.a' library to verify that they are from the new
*MySQL* distribution.  If not, please recompile your programs!

If you get some problems that the new `mysqld' server doesn't want to
start or that you can't connect without a password, check that you don't
have some old `my.cnf' file from your old installation!  You can check
this with: `program-name --print-defaults'.  If this outputs anything
other than the program name, you have a active `my.cnf' file that will
may affect things!

It is a good idea to rebuild and reinstall the `Msql-Mysql-modules'
distribution whenever you install a new release of *MySQL*,
particularly if you notice symptoms such as all your `DBI' scripts
dumping core after you upgrade *MySQL*.

Upgrading from a 3.22 version to 3.23
-------------------------------------

*MySQL* 3.23 supports tables of the new `MyISAM' type and the old
`ISAM' type.  You don't have to convert your old tables to use these
with 3.23.  By default, all new tables will be created with type
`MyISAM' (unless you start `mysqld' with the
`--default-table-type=isam' option. You can change an `ISAM' table to a
`MyISAM' table with `ALTER TABLE' or the Perl script
`mysql_convert_table_format'.

3.22 and 3.21 clients will work without any problems with a 3.23 server.

The following lists what you have to watch out for when upgrading to
3.23:

   * `INNER' and `DELAYED' are now reserved words.

   * `FLOAT(X)' is now a true floating point types.

   * When declaring `DECIMAL(length,dec)' the length argument no longer
     includes a place for the sign or the decimal point.

   * A `TIME' string must now be of one of the following formats:
     `[[[DAYS] [H]H:]MM:]SS[.fraction]' or
     `[[[[[H]H]H]H]MM]SS[.fraction]'

   * `LIKE' now compares strings using the same character comparison
     rules as `'=''.  If you require the old behavior, you can compile
     *MySQL* with the `CXXFLAGS=-DLIKE_CMP_TOUPPER' flag.

   * `REGEXP' is now case insensitive for normal (not binary) strings.

   * When you check/repair tables you should use `myisamchk' for
     `MyISAM' tables (`.MYI') and `isamchk' for ISAM (`.ISM') tables.

   * If you want your `mysqldump's to be compatible between *MySQL*
     3.22 and 3.23, you should not use the `--opt' or `--full' option
     to `mysqldump'.

   * Check all your calls to `DATE_FORMAT()' to make sure there is a `%'
     before each format character.

   * `mysql_fetch_fields_direct' is now a function (it was a macro) and
     it returns a pointer to a `MYSQL_FIELD' instead of a `MYSQL_FIELD'.

   * `mysql_num_fields()' can no longer be used on a `MYSQL*' object
     (it's now a function that takes `MYSQL_RES*' as an argument. You
     should now use `mysql_field_count()' instead.

   * In `MySQL' 3.22, the output of `SELECT DISTINCT ...' was almost
     always sorted.  In 3.23, you must use `GROUP BY' or `ORDER BY' to
     obtain sorted output.

   * `SUM()' now returns `NULL', instead of 0, if there is no matching
     rows. This is according to ANSI SQL.

   * New restricted words: `CASE, THEN, WHEN, ELSE and END'

Upgrading from a 3.21 version to 3.22
-------------------------------------

Nothing that affects compatibility has changed between 3.21 and 3.22.
The only pitfall is that new tables that are created with `DATE' type
columns will use the new way to store the date. You can't access these
new fields from an old version of `mysqld'.

After installing *MySQL* 3.22, you should start the new server and then
run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script. This will add the new
privileges that you need to use the `GRANT' command.  If you forget
this, you will get `Access denied' when you try to use `ALTER TABLE',
`CREATE INDEX' or `DROP INDEX'. If your *MySQL* root user requires a
password, you should give this as an argument to
`mysql_fix_privilege_tables'.

The C API interface to `mysql_real_connect()' has changed.  If you have
an old client program that calls this function, you must place a `0' for
the new `db' argument (or recode the client to send the `db' element
for faster connections).  You must also call `mysql_init()' before
calling `mysql_real_connect()'!  This change was done to allow the new
`mysql_options()' function to save options in the `MYSQL' handler
structure.

Upgrading from a 3.20 version to 3.21
-------------------------------------

If you are running a version older than 3.20.28 and want to switch to
3.21.x, you need to do the following:

You can start the `mysqld' 3.21 server with `safe_mysqld
--old-protocol' to use it with clients from the 3.20 distribution.  In
this case, the new client function `mysql_errno()' will not return any
server error, only `CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR', (but it works for client errors)
and the server uses the old password() checking rather than the new one.

If you are *NOT* using the `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld', you
will need to make the following changes:

   * All client code must be recompiled. If you are using ODBC, you
     must get the new *MyODBC* 2.x driver.

   * The script `scripts/add_long_password' must be run to convert the
     `Password' field in the `mysql.user' table to `CHAR(16)'.

   * All passwords must be reassigned in the `mysql.user' table (to get
     62-bit rather than 31-bit passwords).

   * The table format hasn't changed, so you don't have to convert any
     tables.

*MySQL* 3.20.28 and above can handle the new `user' table format
without affecting clients. If you have a *MySQL* version earlier than
3.20.28, passwords will no longer work with it if you convert the `user'
table. So to be safe, you should first upgrade to at least 3.20.28 and
then upgrade to 3.21.x.

The new client code works with a 3.20.x `mysqld' server, so if you
experience problems with 3.21.x, you can use the old 3.20.x server
without having to recompile the clients again.

If you are not using the `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld', old
clients will issue the error message:

     ERROR: Protocol mismatch. Server Version = 10 Client Version = 9

The new Perl `DBI'/`DBD' interface also supports the old `mysqlperl'
interface.  The only change you have to make if you use `mysqlperl' is
to change the arguments to the `connect()' function.  The new arguments
are: `host', `database', `user', `password' (the `user' and `password'
arguments have changed places).  *Note Perl `DBI' Class: Perl DBI Class.

The following changes may affect queries in old applications:

   * `HAVING' must now be specified before any `ORDER BY' clause.

   * The parameters to `LOCATE()' have been swapped.

   * There are some new reserved words. The most notable are `DATE',
     `TIME' and `TIMESTAMP'.

Upgrading to another architecture
---------------------------------

If you are using *MySQL* 3.23, you can copy the `.frm', the `.MYI' and
the `.MYD' files between different architectures that support the same
floating point format.  (*MySQL* takes care of any byte swapping
issues).

The *MySQL* `ISAM' data `*.ISD' and the index files `*.ISM' files) are
architecture-dependent and in some case OS-dependent.  If you want to
move your applications to another machine that has a different
architecture or OS than your current machine, you should not try to
move a database by simply copying the files to the other machine. Use
`mysqldump' instead.

By default, `mysqldump' will create a file full of SQL statements.  You
can then transfer the file to the other machine and feed it as input to
the `mysql' client.

Try `mysqldump --help' to see what options are available.  If you are
moving the data to a newer version of *MySQL*, you should use
`mysqldump --opt' with the newer version to get a fast, compact dump.

The easiest (although not the fastest) way to move a database between
two machines is to run the following commands on the machine on which
the database is located:

     shell> mysqladmin -h 'other hostname' create db_name
     shell> mysqldump --opt db_name \
             | mysql -h 'other hostname' db_name

If you want to copy a database from a remote machine over a slow
network, you can use:

     shell> mysqladmin create db_name
     shell> mysqldump -h 'other hostname' --opt --compress db_name \
             | mysql db_name

You can also store the result in a file, then transfer the file to the
target machine and load the file into the database there.  For example,
you can dump a database to a file on the source machine like this:

     shell> mysqldump --quick db_name | gzip > db_name.contents.gz

(The file created in this example is compressed.) Transfer the file
containing the database contents to the target machine and run these
commands there:

     shell> mysqladmin create db_name
     shell> gunzip < db_name.contents.gz | mysql db_name

You can also use `mysqldump' and `mysqlimport' to accomplish the
database transfer.  For big tables, this is much faster than simply
using `mysqldump'.  In the commands shown below, `DUMPDIR' represents
the full pathname of the directory you use to store the output from
`mysqldump'.

First, create the directory for the output files and dump the database:

     shell> mkdir DUMPDIR
     shell> mysqldump --tab=DUMPDIR db_name

Then transfer the files in the `DUMPDIR' directory to some corresponding
directory on the target machine and load the files into *MySQL* there:

     shell> mysqladmin create db_name           # create database
     shell> cat DUMPDIR/*.sql | mysql db_name   # create tables in database
     shell> mysqlimport db_name DUMPDIR/*.txt   # load data into tables

Also, don't forget to copy the `mysql' database, since that's where the
grant tables (`user', `db', `host') are stored.  You may have to run
commands as the *MySQL* `root' user on the new machine until you have
the `mysql' database in place.

After you import the `mysql' database on the new machine, execute
`mysqladmin flush-privileges' so that the server reloads the grant table
information.

How standards-compatible is MySQL?
**********************************

MySQL extensions to ANSI SQL92
==============================

*MySQL* includes some extensions that you probably will not find in
other SQL databases.  Be warned that if you use them, your code will
not be portable to other SQL servers.  In some cases, you can write
code that includes *MySQL* extensions, but is still portable, by using
comments of the form `/*! ... */'.  In this case, *MySQL* will parse and
execute the code within the comment as it would any other *MySQL*
statement, but other SQL servers will ignore the extensions.  For
example:

     SELECT /*! STRAIGHT_JOIN */ col_name FROM table1,table2 WHERE ...

If you add a version number after the `'!'', the syntax will only be
executed if the *MySQL* version is equal or newer than the used version
number:

     CREATE /*!32302 TEMPORARY */ TABLE (a int);

The above means that if you have 3.23.02 or newer, then *MySQL* will use
the `TEMPORARY' keyword.

*MySQL* extensions are listed below:

   * The field types `MEDIUMINT', `SET', `ENUM' and the different
     `BLOB' and `TEXT' types.

   * The field attributes `AUTO_INCREMENT', `BINARY', `UNSIGNED' and
     `ZEROFILL'.

   * All string comparisons are case insensitive by default, with sort
     ordering determined by the current character set (ISO-8859-1
     Latin1 by default).  If you don't like this, you should declare
     your columns with the `BINARY' attribute or use the `BINARY' cast,
     which causes comparisons to be done according to the ASCII order
     used on the *MySQL* server host.

   * *MySQL* maps each database to a directory under the *MySQL* data
     directory, and tables within a database to filenames in the
     database directory.  This has two implications:

        - Database names and table names are case sensitive in *MySQL*
          on operating systems that have case sensitive filenames (like
          most Unix systems). If you have a problem remembering table
          names, adopt a consistent convention, such as always creating
          databases and tables using lowercase names.

        - Database, table, index, column or alias names may begin with
          a digit (but may not consist solely of digits).

        - You can use standard system commands to backup, rename, move,
          delete and copy tables.  For example, to rename a table,
          rename the `.MYD', `.MYI' and `.frm' files to which the table
          corresponds.

   * In SQL statements, you can access tables from different databases
     with the `db_name.tbl_name' syntax.  Some SQL servers provide the
     same functionality but call this `User space'.  *MySQL* dosen't
     support tablespaces like in: `create table ralph.my_table...IN
     my_tablespace'.

   * `LIKE' is allowed on numeric columns.

   * Use of `INTO OUTFILE' and `STRAIGHT_JOIN' in a `SELECT' statement.
     *Note `SELECT': SELECT.

   * The `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' option in a `SELECT' statement.

   * `EXPLAIN SELECT' to get a description on how tables are joined.

   * Use of index names, indexes on a prefix of a field, and use of
     `INDEX' or `KEY' in a `CREATE TABLE' statement. *Note `CREATE
     TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

   * Use of `TEMPORARY' or `IF NOT EXISTS' with `CREATE TABLE'.

   * Use of `COUNT(DISTINCT list)' where 'list' is more than one
     element.

   * Use of `CHANGE col_name', `DROP col_name' or `DROP INDEX' in an
     `ALTER TABLE' statement. *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

   * Use of `IGNORE' in an `ALTER TABLE' statement.

   * Use of multiple `ADD', `ALTER', `DROP' or `CHANGE' clauses in an
     `ALTER TABLE' statement.

   * Use of `DROP TABLE' with the keywords `IF EXISTS'.

   * You can drop multiple tables with a single `DROP TABLE' statement.

   * The `LIMIT' clause of the `DELETE' statement.

   * The `DELAYED' clause of the `INSERT' and `REPLACE' statements.

   * The `LOW_PRIORITY' clause of the `INSERT', `REPLACE', `DELETE' and
     `UPDATE' statements.

   * Use of `LOAD DATA INFILE'. In many cases, this syntax is
     compatible with Oracle's `LOAD DATA INFILE'. *Note `LOAD DATA':
     LOAD DATA.

   * The `OPTIMIZE TABLE' statement.  *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE': OPTIMIZE
     TABLE.

   * The `SHOW' statement.  *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

   * Strings may be enclosed by either `"' or `'', not just by `''.

   * Use of the escape `\' character.

   * The `SET OPTION' statement. *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

   * You don't need to name all selected columns in the `GROUP BY' part.
     This gives better performance for some very specific, but quite
     normal queries.  *Note Group by functions::.

   * To make it easier for users that come from other SQL environments,
     *MySQL* supports aliases for many functions. For example, all
     string functions support both ANSI SQL syntax and ODBC syntax.

   * *MySQL* understands the `||' and `&&' operators to mean logical OR
     and AND, as in the C programming language.  In *MySQL*, `||' and
     `OR' are synonyms, as are `&&' and `AND'.  Because of this nice
     syntax, *MySQL* doesn't support the ANSI SQL `||' operator for
     string concatenation; use `CONCAT()' instead. Since `CONCAT()'
     takes any number of arguments, it's easy to convert use of the
     `||' operator to *MySQL*.

   * `CREATE DATABASE' or `DROP DATABASE'.  *Note `CREATE DATABASE':
     CREATE DATABASE.

   * The `%' operator is a synonym for `MOD()'.  That is, `N % M' is
     equivalent to `MOD(N,M)'.  `%' is supported for C programmers and
     for compatibility with PostgreSQL.

   * The `=', `<>', `<=' ,`<', `>=',`>', `<<', `>>', `<=>', `AND', `OR'
     or `LIKE' operators may be used in column comparisons to the left
     of the `FROM' in `SELECT' statements.  For example:

          mysql> SELECT col1=1 AND col2=2 FROM tbl_name;

   * The `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function.  *Note `mysql_insert_id()':
     mysql_insert_id.

   * The `REGEXP' and `NOT REGEXP' extended regular expression
     operators.

   * `CONCAT()' or `CHAR()' with one argument or more than two
     arguments.  (In *MySQL*, these functions can take any number of
     arguments.)

   * The `BIT_COUNT()', `CASE', `ELT()', `FROM_DAYS()', `FORMAT()',
     `IF()', `PASSWORD()', `ENCRYPT()', `md5()', `ENCODE()', `DECODE()',
     `PERIOD_ADD()', `PERIOD_DIFF()', `TO_DAYS()', or `WEEKDAY()'
     functions.

   * Use of `TRIM()' to trim substrings. ANSI SQL only supports removal
     of single characters.

   * The `GROUP BY' functions `STD()', `BIT_OR()' and `BIT_AND()'.

   * Use of `REPLACE' instead of `DELETE' + `INSERT'.  *Note `REPLACE':
     REPLACE.

   * The `FLUSH flush_option' statement.

   * The possiblity to set variables in a statement with `:=':
          SELECT @a:=SUM(total),@b=COUNT(*),@a/@b AS avg FROM test_table;
          SELECT @t1:=(@t2:=1)+@t3:=4,@t1,@t2,@t3;

Runnning MySQL in ANSI mode
===========================

If you start mysqld with the `--ansi' option, the following behaviour
of *MySQL* changes.

   * `||' is string concatenation instead of `OR'.

   * One can have any number of spaces between a function name and the
     '('. This makes also all function names reserved words.

   * `"' will be a identifier quote character (like the *MySQL* ``'
     quote character) and not a string quote character.

   * `REAL' will be a synonym for `FLOAT' instead of a synonym of
     `DOUBLE'.

MySQL differences compared to ANSI SQL92
========================================

We try to make *MySQL* follow the ANSI SQL standard and the ODBC SQL
standard, but in some cases *MySQL* does some things differently:

   * `--' is only a comment if followed by a white space. *Note Missing
     comments::.

   * For `VARCHAR' columns, trailing spaces are removed when the value
     is stored. *Note Bugs::.

   * In some cases, `CHAR' columns are silently changed to `VARCHAR'
     columns. *Note Silent column changes::.

   * Privileges for a table is not automatically revoked when you
     delete a table. You must explicitly issue a `REVOKE' to revoke
     privileges for a table. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

   * `NULL AND FALSE' will evaluate to `NULL' and not to `FALSE'.  This
     is because we don't think it's good to have to evaluate a lot of
     extra conditions in this case.

Functionality missing from MySQL
================================

The following functionality is missing in the current version of
*MySQL*.  For a prioritized list indicating when new extensions may be
added to *MySQL*, you should consult
the online *MySQL* TODO list (http://www.mysql.com/Manual_chapter/manual_Todo.html). That is the latest version of the TODO list in this
manual. *Note TODO::.

Sub-selects
-----------

The following will not yet work in *MySQL*:

     SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE id IN (SELECT id FROM table2);
     SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE id NOT IN (SELECT id FROM table2);

However, in many cases you can rewrite the query without a sub select:

     SELECT table1.* FROM table1,table2 WHERE table1.id=table2.id;
     SELECT table1.* FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id where table2.id IS NULL

For more complicated subqueries you can often create temporary tables
to hold the subquery.  In some cases, however this option will not
work. The most frequently encountered of these cases arises with
`DELETE' statements, for which standard SQL does not support joins
(except in sub-selects).  For this situation there are two options
available until subqueries are supported by *MySQL*.

The first option is to use a procedural programming language (such as
Perl or PHP) to submit a `SELECT' query to obtain the primary keys for
the records to be deleted, and then use these values to construct the
`DELETE' statement (`DELETE FROM ... WHERE ... IN (key1, key2, ...)').

The second option is to use interactive SQL to contruct a set of
`DELETE' statements automatically, using the *MySQL* extension
`CONCAT()' (in lieu of the standard `||' operator).  For example:

     SELECT CONCAT('DELETE FROM tab1 WHERE pkid = ', tab1.pkid, ';')
       FROM tab1, tab2
      WHERE tab1.col1 = tab2.col2;

You can place this query in a script file and redirect input from it to
the `mysql' command-line interpreter, piping its output back to a
second instance of the interpreter:

     prompt> mysql --skip-column-names mydb < myscript.sql | mysql mydb

*MySQL* only supports `INSERT ... SELECT ...' and `REPLACE ... SELECT
...' Independent sub-selects will be probably be available in 3.24.0.
You can now use the function `IN()' in other contexts, however.

`SELECT INTO TABLE'
-------------------

*MySQL* doesn't yet support the Oracle SQL extension: `SELECT ... INTO
TABLE ...'.  *MySQL* supports instead the ANSI SQL syntax `INSERT INTO
... SELECT ...', which is basically the same thing.

Alternatively, you can use `SELECT INTO OUTFILE...' or `CREATE TABLE
... SELECT' to solve your problem.

Transactions
------------

The question is often asked, by the curious and the critical, "Why is
MySQl not a transactional database?" or "Why does MySQl not support
transactions."

*MySQL* has made a conscious decision to support another paradigm for
data integrity, "atomic operations." It is our thinking and experience
that atomic operations offer equal or even better integrity with much
better performance. We, nonetheless, appreciate and understand the
transactional database paradigm and plan, in the next few releases, on
introducing transaction safe tables on a per table basis. We will be
giving our users the possibility to decide if they need the speed of
atomic operations or if they need to use transactional features in their
applications.

How does one use the features of MySQl to maintain rigorous integrity
and how do these features compare with the transactional paradigm?

First, in the transactional paradigm, if your applications are written
in a way that is dependent on the calling of "rollback" instead of
"commit" in critical situations, then transactions are more convenient.
Moreover, transactions ensure that unfinished updates or corrupting
activities are not commited to the database; the server is given the
opportunity to do an automatic rollback and your database is saved.

*MySQL*, in almost all cases, allows you to solve for potential
problems by including simple checks before updates and by running simple
scripts that check the databases for inconsistencies and automatically
repair or warn if such occurs. Note that just by using the *MySQL* log
or even adding one extra log, one can normally fix tables perfectly
with no data integrity loss.

Moreover, "fatal" transactional updates can be rewritten to be atomic.
In fact,we will go so far as to say that all integrity problems that
transactions solve can be done with LOCK TABLES or atomic updates,
ensuring that you never will get an automatic abort from the database,
which is a common problem with transactional databases.

Not even transactions can prevent all loss if the server goes down.  In
such cases even a transactional system can lose data.  The difference
between different systems lies in just how small the time-lap is where
they could lose data. No system is 100 % secure, only "secure enough".
Even Oracle, reputed to be the safest of transactional databases, is
reported to sometimes lose data in such situations.

To be safe with *MySQL* you only need to have backups and have the
update logging turned on.  With this you can recover from any situation
that you could with any transactional database.  It is, of course,
always good to have backups, independent of which database you use.

The transactional paradigm has its benefits and its drawbacks. Many
users and application developers depend on the ease with which they can
code around problems where an "abort" appears or is necessary, and they
may have to do a little more work with *MySQL* to either think
differently or write more. If you are new to the atomic operations
paradigm, or more familiar or more comfortable with transactions, do not
jump to the conclusion that *MySQL* has not addressed these issues.
Reliability and integrity are foremost in our minds.  Recent estimates
are that there are more than 1,000,000 mysqld servers currently
running, many of which are in production environments.  We hear very,
very seldom from our users that they have lost any data, and in almost
all of those cases user error is involved. This is in our opinion the
best proof of *MySQL*'s stability and reliability.

Lastly, in situations where integrity is of highest importance,
*MySQL*'s current features allow for transaction-level or better
reliability and integrity. If you lock tables with LOCK TABLES, all
updates will stall until any integrity checks are made.  If you only do
a read lock (as opposed to a write lock), then reads and inserts are
still allowed to happen.  The new inserted records will not be seen by
any of the clients that have a READ lock until they relaease their read
locks.  With INSERT DELAYED you can queue insert into a local queue,
until the locks are released, without having to have the client to wait
for the insert to complete.

Atomic in the sense that we mean it is nothing magical, it only means
that you can be sure that while each specific update is running no other
user can interfere with it and that there will never be an automatic
rollback (which can happen on transaction based systems if you are not
very careful).  *MySQL* also guarantees that there will not be any
dirty reads.

We have thought quite a bit about integrity and performance and we
believe that our atomic operations paradigm allows for both high
reliability and extremely high performance, on the order of three to
five times the speed of the fastest and most optimally tuned of
transactional databases. We didn't leave out transactions because they
are hard to do; The main reason we went with atomic operations as
opposed to transactions is that by doing this we could apply many speed
optimizations that would not otherwise have been possible.

Many of our users who have speed foremost in their minds are not at all
concerned about transactions. For them transactions are not an issue.
For those of our users who are concerned with or have wondered about
transactions vis a vis *MySQL*, there is a "*MySQL* way" as we have
outlined above.

One final note: we are currently working on a safe replication schema
that we believe to be better than any commercial replication system we
know of. This system will work most reliably under the atomic
operations, non-transactional, paradigm. Stay tuned.

Stored procedures and triggers
------------------------------

A stored procedure is a set of SQL commands that can be compiled and
stored in the server. Once this has been done, clients don't need to
keep reissuing the entire query but can refer to the stored procedure.
This provides better performance because the query has to be parsed
only once and less information needs to be sent between the server and
the client. You can also raise the conceptual level by having libraries
of functions in the server.

A trigger is a stored procedure that is invoked when a particular event
occurs.  For example, you can install a stored procedure that is
triggered each time a record is deleted from a transaction table and
that automatically deletes the corresponding customer from a customer
table when all his transactions are deleted.

The planned update language will be able to handle stored procedures,
but without triggers. Triggers usually slow down everything, even
queries for which they are not needed.

To see when *MySQL* might get stored procedures, see *Note TODO::.

Foreign Keys
------------

Note that foreign keys in SQL are not used to join tables, but are used
mostly for checking referential integrity.  If you want to get results
from multiple tables from a `SELECT' statement, you do this by joining
tables!

     SELECT * from table1,table2 where table1.id = table2.id;
*Note `JOIN': JOIN. *Note example-Foreign keys::.

The `FOREIGN KEY' syntax in *MySQL* exists only for compatibility with
other SQL vendors' `CREATE TABLE' commands; it doesn't do anything.
The `FOREIGN KEY' syntax without `ON DELETE ...' is mostly used for
documentation purposes. Some ODBC applications may use this to produce
automatic `WHERE' clauses, but this is usually easy to override.
`FOREIGN KEY' is sometimes used as a constraint check, but this check
is unnecessary in practice if rows are inserted into the tables in the
right order. *MySQL* only supports these clauses because some
applications require them to exist (regardless of whether or not they
work!).

In *MySQL*, you can work around the problem of `ON DELETE ...' not
being implemented by adding the appropriate `DELETE' statement to an
application when you delete records from a table that has a foreign key.
In practice this is as quick (in some cases quicker) and much more
portable than using foreign keys.

In the near future we will extend the `FOREIGN KEY' implementation so
that at least the information will be saved in the table specification
file and may be retrieved by `mysqldump' and ODBC.

Reasons NOT to use foreign keys
...............................

There are so many problems with `FOREIGN KEY's that we don't know where
to start:

   * Foreign keys make life very complicated, because the foreign key
     definitions must be stored in a database and implementing them
     would destroy the whole "nice approach" of using files that can be
     moved, copied and removed.

   * The speed impact is terrible for `INSERT' and `UPDATE' statements,
     and in this case almost all `FOREIGN KEY' checks are useless
     because you usually insert records in the right tables in the
     right order, anyway.

   * There is also a need to hold locks on many more tables when
     updating one table, because the side effects can cascade through
     the entire database. It's MUCH faster to delete records from one
     table first and subsequently delete them from the other tables.

   * You can no longer restore a table by doing a full delete from the
     table and then restoring all records (from a new source or from a
     backup).

   * If you have foreign keys you can't dump and restore tables unless
     you do so in a very specific order.

   * It's very easy to do "allowed" circular definitions that make the
     tables impossible to recreate each table with a single create
     statement, even if the definition works and is usable.

The only nice aspect of `FOREIGN KEY' is that it gives ODBC and some
other client programs the ability to see how a table is connected and
to use this to show connection diagrams and to help in building
applicatons.

*MySQL* will soon store `FOREIGN KEY' definitions so that a client can
ask for and receive an answer how the original connection was made. The
current `.frm' file format does not have any place for it.

Views
-----

*MySQL* doesn't support views, but this is on the TODO.

`--' as the start of a comment
------------------------------

Some other SQL databases use `--' to start comments. *MySQL* has `#' as
the start comment character, even if the `mysql' command line tool
removes all lines that start with `--'.  You can also use the C comment
style `/* this is a comment */' with *MySQL*.  *Note Comments::.

*MySQL* 3.23.3 and above supports the `--' comment style only if the
comment is followed by a space.  This is because this degenerate
comment style has caused many problems with automatically generated SQL
queries that have used something like the following code, where we
automatically insert the value of the payment for `!payment!':

     UPDATE tbl_name SET credit=credit-!payment!

What do you think will happen when the value of `payment' is negative?

Because `1--1' is legal in SQL, we think it is terrible that `--' means
start comment.

In MySQL 3.23 you can however use: `1-- This is a comment'

The following discussing only concerns you if you are running an
*MySQL* version earlier than 3.23:

If you have a SQL program in a text file that contains `--' comments
you should use:

     shell> replace " --" " #" < text-file-with-funny-comments.sql \
              | mysql database

instead of the usual:

     shell> mysql database < text-file-with-funny-comments.sql

You can also edit the command file "in place" to change the `--'
comments to `#' comments:

     shell> replace " --" " #" -- text-file-with-funny-comments.sql

Change them back with this command:

     shell> replace " #" " --" -- text-file-with-funny-comments.sql

What standards does MySQL follow?
=================================

Entry level SQL92. ODBC level 0-2.

How to cope without `COMMIT'/`ROLLBACK'
=======================================

*MySQL* doesn't support `COMMIT'-`ROLLBACK.' The problem is that
handling `COMMIT'-`ROLLBACK' efficiently would require a completely
different table layout than *MySQL* uses today.  *MySQL* would also
need extra threads that do automatic cleanups on the tables and the
disk usage would be much higher. This would make *MySQL* about 2-4
times slower than it is today.  *MySQL* is much faster than almost all
other SQL databases (typically at least 2-3 times faster).  One of the
reasons for this is the lack of `COMMIT'-`ROLLBACK'.

For the moment, we are much more for implementing the SQL server
language (something like stored procedures). With this you would very
seldom really need `COMMIT'-`ROLLBACK.' This would also give much
better performance.

Loops that need transactions normally can be coded with the help of
`LOCK TABLES', and you don't need cursors when you can update records
on the fly.

We have transactions and cursors on the TODO but not quite prioritized.
If we implement these, it will be as an option to `CREATE TABLE'. That
means that `COMMIT'-`ROLLBACK' will work only on those tables, so that
a speed penalty will be imposed on those table only.

We at TcX have a greater need for a real fast database than a 100%
general database. Whenever we find a way to implement these features
without any speed loss, we will probably do it. For the moment, there
are many more important things to do. Check the TODO for how we
prioritize things at the moment. (Customers with higher levels of
support can alter this, so things may be reprioritized.)

The current problem is actually `ROLLBACK'. Without `ROLLBACK', you can
do any kind of `COMMIT' action with `LOCK TABLES'. To support
`ROLLBACK', *MySQL* would have to be changed to store all old records
that were updated and revert everything back to the starting point if
`ROLLBACK' was issued. For simple cases, this isn't that hard to do (the
current `isamlog' could be used for this purpose), but it would be much
more difficult to implement `ROLLBACK' for `ALTER/DROP/CREATE TABLE'.

To avoid using `ROLLBACK', you can use the following strategy:

  1. Use `LOCK TABLES ...' to lock all the tables you want to access.

  2. Test conditions.

  3. Update if everything is okay.

  4. Use `UNLOCK TABLES' to release your locks.

This is usually a much faster method than using transactions with
possible `ROLLBACK's, although not always. The only situation this
solution doesn't handle is when someone kills the threads in the middle
of an update. In this case, all locks will be released but some of the
updates may not have been executed.

You can also use functions to update records in a single operation.
You can get a very efficient application by using the following
techniques:

   * Modify fields relative to their current value

   * Update only those fields that actually have changed

For example, when we are doing updates to some customer information, we
update only the customer data that have changed and test only that none
of the changed data, or data that depend on the changed data, have
changed compared to the original row. The test for changed data is done
with the `WHERE' clause in the `UPDATE' statement. If the record wasn't
updated, we give the client a message: "Some of the data you have
changed have been changed by another user". Then we show the old row
versus the new row in a window, so the user can decide which version of
the customer record he should use.

This gives us something that is similar to "column locking" but is
actually even better, because we only update some of the columns, using
values that are relative to their current values.  This means that
typical `UPDATE' statements look something like these:

     UPDATE tablename SET pay_back=pay_back+'relative change';
     
     UPDATE customer
       SET
         customer_date='current_date',
         address='new address',
         phone='new phone',
         money_he_owes_us=money_he_owes_us+'new_money'
       WHERE
         customer_id=id AND address='old address' AND phone='old phone';

As you can see, this is very efficient and works even if another client
has changed the values in the `pay_back' or `money_he_owes_us' columns.

In many cases, users have wanted `ROLLBACK' and/or `LOCK TABLES' for
the purpose of managing unique identifiers for some tables. This can be
handled much more efficiently by using an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column and
either the SQL function `LAST_INSERT_ID()' or the C API function
`mysql_insert_id()'. *Note `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

At TcX, we have never had any need for row-level locking because we have
always been able to code around it. Some cases really need row locking,
but they are very few. If you want row-level locking, you can use a
flag column in the table and do something like this:

     UPDATE tbl_name SET row_flag=1 WHERE id=ID;

*MySQL* returns 1 for the number of affected rows if the row was found
and `row_flag' wasn't already 1 in the original row.

You can think of it as *MySQL* changed the above query to:

     UPDATE tbl_name SET row_flag=1 WHERE id=ID and row_flag <> 1;

The MySQL access privilege system
*********************************

*MySQL* has an advanced but non-standard security/privilege system.
This section describes how it works.

General security
================

Anyone using *MySQL* on a computer connected to the Internet should
read this chapter to avoid mistakes people do.

Under "security" we mean that our site, not only *MySQL* is protected
against all types of applicable attacks: eavesdropping, altering,
playback and Denial of Service. We do not cover all aspects of
availability and fault tolerance here.

There are some security logic in *MySQL*: Access control lists (ACL-s)
and SSL encrypted connections but much more is depending on overall
usage of *MySQL*. Also most of this chapter isn't *MySQL* dependant at
all. Same rules apply for most applications.

When you running a site, designing software or just doing something with
*MySQL* then try to follow these rules:

   * Try to understand *MySQL* ACL system. The `GRANT/REVOKE' commands
     are for restricting access to *MySQL*. Do not grant anyone for
     more than is must. Never grant all hosts to do something.

     Checklist:
        * Do `mysql -u root'. If you granted a connection without
          asking password, then this is bad.

        * Use command `SHOW GRANTS' and check who is having access and
          to what.

   * Do not keep any plain passwords in tables when possible. When your
     computer gets compromised, intruder can take full list of
     passwords and use them in somewhere else place. Instead use
     `MD5()' or other one-way hashing function.

   * Do not use passwords from dictionaries. There are special programs
     to break them. Even passwords like: "xfish98" are very bad.  Much
     better is "duag" which is same word "fish" but typed one key left
     on keyboard. Another method is to use "Mhall" which is taken from
     first characters of sentence "Mary had a little lamb". Easy to
     type when you know the system but hard to guess from side.

   * Invest in firewall. This protects for at least 50% of all types of
     exploits in any software. Put *MySQL* behind the firewall or in
     demilitarized zone (DMZ).

     Checklist:
        * Try to scan your ports from Internet. *MySQL* uses port 3306
          by default. This port should be unaccessible for most cases.

   * Do not trust any data entered from user. Users can enter special
     symbols from web-forms, URL-s or your custom application. Are you
     sure that your application remains secure if user enters something
     like `; DROP ALL DATABASES ;' into form?

     Checklist:
        * All WWW applications:
             * Try to enter ' and " in all forms on your WWW. If you
               get any kind of *MySQL* error, better take your site
               down.

             * Try to modify any types of dynamic URL-s by adding %22
               ("), %23 (#) and %27 (') in your URL.

             * Try to modify datatypes in dynamic URL-s from numeric
               ones to character ones containing characters from
               previous example. Your application should be safe
               against this.

             * Try to enter characters, spaces, special symbols instead
               of numbers in numeric fields. Application should remove
               them before passing to *MySQL* or your application
               should generate error. Passing wrong things to *MySQL*
               is dangerous!

             * Check data sizes before passing them to *MySQL*.

        * Users of PHP3:
             * Check out the addslashes() function

        * Users of *MySQL* C API:
             * Check out the `mysql_escape()' API call.

        * Users of *MySQL*++:
             * Check out the `escape' and `quote' modifiers (?) for
               query streams.

   * Do not transmit plain data over the net. This data is accessible to
     everyone who have interest to trap this information and reuse it
     somewhere. If you really need this, use encrypted communications
     like SSL. *MySQL* supports internal SSL connections beginning from
     version 3.23.9.

   * Learn to use utilities "tcpdump" and "strings". For most cases you
     can see unencrypted *MySQL* data streams issuing command:
          tcpdump -l -i eth0 -w - src or dst port 3306 | strings
     (This works under linux and should work with small modifications
     under another systems).  Warning: If you do not see data this
     doesn't actually always mean that it is encrypted. If you need
     high security you should consult with security expert.

How to make MySQL secure against crackers
=========================================

When you connect to a *MySQL* server, you should normally use a
password.  The password is not transmitted in clear text over the
connection.

All other information is transferred as text that can be read by anyone
that is able to watch the connection.  If you are concerned about this,
you can use the compressed protocol (in *MySQL* 3.22 and above) to make
things much harder.  To make things even more secure you should install
`ssh' (see `http://www.cs.hut.fi/ssh').  With this, you can get an
encrypted TCP/IP connection between a *MySQL* server and a *MySQL*
client.

To make a *MySQL* system secure, you should strongly consider the
following suggestions:

   * Use passwords for all *MySQL* users. Remember that anyone can log
     in as any other person as simply as `mysql -u other_user db_name'
     if `other_user' has no password.  It is common behavior with
     client/server applications that the client may specify any user
     name.  You can change the password of all users by editing the
     `mysql_install_db' script before you run it, or only the password
     for the *MySQL* `root' user like this:

          shell> mysql -u root mysql
          mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('new_password')
                     WHERE user='root';
          mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   * Don't run the *MySQL* daemon as the Unix `root' user.  `mysqld'
     can be run as any user.  You can also create a new Unix user
     `mysql' to make everything even more secure.  If you run `mysqld'
     as another Unix user, you don't need to change the `root' user
     name in the `user' table, because *MySQL* user names have nothing
     to do with Unix user names.  You can edit the `mysql.server'
     script to start `mysqld' as another Unix user.  Normally this is
     done with the `su' command.  For more details, see *Note Changing
     *MySQL* user: Changing MySQL user.

   * If you put a password for the Unix `root' user in the
     `mysql.server' script, make sure this script is readable only by
     `root'.

   * Check that the Unix user that `mysqld' runs as is the only user
     with read/write privileges in the database directories.

   * Don't give the *process* privilege to all users.  The output of
     `mysqladmin processlist' shows the text of the currently executing
     queries, so any user who is allowed to execute that command might
     be able to see if another user issues an `UPDATE user SET
     password=PASSWORD('not_secure')' query.

     `mysqld' saves an extra connection for users who have the
     *process* privilege, so that a *MySQL* `root' user can log in and
     check things even if all normal connections are in use.

   * Don't give the *file* privilege to all users.  Any user that has
     this privilege can write a file anywhere in the file system with
     the privileges of the `mysqld' daemon!  To make this a bit safer,
     all files generated with `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' are readable to
     everyone, and you can't overwrite existing files.

     The *file* privilege may also be used to read any file accessible
     to the Unix user that the server runs as.  This could be abused,
     for example, by using `LOAD DATA' to load `/etc/passwd' into a
     table, which can then be read with `SELECT'.

   * If you don't trust your DNS, you should use IP numbers instead of
     hostnames in the grant tables.  In principle, the `--secure'
     option to `mysqld' should make hostnames safe.  In any case, you
     should be very careful about using hostname values that contain
     wildcards!

The following `mysqld' options affect security:

`--secure'
     IP numbers returned by the `gethostbyname()' system call are
     checked to make sure they resolve back to the original hostname.
     This makes it harder for someone on the outside to get access by
     simulating another host.  This option also adds some sanity checks
     of hostnames.  The option is turned off by default in *MySQL* 3.21
     since it sometimes takes a long time to perform backward
     resolutions.  *MySQL* 3.22 caches hostnames and has this option
     enabled by default.

`--skip-grant-tables'
     This option causes the server not to use the privilege system at
     all. This gives everyone *full access* to all databases!  (You can
     tell a running server to start using the grant tables again by
     executing `mysqladmin reload'.)

`--skip-name-resolve'
     Hostnames are not resolved.  All `Host' column values in the grant
     tables must be IP numbers or `localhost'.

`--skip-networking'
     Don't allow TCP/IP connections over the network.  All connections
     to `mysqld' must be made via Unix sockets. This option is
     unsuitable for systems that use MIT-pthreads, because the
     MIT-pthreads package doesn't support Unix sockets.

What the privilege system does
==============================

The primary function of the *MySQL* privilege system is to authenticate
a user connecting from a given host, and to associate that user with
*select*, *insert*, *update* and *delete* privileges on a database.

Additional functionality includes the ability to have an anonymous user
and to grant privileges for *MySQL*-specific functions such as `LOAD
DATA INFILE' and administrative operations.

MySQL user names and passwords
==============================

There are several distinctions between the way user names and passwords
are used by *MySQL*, and the way they are used by Unix or Windows:

   * User names, as used by *MySQL* for authentication purposes, have
     nothing to do with Unix user names (login names) or Windows user
     names.  Most *MySQL* clients by default try to log in using the
     current Unix user name as the *MySQL* user name, but that is for
     convenience only.  Client programs allow a different name to be
     specified with the `-u' or `--user' options. This means that you
     can't make a database secure in any way unless all *MySQL* user
     names have passwords.  Anyone may attempt to connect to the server
     using any name, and they will succeed if they specify any name
     that doesn't have a password.

   * *MySQL* user names can be up to 16 characters long; Unix user names
     typically are limited to 8 characters.

   * *MySQL* passwords have nothing to do with Unix passwords.  There
     is no necessary connection between the password you use to log in
     to a Unix machine and the password you use to access a database on
     that machine.

   * *MySQL* encrypts passwords using a different algorithm than the one
     used during the Unix login process.  See the descriptions of the
     `PASSWORD()' and `ENCRYPT()' functions in *Note Miscellaneous
     functions::.

Connecting to the MySQL server
==============================

*MySQL* client programs generally require that you specify connection
parameters when you want to access a *MySQL* server: the host you want
to connect to, your user name and your password.  For example, the
`mysql' client can be started like this (optional arguments are enclosed
between `[' and `]'):

     shell> mysql [-h host_name] [-u user_name] [-pyour_pass]

Alternate forms of the `-h', `-u' and `-p' options are
`--host=host_name', `--user=user_name' and `--password=your_pass'.
Note that there is *no space* between `-p' or `--password=' and the
password following it.

*Note:* Specifing a password on the command line is not secure!  Any
user on your system may then find out your password by typing a command
like: `ps auxww'.  *Note Option files::.

`mysql' uses default values for connection parameters that are missing
from the command line:

   * The default hostname is `localhost'.

   * The default user name is your Unix login name.

   * No password is supplied if `-p' is missing.

Thus, for a Unix user `joe', the following commands are equivalent:

     shell> mysql -h localhost -u joe
     shell> mysql -h localhost
     shell> mysql -u joe
     shell> mysql

Other *MySQL* clients behave similarly.

On Unix systems, you can specify different default values to be used
when you make a connection, so that you need not enter them on the
command line each time you invoke a client program.  This can be done
in a couple of ways:

   * You can specify connection parameters in the `[client]' section of
     the `.my.cnf' configuration file in your home directory.  The
     relevant section of the file might look like this:

          [client]
          host=host_name
          user=user_name
          password=your_pass

     *Note Option files::.

   * You can specify connection parameters using environment values.
     The host can be specified using `MYSQL_HOST'.  The *MySQL* user
     name can be specified using `USER' (this is for Windows only).
     The password can be specified using `MYSQL_PWD' (but this is
     insecure; see next section).

If connection parameters are specified in multiple ways, values
specified on the command line take precedence over values specified in
configuration files and environment variables, and values in
configuration files take precedence over values in environment
variables.

Keeping your password secure
============================

It is inadvisable to specify your password in a way that exposes it to
discovery by other users.  The methods you can use to specify your
password when you run client programs are listed below, along with an
assessment of the risks of each method:

   * Use a `-pyour_pass' or `--password=your_pass' option on the command
     line.  This is convenient but insecure, since your password
     becomes visible to system status programs (such as `ps') that may
     be invoked by other users to display command lines.  (*MySQL*
     clients typically overwrite the command line argument with zeroes
     during their initialization sequence, but there is still a brief
     interval during which the value is visible.)

   * Use a `-p' or `--password' option (with no `your_pass' value
     specified).  In this case, the client program solicits the
     password from the terminal:

          shell> mysql -u user_name -p
          Enter password: ********

     The client echoes `*' characters to the terminal as you enter your
     password so that onlookers cannot see it.

     It is more secure to enter your password this way than to specify
     it on the command line because it is not visible to other users.
     However, this method of entering a password is suitable only for
     programs that you run interactively.  If you want to invoke a
     client from a script that runs non-interactively, there is no
     opportunity to enter the password from the terminal.

   * Store your password in a configuration file.  For example, you can
     list your password in the `[client]' section of the `.my.cnf' file
     in your home directory:

          [client]
          password=your_pass

     If you store your password in `.my.cnf', the file should not be
     group or world readable or writable.  Make sure the file's access
     mode is `400' or `600'.

     *Note Option files::.

   * You can store your password in the `MYSQL_PWD' environment
     variable, but this method must be considered extremely insecure
     and should not be used.  Some versions of `ps' include an option
     to display the environment of running processes; your password
     will be in plain sight for all to see if you set `MYSQL_PWD'.
     Even on systems without such a version of `ps', it is unwise to
     assume there is no other method to observe process environments.

All in all, the safest methods are to have the client program prompt
for the password or to specify the password in a properly-protected
`.my.cnf' file.

Privileges provided by MySQL
============================

Privilege information is stored in the `user', `db', `host',
`tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables in the `mysql' database (that
is, in the database named `mysql').  The *MySQL* server reads the
contents of these tables when it starts up and under the circumstances
indicated in *Note Privilege changes::.

The names used in this manual to refer to the privileges provided by
*MySQL* are shown below, along with the table column name associated
with each privilege in the grant tables and the context in which the
privilege applies:

*Privilege* *Column*           *Context*                                   
*select*    `Select_priv'      tables                                      
*insert*    `Insert_priv'      tables                                      
*update*    `Update_priv'      tables                                      
*delete*    `Delete_priv'      tables                                      
*index*     `Index_priv'       tables                                      
*alter*     `Alter_priv'       tables                                      
*create*    `Create_priv'      databases, tables or indexes                
*drop*      `Drop_priv'        databases or tables                         
*grant*     `Grant_priv'       databases or tables                         
*references*`References_priv'  databases or tables                         
*reload*    `Reload_priv'      server administration                       
*shutdown*  `Shutdown_priv'    server administration                       
*process*   `Process_priv'     server administration                       
*file*      `File_priv'        file access on server                       

The *select*, *insert*, *update* and *delete* privileges allow you to
perform operations on rows in existing tables in a database.

`SELECT' statements require the *select* privilege only if they
actually retrieve rows from a table.  You can execute certain `SELECT'
statements even without permission to access any of the databases on the
server.  For example, you could use the `mysql' client as a simple
calculator:

     mysql> SELECT 1+1;
     mysql> SELECT PI()*2;

The *index* privilege allows you to create or drop (remove) indexes.

The *alter* privilege allows you to use `ALTER TABLE'.

The *create* and *drop* privileges allow you to create new databases
and tables, or to drop (remove) existing databases and tables.

Note that if you grant the *drop* privilege for the `mysql' database to
a user, that user can drop the database in which the *MySQL* access
privileges are stored!

The *grant* privilege allows you to give to other users those
privileges you yourself possess.

The *file* privilege gives you permission to read and write files on
the server using the `LOAD DATA INFILE' and `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'
statements.  Any user to whom this privilege is granted can read or
write any file that the *MySQL* server can read or write.

The remaining privileges are used for administrative operations, which
are performed using the `mysqladmin' program.  The table below shows
which `mysqladmin' commands each administrative privilege allows you to
execute:

*Privilege* *Commands permitted to privilege holders*                     
*reload*    `reload', `refresh', `flush-privileges', `flush-hosts',       
            `flush-logs', `flush-tables'                                  
*shutdown*  `shutdown'                                                    
*process*   `processlist', `kill'                                         

The `reload' command tells the server to reread the grant tables.  The
`refresh' command flushes all tables and opens and closes the log
files.  `flush-privileges' is a synonym for `reload'.  The other
`flush-*' commands perform functions similar to `refresh' but are more
limited in scope, and may be preferable in some instances.  For example,
if you want to flush just the log files, `flush-logs' is a better choice
than `refresh'.

The `shutdown' command shuts down the server.

The `processlist' command displays information about the threads
executing within the server.  The `kill' command kills server threads.
You can always display or kill your own threads, but you need the
*process* privilege to display or kill threads initiated by other users.

It is a good idea in general to grant privileges only to those users
who need them, but you should exercise particular caution in granting
certain privileges:

   * The *grant* privilege allows users to give away their privileges to
     other users.  Two users with different privileges and with the
     *grant* privilege are able to combine privileges.

   * The *alter* privilege may be used to subvert the privilege system
     by renaming tables.

   * The *file* privilege can be abused to read any world-readable file
     on the server into a database table, the contents of which can
     then be accessed using `SELECT'.

   * The *shutdown* privilege can be abused to deny service to other
     users entirely, by terminating the server.

   * The *process* privilege can be used to view the plain text of
     currently executing queries, including queries that set or change
     passwords.

   * Privileges on the `mysql' database can be used to change passwords
     and other access privilege information.  (Passwords are stored
     encrypted, so a malicious user cannot simply read them.  However,
     with sufficient privileges, that same user can replace a password
     with a different one.)

There are some things that you cannot do with the *MySQL* privilege
system:

   * You cannot explicitly specify that a given user should be denied
     access.  That is, you cannot explicitly match a user and then
     refuse the connection.

   * You cannot specify that a user has privileges to create or drop
     tables in a database but not to create or drop the database itself.

How the privilege system works
==============================

The *MySQL* privilege system ensures that all users may do exactly the
things that they are supposed to be allowed to do.  When you connect to
a *MySQL* server, your identity is determined by *the host from which
you connect* and *the user name you specify*.  The system grants
privileges according to your identity and *what you want to do*.

*MySQL* considers both your hostname and user name in identifying you
because there is little reason to assume that a given user name belongs
to the same person everywhere on the Internet.  For example, the user
`bill' who connects from `whitehouse.gov' need not be the same person
as the user `bill' who connects from `microsoft.com'.  *MySQL* handles
this by allowing you to distinguish users on different hosts that
happen to have the same name:  you can grant `bill' one set of
privileges for connections from `whitehouse.gov', and a different set
of privileges for connections from `microsoft.com'.

*MySQL* access control involves two stages:

   * Stage 1: The server checks whether or not you are even allowed to
     connect.

   * Stage 2: Assuming you can connect, the server checks each request
     you issue to see whether or not you have sufficient privileges to
     perform it.  For example, if you try to select rows from a table
     in a database or drop a table from the database, the server makes
     sure you have the *select* privilege for the table or the *drop*
     privilege for the database.

The server uses the `user', `db' and `host' tables in the `mysql'
database at both stages of access control.  The fields in these grant
tables are shown below:

*Table name*   `user'             `db'               `host'             
*Scope         `Host'             `Host'             `Host'             
fields*                                                                 
               `User'             `Db'               `Db'               
               `Password'         `User'                                
*Privilege     `Select_priv'      `Select_priv'      `Select_priv'      
fields*                                                                 
               `Insert_priv'      `Insert_priv'      `Insert_priv'      
               `Update_priv'      `Update_priv'      `Update_priv'      
               `Delete_priv'      `Delete_priv'      `Delete_priv'      
               `Index_priv'       `Index_priv'       `Index_priv'       
               `Alter_priv'       `Alter_priv'       `Alter_priv'       
               `Create_priv'      `Create_priv'      `Create_priv'      
               `Drop_priv'        `Drop_priv'        `Drop_priv'        
               `Grant_priv'       `Grant_priv'       `Grant_priv'       
               `References_priv'                                        
               `Reload_priv'                                            
               `Shutdown_priv'                                          
               `Process_priv'                                           
               `File_priv'                                              

For the second stage of access control (request verification), the
server may, if the request involves tables, additionally consult the
`tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables.  The fields in these tables
are shown below:

*Table name*   `tables_priv'      `columns_priv'     
*Scope         `Host'             `Host'             
fields*                                              
               `Db'               `Db'               
               `User'             `User'             
               `Table_name'       `Table_name'       
                                  `Column_name'      
*Privilege     `Table_priv'       `Column_priv'      
fields*                                              
               `Column_priv'                         
*Other         `Timestamp'        `Timestamp'        
fields*                                              
               `Grantor'                             

Each grant table contains scope fields and privilege fields.

Scope fields determine the scope of each entry in the tables, i.e., the
context in which the entry applies.  For example, a `user' table entry
with `Host' and `User' values of `'thomas.loc.gov'' and `'bob'' would
be used for authenticating connections made to the server by `bob' from
the host `thomas.loc.gov'.  Similarly, a `db' table entry with `Host',
`User' and `Db' fields of `'thomas.loc.gov'', `'bob'' and `'reports''
would be used when `bob' connects from the host `thomas.loc.gov' to
access the `reports' database.  The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv'
tables contain scope fields indicating tables or table/column
combinations to which each entry applies.

For access-checking purposes, comparisons of `Host' values are case
insensitive.  `User', `Password', `Db' and `Table_name' values are case
sensitive.  `Column_name' values are case insensitive in *MySQL* 3.22.12
or later.

Privilege fields indicate the privileges granted by a table entry, that
is, what operations can be performed.  The server combines the
information in the various grant tables to form a complete description
of a user's privileges.  The rules used to do this are described in
*Note Request access::.

Scope fields are strings, declared as shown below; the default value for
each is the empty string:

*Field      *Type*                                                         
name*                                                                      
`Host'      `CHAR(60)'                                                     
`User'      `CHAR(16)'                                                     
`Password'  `CHAR(16)'                                                     
`Db'        `CHAR(64)'  (`CHAR(60)' for the `tables_priv' and              
                        `columns_priv' tables)                             

In the `user', `db' and `host' tables, all privilege fields are
declared as `ENUM('N','Y')' -- each can have a value of `'N'' or `'Y'',
and the default value is `'N''.

In the `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables, the privilege fields
are declared as `SET' fields:

*Table name*   *Field name*   *Possible set elements*                     
`tables_priv'  `Table_priv'   `'Select', 'Insert', 'Update', 'Delete',    
                              'Create', 'Drop', 'Grant', 'References',    
                              'Index', 'Alter''                           
`tables_priv'  `Column_priv'  `'Select', 'Insert', 'Update',              
                              'References''                               
`columns_priv' `Column_priv'  `'Select', 'Insert', 'Update',              
                              'References''                               

Briefly, the server uses the grant tables like this:

   * The `user' table scope fields determine whether to allow or reject
     incoming connections.  For allowed connections, the privilege
     fields indicate the user's global (superuser) privileges.

   * The `db' and `host' tables are used together:

        - The `db' table scope fields determine which users can access
          which databases from which hosts.  The privilege fields
          determine which operations are allowed.

        - The `host' table is used as an extension of the `db' table
          when you want a given `db' table entry to apply to several
          hosts.  For example, if you want a user to be able to use a
          database from several hosts in your network, leave the `Host'
          value empty in the user's `db' table entry, then populate the
          `host' table with an entry for each of those hosts.  This
          mechanism is described more detail in *Note Request access::.

   * The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables are similar to the
     `db' table, but are more fine-grained: they apply at the table and
     column level rather than at the database level.

Note that administrative privileges (*reload*, *shutdown*, etc.) are
specified only in the `user' table.  This is because administrative
operations are operations on the server itself and are not
database-specific, so there is no reason to list such privileges in the
other grant tables.  In fact, only the `user' table need be consulted
to determine whether or not you can perform an administrative operation.

The *file* privilege is specified only in the `user' table, too.  It is
not an administrative privilege as such, but your ability to read or
write files on the server host is independent of the database you are
accessing.

The `mysqld' server reads the contents of the grant tables once, when it
starts up.  Changes to the grant tables take effect as indicated in
*Note Privilege changes::.

When you modify the contents of the grant tables, it is a good idea to
make sure that your changes set up privileges the way you want.  For
help in diagnosing problems, see *Note Access denied::.  For advice on
security issues, *Note Security::.

A useful diagnostic tool is the `mysqlaccess' script, which Yves
Carlier has provided for the *MySQL* distribution.  Invoke
`mysqlaccess' with the `--help' option to find out how it works.  Note
that `mysqlaccess' checks access using only the `user', `db' and `host'
tables.  It does not check table- or column-level privileges.

Access control, stage 1: Connection verification
================================================

When you attempt to connect to a *MySQL* server, the server accepts or
rejects the connection based on your identity and whether or not you can
verify your identity by supplying the correct password.  If not, the
server denies access to you completely.  Otherwise, the server accepts
the connection, then enters stage 2 and waits for requests.

Your identity is based on two pieces of information:

   * The host from which you connect

   * Your *MySQL* user name

Identity checking is performed using the three `user' table scope fields
(`Host', `User' and `Password').  The server accepts the connection
only if a `user' table entry matches your hostname and user name, and
you supply the correct password.

Values in the `user' table scope fields may be specified as follows:

   * A `Host' value may be a hostname or an IP number, or `'localhost''
     to indicate the local host.

   * You can use the wildcard characters `%' and `_' in the `Host'
     field.

   * A `Host' value of `'%'' matches any hostname.  A blank `Host'
     value is equivalent to `'%''.  Note that these values match *any
     host that can create a connection to your server!*

   * Wildcard characters are not allowed in the `User' field, but you
     can specify a blank value, which matches any name.  If the `user'
     table entry that matches an incoming connection has a blank user
     name, the user is considered to be the anonymous user (the user
     with no name), rather than the name that the client actually
     specified.  This means that a blank user name is used for all
     further access checking for the duration of the connection (that
     is, during stage 2).

   * The `Password' field can be blank.  This does not mean that any
     password matches, it means the user must connect without
     specifying a password.

Non-blank `Password' values represent encrypted passwords.  *MySQL*
does not store passwords in plaintext form for anyone to see.  Rather,
the password supplied by a user who is attempting to connect is
encrypted (using the `PASSWORD()' function) and compared to the
already-encrypted version stored in the `user' table.  If they match,
the password is correct.

The examples below show how various combinations of `Host' and `User'
values in `user' table entries apply to incoming connections:

`Host' *value*     `User'      *Connections matched by entry*              
                   *value*                                                 
`'thomas.loc.gov'' `'fred''    `fred', connecting from `thomas.loc.gov'    
`'thomas.loc.gov'' `'''        Any user, connecting from `thomas.loc.gov'  
`'%''              `'fred''    `fred', connecting from any host            
`'%''              `'''        Any user, connecting from any host          
`'%.loc.gov''      `'fred''    `fred', connecting from any host in the     
                               `loc.gov' domain                            
`'x.y.%''          `'fred''    `fred', connecting from `x.y.net',          
                               `x.y.com',`x.y.edu', etc. (this is          
                               probably not useful)                        
`'144.155.166.177''`'fred''    `fred', connecting from the host with IP    
                               address `144.155.166.177'                   
`'144.155.166.%''  `'fred''    `fred', connecting from any host in the     
                               `144.155.166' class C subnet                

Since you can use IP wildcard values in the `Host' field (e.g.,
`'144.155.166.%'' to match every host on a subnet), there is the
possibility that someone might try to exploit this capability by naming
a host `144.155.166.somewhere.com'.  To foil such attempts, *MySQL*
disallows matching on hostnames that start with digits and a dot. Thus,
if you have a host named something like `1.2.foo.com', its name will
never match the `Host' column of the grant tables.  Only an IP number
can match an IP wildcard value.

An incoming connection may be matched by more than one entry in the
`user' table.  For example, a connection from `thomas.loc.gov' by
`fred' would be matched by several of the entries just shown above.  How
does the server choose which entry to use if more than one matches?  The
server resolves this question by sorting the `user' table after reading
it at startup time, then looking through the entries in sorted order
when a user attempts to connect.  The first matching entry is the one
that is used.

`user' table sorting works as follows.  Suppose the `user' table looks
like this:

     +-----------+----------+-
     | Host      | User     | ...
     +-----------+----------+-
     | %         | root     | ...
     | %         | jeffrey  | ...
     | localhost | root     | ...
     | localhost |          | ...
     +-----------+----------+-

When the server reads in the table, it orders the entries with the
most-specific `Host' values first (`'%'' in the `Host' column means
"any host" and is least specific).  Entries with the same `Host' value
are ordered with the most-specific `User' values first (a blank `User'
value means "any user" and is least specific).  The resulting sorted
`user' table looks like this:

     +-----------+----------+-
     | Host      | User     | ...
     +-----------+----------+-
     | localhost | root     | ...
     | localhost |          | ...
     | %         | jeffrey  | ...
     | %         | root     | ...
     +-----------+----------+-

When a connection is attempted, the server looks through the sorted
entries and uses the first match found.  For a connection from
`localhost' by `jeffrey', the entries with `'localhost'' in the `Host'
column match first.  Of those, the entry with the blank user name
matches both the connecting hostname and user name.  (The
`'%'/'jeffrey'' entry would have matched, too, but it is not the first
match in the table.)

Here is another example.  Suppose the `user' table looks like this:

     +----------------+----------+-
     | Host           | User     | ...
     +----------------+----------+-
     | %              | jeffrey  | ...
     | thomas.loc.gov |          | ...
     +----------------+----------+-

The sorted table looks like this:

     +----------------+----------+-
     | Host           | User     | ...
     +----------------+----------+-
     | thomas.loc.gov |          | ...
     | %              | jeffrey  | ...
     +----------------+----------+-

A connection from `thomas.loc.gov' by `jeffrey' is matched by the first
entry, whereas a connection from `whitehouse.gov' by `jeffrey' is
matched by the second.

A common misconception is to think that for a given user name, all
entries that explicitly name that user will be used first when the
server attempts to find a match for the connection.  This is simply not
true.  The previous example illustrates this, where a connection from
`thomas.loc.gov' by `jeffrey' is first matched not by the entry
containing `'jeffrey'' as the `User' field value, but by the entry with
no user name!

If you have problems connecting to the server, print out the `user'
table and sort it by hand to see where the first match is being made.

Access control, stage 2: Request verification
=============================================

Once you establish a connection, the server enters stage 2.  For each
request that comes in on the connection, the server checks whether you
have sufficient privileges to perform it, based on the type of
operation you wish to perform.  This is where the privilege fields in
the grant tables come into play.  These privileges can come from any of
the `user', `db', `host', `tables_priv' or `columns_priv' tables.  The
grant tables are manipulated with `GRANT' and `REVOKE' commands.  *Note
`GRANT': GRANT.  (You may find it helpful to refer to *Note
Privileges::, which lists the fields present in each of the grant
tables.)

The `user' table grants privileges that are assigned to you on a global
basis and that apply no matter what the current database is.  For
example, if the `user' table grants you the *delete* privilege, you can
delete rows from any database on the server host!  In other words,
`user' table privileges are superuser privileges.  It is wise to grant
privileges in the `user' table only to superusers such as server or
database administrators.  For other users, you should leave the
privileges in the `user' table set to `'N'' and grant privileges on a
database-specific basis only, using the `db' and `host' tables.

The `db' and `host' tables grant database-specific privileges.  Values
in the scope fields may be specified as follows:

   * The wildcard characters `%' and `_' can be used in the `Host' and
     `Db' fields of either table.

   * A `'%'' `Host' value in the `db' table means "any host." A blank
     `Host' value in the `db' table means "consult the `host' table for
     further information."

   * A `'%'' or blank `Host' value in the `host' table means "any host."

   * A `'%'' or blank `Db' value in either table means "any database."

   * A blank `User' value in either table matches the anonymous user.

The `db' and `host' tables are read in and sorted when the server
starts up (at the same time that it reads the `user' table).  The `db'
table is sorted on the `Host', `Db' and `User' scope fields, and the
`host' table is sorted on the `Host' and `Db' scope fields.  As with
the `user' table, sorting puts the most-specific values first and
least-specific values last, and when the server looks for matching
entries, it uses the first match that it finds.

The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables grant table- and
column-specific privileges.  Values in the scope fields may be
specified as follows:

   * The wildcard characters `%' and `_' can be used in the `Host'
     field of either table.

   * A `'%'' or blank `Host' value in either table means "any host."

   * The `Db', `Table_name' and `Column_name' fields cannot contain
     wildcards or be blank in either table.

The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables are sorted on the `Host',
`Db' and `User' fields.  This is similar to `db' table sorting,
although since only the `Host' field may contain wildcards, the sorting
is simpler.

The request verification process is described below.  (If you are
familiar with the access-checking source code, you will notice that the
description here differs slightly from the algorithm used in the code.
The description is equivalent to what the code actually does; it
differs only to make the explanation simpler.)

For administrative requests (*shutdown*, *reload*, etc.), the server
checks only the `user' table entry, since that is the only table that
specifies administrative privileges.  Access is granted if the entry
allows the requested operation and denied otherwise.  For example, if
you want to execute `mysqladmin shutdown' but your `user' table entry
doesn't grant the *shutdown* privilege to you, access is denied without
even checking the `db' or `host' tables.  (Since they contain no
`Shutdown_priv' column, there is no need to do so.)

For database-related requests (*insert*, *update*, etc.), the server
first checks the user's global (superuser) privileges by looking in the
`user' table entry.  If the entry allows the requested operation,
access is granted.  If the global privileges in the `user' table are
insufficient, the server determines the user's database-specific
privileges by checking the `db' and `host' tables:

  1. The server looks in the `db' table for a match on the `Host', `Db'
     and `User' fields.  `Host' and `User' are matched to the
     connecting user's hostname and *MySQL* user name.  The `Db' field
     is matched to the database the user wants to access.  If there is
     no entry for the `Host' and `User', access is denied.

  2. If there is a matching `db' table entry and its `Host' field is
     not blank, that entry defines the user's database-specific
     privileges.

  3. If the matching `db' table entry's `Host' field is blank, it
     signifies that the `host' table enumerates which hosts should be
     allowed access to the database.  In this case, a further lookup is
     done in the `host' table to find a match on the `Host' and `Db'
     fields.  If no `host' table entry matches, access is denied.  If
     there is a match, the user's database-specific privileges are
     computed as the intersection (*not* the union!) of the privileges
     in the `db' and `host' table entries, i.e., the privileges that
     are `'Y'' in both entries.  (This way you can grant general
     privileges in the `db' table entry and then selectively restrict
     them on a host-by-host basis using the `host' table entries.)

After determining the database-specific privileges granted by the `db'
and `host' table entries, the server adds them to the global privileges
granted by the `user' table.  If the result allows the requested
operation, access is granted.  Otherwise, the server checks the user's
table and column privileges in the `tables_priv' and `columns_priv'
tables and adds those to the user's privileges.  Access is allowed or
denied based on the result.

Expressed in boolean terms, the preceding description of how a user's
privileges are calculated may be summarized like this:

     global privileges
     OR (database privileges AND host privileges)
     OR table privileges
     OR column privileges

It may not be apparent why, if the global `user' entry privileges are
initially found to be insufficient for the requested operation, the
server adds those privileges to the database-, table- and
column-specific privileges later. The reason is that a request might
require more than one type of privilege.  For example, if you execute
an `INSERT ...  SELECT' statement, you need both *insert* and *select*
privileges.  Your privileges might be such that the `user' table entry
grants one privilege and the `db' table entry grants the other.  In
this case, you have the necessary privileges to perform the request,
but the server cannot tell that from either table by itself; the
privileges granted by both entries must be combined.

The `host' table can be used to maintain a list of "secure" servers.
At TcX, the `host' table contains a list of all machines on the local
network. These are granted all privileges.

You can also use the `host' table to indicate hosts that are *not*
secure.  Suppose you have a machine `public.your.domain' that is located
in a public area that you do not consider secure.  You can allow access
to all hosts on your network except that machine by using `host' table
entries like this:

     +--------------------+----+-
     | Host               | Db | ...
     +--------------------+----+-
     | public.your.domain | %  | ... (all privileges set to 'N')
     | %.your.domain      | %  | ... (all privileges set to 'Y')
     +--------------------+----+-

Naturally, you should always test your entries in the grant tables
(e.g., using `mysqlaccess') to make sure your access privileges are
actually set up the way you think they are.

When privilege changes take effect
==================================

When `mysqld' starts, all grant table contents are read into memory and
become effective at that point.

Modifications to the grant tables that you perform using `GRANT',
`REVOKE', or `SET PASSWORD' are noticed by the server immediately.

If you modify the grant tables manually (using `INSERT', `UPDATE',
etc.), you should execute a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement or run
`mysqladmin flush-privileges' to tell the server to reload the grant
tables.  Otherwise your changes will have *no effect* until you restart
the server.

When the server notices that the grant tables have been changed,
existing client connections are affected as follows:

   * Table and column privilege changes take effect with the client's
     next request.

   * Database privilege changes take effect at the next `USE db_name'
     command.

Global privilege changes and password changes take effect the next time
the client connects.

Setting up the initial MySQL privileges
=======================================

After installing *MySQL*, you set up the initial access privileges by
running `scripts/mysql_install_db'.  *Note Quick install::.  The
`scripts/mysql_install_db' script starts up the `mysqld' server, then
initializes the grant tables to contain the following set of privileges:

   * The *MySQL* `root' user is created as a superuser who can do
     anything.  Connections must be made from the local host.

     *Note:* The initial `root' password is empty, so anyone can
     connect as `root' *without a password* and be granted all
     privileges.

   * An anonymous user is created that can do anything with databases
     that have a name of `'test'' or starting with `'test_''.
     Connections must be made from the local host.  This means any
     local user can connect and be treated as the anonymous user.

   * Other privileges are denied.  For example, normal users can't use
     `mysqladmin shutdown' or `mysqladmin processlist'.

*Note:* The default privileges are different for Win32.  *Note Win32
running::.

Since your installation is initially wide open, one of the first things
you should do is specify a password for the *MySQL* `root' user.  You
can do this as follows (note that you specify the password using the
`PASSWORD()' function):

     shell> mysql -u root mysql
     mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('new_password')
                WHERE user='root';
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

You can in *MySQL* 3.22 and above use the `SET PASSWORD' statement:

     shell> mysql -u root mysql
     mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR root=PASSWORD('new_password');

Another way to set the password is by using the `mysqladmin' command:

     shell> mysqladmin -u root password new_password

Note that if you update the password in the `user' table directly using
the first method, you must tell the server to reread the grant tables
(with `FLUSH PRIVILEGES'), since the change will go unnoticed otherwise.

Once the `root' password has been set, thereafter you must supply that
password when you connect to the server as `root'.

You may wish to leave the `root' password blank so that you don't need
to specify it while you perform additional setup or testing, but be
sure to set it before using your installation for any real production
work.

See the `scripts/mysql_install_db' script to see how it sets up the
default privileges.  You can use this as a basis to see how to add
other users.

If you want the initial privileges to be different than those just
described above, you can modify `mysql_install_db' before you run it.

To recreate the grant tables completely, remove all the `*.frm',
`*.MYI' and `*.MYD' files in the directory containing the `mysql'
database.  (This is the directory named `mysql' under the database
directory, which is listed when you run `mysqld --help'.) Then run the
`mysql_install_db' script, possibly after editing it first to have the
privileges you want.

*NOTE:* For *MySQL* versions older than 3.22.10, you should NOT delete
the `*.frm' files.  If you accidentally do this, you should copy them
back from your *MySQL* distribution before running `mysql_install_db'.

Adding new user privileges to MySQL
===================================

You can add users two different ways: by using `GRANT' statements or by
manipulating the *MySQL* grant tables directly.  The preferred method
is to use `GRANT' statements, because they are more concise and less
error-prone.

The examples below show how to use the `mysql' client to set up new
users.  These examples assume that privileges are set up according to
the defaults described in the previous section.  This means that to
make changes, you must be on the same machine where `mysqld' is
running, you must connect as the *MySQL* `root' user, and the `root'
user must have the *insert* privilege for the `mysql' database and the
*reload* administrative privilege.  Also, if you have changed the
`root' user password, you must specify it for the `mysql' commands
below.

You can add new users by issuing `GRANT' statements:

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO monty@localhost
                IDENTIFIED BY 'something' WITH GRANT OPTION;
     mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO monty@"%"
                IDENTIFIED BY 'something' WITH GRANT OPTION;
     mysql> GRANT RELOAD,PROCESS ON *.* TO admin@localhost;
     mysql> GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO dummy@localhost;

These `GRANT' statements set up three new users:

`monty'
     A full superuser who can connect to the server from anywhere, but
     who must use a password (`'something'' to do so.  Note that we
     must issue `GRANT' statements for both `monty@localhost' and
     `monty@"%"'.  If we don't add the entry with `localhost', the
     anonymous user entry for `localhost' that is created by
     `mysql_install_db' will take precedence when we connect from the
     local host, because it has a more specific `Host' field value and
     thuse comes earlier in the `user' table sort order.

`admin'
     A user who can connect from `localhost' without a password and who
     is granted the *reload* and *process* administrative privileges.
     This allows the user to execute the `mysqladmin reload',
     `mysqladmin refresh' and `mysqladmin flush-*' commands, as well as
     `mysqladmin processlist' .  No database-related privileges are
     granted.  They can be granted later by issuing additional `GRANT'
     statements.

`dummy'
     A user who can connect without a password, but only from the local
     host.  The global privileges are all set to `'N'' -- the `USAGE'
     privilege type allows you to set up a user with no privileges.  It
     is assumed that you will grant database-specific privileges later.

You can also add the same user access information directly by issuing
`INSERT' statements and then telling the server to reload the grant
tables:

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> INSERT INTO user VALUES('localhost','monty',PASSWORD('something'),
                     'Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y')
     mysql> INSERT INTO user VALUES('%','monty',PASSWORD('something'),
                     'Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y')
     mysql> INSERT INTO user SET Host='localhost',User='admin',
                      Reload_priv='Y', Process_priv='Y';
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
                             VALUES('localhost','dummy','');
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Depending on your *MySQL* version, you may have to use a different
number of `'Y'' values above (versions prior to 3.22.11 had fewer
privilege columns).  For the `admin' user, the more readable extended
`INSERT' syntax that is available starting with 3.22.11 is used.

Note that to set up a superuser, you need only create a `user' table
entry with the privilege fields set to `'Y''.  No `db' or `host' table
entries are necessary.

The privilege columns in the `user' table were not set explicitly in the
last `INSERT' statement (for the `dummy' user), so those columns are
assigned the default value of `'N''.  This is the same thing that
`GRANT USAGE' does.

The following example adds a user `custom' who can connect from hosts
`localhost', `server.domain' and `whitehouse.gov'.  He wants to access
the `bankaccount' database only from `localhost', the `expenses'
database only from `whitehouse.gov' and the `customer' database from
all three hosts.  He wants to use the password `stupid' from all three
hosts.

To set up this user's privileges using `GRANT' statements, run these
commands:

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
                ON bankaccount.*
                TO custom@localhost
                IDENTIFIED BY 'stupid';
     mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
                ON expenses.*
                TO custom@whitehouse.gov
                IDENTIFIED BY 'stupid';
     mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
                ON customer.*
                TO custom@'%'
                IDENTIFIED BY 'stupid';

To set up the user's privileges by modifying the grant tables directly,
run these commands (note the `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' at the end):

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
            VALUES('localhost','custom',PASSWORD('stupid'));
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
            VALUES('server.domain','custom',PASSWORD('stupid'));
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
            VALUES('whitehouse.gov','custom',PASSWORD('stupid'));
     mysql> INSERT INTO db
            (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,
             Create_priv,Drop_priv)
            VALUES
            ('localhost','bankaccount','custom','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> INSERT INTO db
            (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,
             Create_priv,Drop_priv)
            VALUES
            ('whitehouse.gov','expenses','custom','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> INSERT INTO db
            (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,
             Create_priv,Drop_priv)
            VALUES('%','customer','custom','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

The first three `INSERT' statements add `user' table entries that allow
user `custom' to connect from the various hosts with the given
password, but grant no permissions to him (all privileges are set to the
default value of `'N'').  The next three `INSERT' statements add `db'
table entries that grant privileges to `custom' for the `bankaccount',
`expenses' and `customer' databases, but only when accessed from the
proper hosts.  As usual, when the grant tables are modified directly,
the server must be told to reload them (with `FLUSH PRIVILEGES') so
that the privilege changes take effect.

If you want to give a specific user access from any machine in a given
domain, you can issue a `GRANT' statement like the following:

     mysql> GRANT ...
                ON *.*
                TO myusername@"%.mydomainname.com"
                IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword';

To do the same thing by modifying the grant tables directly, do this:

     mysql> INSERT INTO user VALUES ('%.mydomainname.com', 'myusername',
                PASSWORD('mypassword'),...);
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

You can also use `xmysqladmin', `mysql_webadmin' and even `xmysql' to
insert, change and update values in the grant tables.  You can find
these utilities at the *MySQL* Contrib directory (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/).

How to set up passwords
=======================

The examples in the preceding sections illustrate an important
principle: when you store a non-empty password using `INSERT' or
`UPDATE' statements, you must use the `PASSWORD()' function to encrypt
it.  This is because the `user' table stores passwords in encrypted
form, not as plaintext.  If you forget that fact, you are likely to
attempt to set passwords like this:

     shell> mysql -u root mysql
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
            VALUES('%','jeffrey','biscuit');
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

The result is that the plaintext value `'biscuit'' is stored as the
password in the `user' table.  When the user `jeffrey' attempts to
connect to the server using this password, the `mysql' client encrypts
it with `PASSWORD()' and sends the result to the server.  The server
compares the value in the `user' table (which is the plaintext value
`'biscuit'') to the encrypted password (which is *not* `'biscuit'').
The comparison fails and the server rejects the connection:

     shell> mysql -u jeffrey -pbiscuit test
     Access denied

Since passwords must be encrypted when they are inserted in the `user'
table, the `INSERT' statement should have been specified like this
instead:

     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
            VALUES('%','jeffrey',PASSWORD('biscuit'));

You must also use the `PASSWORD()' function when you use `SET PASSWORD'
statements:

     mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR jeffrey@"%" = PASSWORD('biscuit');

If you set passwords using the `GRANT ... IDENTIFIED BY' statement or
the `mysqladmin password' command, the `PASSWORD()' function is
unnecessary.  They both take care of encrypting the password for you,
so you would specify a password of `'biscuit'' like this:

     mysql> GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO jeffrey@"%" IDENTIFIED BY 'biscuit';

or

     shell> mysqladmin -u jeffrey password biscuit

Note: `PASSWORD()' does not perform password encryption in the same way
that Unix passwords are encrypted.  You should not assume that if your
Unix password and your *MySQL* password are the same, `PASSWORD()' will
result in the same encrypted value as is stored in the Unix password
file.  *Note User names::.

Causes of `Access denied' errors
================================

If you encounter `Access denied' errors when you try to connect to the
*MySQL* server, the list below indicates some courses of action you can
take to correct the problem:

   * Did you run the `mysql_install_db' script after installing
     *MySQL*, to set up the initial grant table contents?  If not, do
     so.  *Note Default privileges::.  Test the initial privileges by
     executing this command:

          shell> mysql -u root test

     The server should let you connect without error.  You should also
     make sure you have a file `user.MYD' in the *MySQL* database
     directory.  Ordinarily, this is `PATH/var/mysql/user.MYD', where
     `PATH' is the pathname to the *MySQL* installation root.

   * After a fresh installation, you should connect to the server and
     set up your users and their access permissions:

          shell> mysql -u root mysql

     The server should let you connect because the *MySQL* `root' user
     has no password initially.  Since that is also a security risk,
     setting the `root' password is something you should do while
     you're setting up your other *MySQL* users.

     If you try to connect as `root' and get this error:

          Access denied for user: '@unknown' to database mysql

     this means that you don't have an entry in the `user' table with a
     `User' column value of `'root'' and that `mysqld' cannot resolve
     the hostname for your client.  In this case, you must restart the
     server with the `--skip-grant-tables' option and edit your
     `/etc/hosts' or `\windows\hosts' file to add a entry for your host.

   * If you updated an existing *MySQL* installation from a pre-3.22.11
     version to 3.22.11 or later, did you run the
     `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script?  If not, do so.  The
     structure of the grant tables changed with *MySQL* 3.22.11 when
     the `GRANT' statement became functional.

   * If you make changes to the grant tables directly (using `INSERT' or
     `UPDATE' statement) and your changes seem to be ignored, remember
     that you must issue a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement or execute a
     `mysqladmin flush-privileges' command to cause the server to
     reread the tables.  Otherwise your changes have no effect until
     the next time the server is restarted.  Remember that after you
     set the `root' password, you won't need to specify it until after
     you flush the privileges, because the server still won't know
     you've changed the password yet!

   * If your privileges seem to have changed in the middle of a
     session, it may be that a superuser has changed them.  Reloading
     the grant tables affects new client connections, but it also
     affects existing connections as indicated in *Note Privilege
     changes::.

   * For testing, start the `mysqld' daemon with the
     `--skip-grant-tables' option.  Then you can change the *MySQL*
     grant tables and use the `mysqlaccess' script to check whether or
     not your modifications have the desired effect.  When you are
     satisfied with your changes, execute `mysqladmin flush-privileges'
     to tell the `mysqld' server to start using the new grant tables.
     *Note:* Reloading the grant tables overrides the
     `--skip-grant-tables' option.  This allows you to tell the server
     to begin using the grant tables again without bringing it down and
     restarting it.

   * If you have access problems with a Perl, Python or ODBC program,
     try to connect to the server with `mysql -u user_name db_name' or
     `mysql -u user_name -pyour_pass db_name'.  If you are able to
     connect using the `mysql' client, there is a problem with your
     program and not with the access privileges.  (Notice that there is
     no space between `-p' and the password; you can also use the
     `--password=your_pass' syntax to specify the password.)

   * If you can't get your password to work, remember that you must use
     the `PASSWORD()' function if you set the password with the
     `INSERT', `UPDATE' or `SET PASSWORD' statements.  The `PASSWORD()'
     function is unnecessary if you specify the password using the
     `GRANT ... INDENTIFIED BY' statement or the `mysqladmin password'
     command.  *Note Passwords::.

   * `localhost' is a synonym for your local hostname, and is also the
     default host to which clients try to connect if you specify no host
     explicitly.  However, connections to `localhost' do not work if
     you are running on a system that uses MIT-pthreads (`localhost'
     connections are made using Unix sockets, which are not supported
     by MIT-pthreads).  To avoid this problem on such systems, you
     should use the `--host' option to name the server host explicitly.
     This will make a TCP/IP connection to the `mysqld' server.  In
     this case, you must have your real hostname in `user' table
     entries on the server host.  (This is true even if you are running
     a client program on the same host as the server.)

   * If you get an `Access denied' error when trying to connect to the
     database with `mysql -u user_name db_name', you may have a problem
     with the `user' table. Check this by executing `mysql -u root
     mysql' and issuing this SQL statement:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM user;

     The result should include an entry with the `Host' and `User'
     columns matching your computer's hostname and your *MySQL* user
     name.

   * The `Access denied' error message will tell you who you are trying
     to log in as, the host from which you are trying to connect, and
     whether or not you were using a password. Normally, you should
     have one entry in the `user' table that exactly matches the
     hostname and user name that were given in the error message.

   * If you get the following error when you try to connect from a
     different host than the one on which the *MySQL* server is
     running, then there is no row in the `user' table that matches
     that host:

          Host ... is not allowed to connect to this MySQL server

     You can fix this by using the command line tool `mysql' (on the
     server host!) to add a row to the `user' table for the
     user/hostname combination from which you are trying to connect.
     If you are not running *MySQL* 3.22 and you don't know the IP
     number or hostname of the machine from which you are connecting,
     you should put an entry with `'%'' as the `Host' column value in
     the `user' table and restart `mysqld' with the `--log' option on
     the server machine.  After trying to connect from the client
     machine, the information in the *MySQL* log will indicate how you
     really did connect.  (Then replace the `'%'' in the `user' table
     entry with the actual hostname that shows up in the log.
     Otherwise, you'll have a system that is insecure.)

   * If `mysql -u root test' works but `mysql -h your_hostname -u root
     test' results in `Access denied', then you may not have the
     correct name for your host in the `user' table.  A common problem
     here is that the `Host' value in the user table entry specifies an
     unqualified hostname, but your system's name resolution routines
     return a fully-qualified domain name (or vice-versa).  For
     example, if you have an entry with host `'tcx'' in the `user'
     table, but your DNS tells *MySQL* that your hostname is
     `'tcx.subnet.se'', the entry will not work. Try adding an entry to
     the `user' table that contains the IP number of your host as the
     `Host' column value.  (Alternatively, you could add an entry to the
     `user' table with a `Host' value that contains a wildcard--for
     example, `'tcx.%''.  However, use of hostnames ending with `%' is
     *insecure* and is *not* recommended!)

   * If `mysql -u user_name test' works but `mysql -u user_name
     other_db_name' doesn't work, you don't have an entry for
     `other_db_name' listed in the `db' table.

   * If `mysql -u user_name db_name' works when executed on the server
     machine, but `mysql -u host_name -u user_name db_name' doesn't
     work when executed on another client machine, you don't have the
     client machine listed in the `user' table or the `db' table.

   * If you can't figure out why you get `Access denied', remove from
     the `user' table all entries that have `Host' values containing
     wildcards (entries that contain `%' or `_').  A very common error
     is to insert a new entry with `Host'=`'%'' and `User'=`'some
     user'', thinking that this will allow you to specify `localhost'
     to connect from the same machine.  The reason that this doesn't
     work is that the default privileges include an entry with
     `Host'=`'localhost'' and `User'=`'''.  Since that entry has a
     `Host' value `'localhost'' that is more specific than `'%'', it is
     used in preference to the new entry when connecting from
     `localhost'!  The correct procedure is to insert a second entry
     with `Host'=`'localhost'' and `User'=`'some_user'', or to remove
     the entry with with `Host'=`'localhost'' and `User'=`'''.

   * If you get the following error, you may have a problem with the
     `db' or `host' table:

          Access to database denied

     If the entry selected from the `db' table has an empty value in the
     `Host' column, make sure there are one or more corresponding
     entries in the `host' table specifying which hosts the `db' table
     entry applies to.

     If you get the error when using the SQL commands `SELECT ...  INTO
     OUTFILE' or `LOAD DATA INFILE', your entry in the `user' table
     probably doesn't have the *file* privilege enabled.

   * Remember that client programs will use connection parameters
     specified in configuration files or environment variables.  If a
     client seems to be sending the wrong default connection parameters
     when you don't specify them on the command line, check your
     environment and the `.my.cnf' file in your home directory.  You
     might also check the system-wide *MySQL* configuration files,
     though it is far less likely that client connection parameters
     will be specified there. *Note Option files::.  If you get `Access
     denied' when you run a client without any options, make sure you
     haven't specified an old password in any of your option files!
     *Note Option files::.

   * If everything else fails, start the `mysqld' daemon with a
     debugging option (for example, `--debug=d,general,query'). This
     will print host and user information about attempted connections,
     as well as information about each command issued. *Note Debugging
     server::.

   * If you have any other problems with the *MySQL* grant tables and
     feel you must post the problem to the mailing list, always provide
     a dump of the *MySQL* grant tables. You can dump the tables with
     the `mysqldump mysql' command. As always, post your problem using
     the `mysqlbug' script.  In some cases you may restart `mysqld' with
     `--skip-grant-tables' to be able to run `mysqldump'.

MySQL language reference
************************

Literals: how to write strings and numbers
==========================================

Strings
-------

A string is a sequence of characters, surrounded by either single quote
(`'') or double quote (`"') characters (the later only if you don't run
in ANSI mode).  Examples:

     'a string'
     "another string"

Within a string, certain sequences have special meaning.  Each of these
sequences begins with a backslash (`\'), known as the *escape
character*.  *MySQL* recognizes the following escape sequences:

`\0'
     An ASCII 0 (`NUL') character.

`\n'
     A newline character.

`\t'
     A tab character.

`\r'
     A carriage return character.

`\b'
     A backspace character.

`\''
     A single quote (`'') character.

`\"'
     A double quote (`"') character.

`\\'
     A backslash (`\') character.

`\%'
     A `%' character. This is used to search for literal instances of
     `%' in contexts where `%' would otherwise be interpreted as a
     wildcard character.

`\_'
     A `_' character. This is used to search for literal instances of
     `_' in contexts where `_' would otherwise be interpreted as a
     wildcard character.

Note that if you use `\%' or `\%_' in some string contexts, these will
return the strings `\%' and `\_' and not `%' and `_'.

There are several ways to include quotes within a string:

   * A `'' inside a string quoted with `'' may be written as `'''.

   * A `"' inside a string quoted with `"' may be written as `""'.

   * You can precede the quote character with an escape character (`\').

   * A `'' inside a string quoted with `"' needs no special treatment
     and need not be doubled or escaped.  In the same way, `"' inside a
     string quoted with `'' needs no special treatment.

The `SELECT' statements shown below demonstrate how quoting and
escaping work:

     mysql> SELECT 'hello', '"hello"', '""hello""', 'hel''lo', '\'hello';
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     | hello | "hello" | ""hello"" | hel'lo | 'hello |
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     
     mysql> SELECT "hello", "'hello'", "''hello''", "hel""lo", "\"hello";
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     | hello | 'hello' | ''hello'' | hel"lo | "hello |
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     
     mysql> SELECT "This\nIs\nFour\nlines";
     +--------------------+
     | This
     Is
     Four
     lines |
     +--------------------+

If you want to insert binary data into a `BLOB' column, the following
characters must be represented by escape sequences:
`NUL'
     ASCII 0. You should represent this by `\0' (a backslash and an
     ASCII `0' character).

`\'
     ASCII 92, backslash.  Represent this by `\\'.

`''
     ASCII 39, single quote.  Represent this by `\''.

`"'
     ASCII 34, double quote.  Represent this by `\"'.

If you write C code, you can use the C API function
`mysql_escape_string()' to escape characters for the `INSERT'
statement.  *Note C API function overview::.  In Perl, you can use the
`quote' method of the `DBI' package to convert special characters to
the proper escape sequences.  *Note Perl `DBI' Class: Perl DBI Class.

You should use an escape function on any string that might contain any
of the special characters listed above!

Numbers
-------

Integers are represented as a sequence of digits. Floats use `.' as a
decimal separator.  Either type of number may be preceded by `-' to
indicate a negative value.

Examples of valid integers:

     1221
     0
     -32

Examples of valid floating-point numbers:

     294.42
     -32032.6809e+10
     148.00

An integer may be used in a floating-point context; it is interpreted
as the equivalent floating-point number.

Hexadecimal values
------------------

*MySQL* supports hexadecimal values.  In number context these acts like
an integer (64 bit precision). In string context these acts like a
binary string where each pair of hex digits is converted to a character.

     mysql> SELECT 0xa+0
            -> 10
     mysql> select 0x5061756c;
            -> Paul

Hexadecimal strings is often used by ODBC to give values for BLOB
columns.

`NULL' values
-------------

The `NULL' value means "no data" and is different from values such as
`0' for numeric types or the empty string for string types.  *Note
Problems with `NULL': Problems with NULL.

`NULL' may be represented by `\N' when using the text file import or
export formats (`LOAD DATA INFILE', `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE').  *Note
`LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

Database, table, index, column and alias names
----------------------------------------------

Database, table, index, column and alias names all follow the same
rules in *MySQL*:

Note that the rules changed starting with *MySQL* 3.23.6 when we
introduced quoting of identifiers (database, table and column names)
with ``' (`"' will also work to quote identifiers if you run in ANSI
mode).

*Identifier**max length*                                       *Allowed characters*                                     
Database    64                                                 Any character that is allowed in a directory name        
                                                               execpt `/'.                                              
Table       64                                                 Any character that is allowed in file name, except `/'   
                                                               or `.'                                                   
Column      64                                                 All characters                                           
Alias       255                                                All characters                                           

Note that in addition to the above, you can't have ASCII(0) or
ASCII(255) in an identifier.

Note that if the identifer is a restricted word or contains special
character you must always quote it with ``' when you use it:

     SELECT * from `select` where `select`.id > 100;

In previous versions of MySQL, the name rules are as follows:

   * A name may consist of alphanumeric characters from the current
     character set and also `_' and `$'. The default character set is
     ISO-8859-1 Latin1; this may be changed by recompiling *MySQL*.
     *Note Character sets::.

   * A name may start with any character that is legal in a name.  In
     particular, a name may start with a number (this differs from many
     other database systems!).  However, a name cannot consist *only*
     of numbers.

   * You cannot use the `.' character in names because it is used to
     extend the format by which you can refer to columns (see
     immediately below).

It is recommended that you do not use names like `1e', because an
expression like `1e+1' is ambiguous. It may be interpreted as the
expression `1e + 1' or as the number `1e+1'.

In *MySQL* you can refer to a column using any of the following forms:

*Column reference*        *Meaning*                                       
`col_name'                Column `col_name' from whichever table used in  
                          the query contains a column of that name        
`tbl_name.col_name'       Column `col_name' from table `tbl_name' of the  
                          current database                                
`db_name.tbl_name.col_name'Column `col_name' from table `tbl_name' of the  
                          database `db_name'.  This form is available in  
                          *MySQL* 3.22 or later.                          
``column_name`'           A column that is a keyword or contains special  
                          characters.                                     

You need not specify a `tbl_name' or `db_name.tbl_name' prefix for a
column reference in a statement unless the reference would be ambiguous.
For example, suppose tables `t1' and `t2' each contain a column `c',
and you retrieve `c' in a `SELECT' statement that uses both `t1' and
`t2'.  In this case, `c' is ambiguous because it is not unique among
the tables used in the statement, so you must indicate which table you
mean by writing `t1.c' or `t2.c'.  Similarly, if you are retrieving
from a table `t' in database `db1' and from a table `t' in database
`db2', you must refer to columns in those tables as `db1.t.col_name'
and `db2.t.col_name'.

The syntax `.tbl_name' means the table `tbl_name' in the current
database.  This syntax is accepted for ODBC compatibility, because some
ODBC programs prefix table names with a `.' character.

Case sensitivity in names
.........................

In *MySQL*, databases and tables correspond to directories and files
within those directories.  Consequently, the case sensitivity of the
underlying operating system determines the case sensitivity of database
and table names.  This means database and table names are case
sensitive in Unix and case insensitive in Win32.

*Note:* Although database and table names are case insensitive for
Win32, you should not refer to a given database or table using different
cases within the same query.  The following query would not work
because it refers to a table both as `my_table' and as `MY_TABLE':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE MY_TABLE.col=1;

Column names are case insensitive in all cases.

Aliases on tables are case sensitive.  The following query would not
work because it refers to the alias both as `a' and as `A':

     mysql> SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name AS a
                WHERE a.col_name = 1 OR A.col_name = 2;

Aliases on columns are case insensitive.

User variables
==============

*MySQL* supports thread specific variables with the `@variablename'
syntax.  A variable name may consist of alphanumeric characters from
the current character set and also `_', `$', and `.' . The default
character set is ISO-8859-1 Latin1; this may be changed by recompiling
*MySQL*. *Note Character sets::.

Variables don't have to be initialized.  They contain `NULL' by default
and can store an integer, real or string value.  All variables for a
thread are automatically freed when the thread exits.

You can set a variable with the `SET' syntax:

     SET @variable= { integer expression | real expression | string expression }
     [,@variable= ...].

You can also set a variable in an expression with the `@variable:=expr'
syntax:

     select @t1:=(@t2:=1)+@t3:=4,@t1,@t2,@t3;
     +----------------------+------+------+------+
     | @t1:=(@t2:=1)+@t3:=4 | @t1  | @t2  | @t3  |
     +----------------------+------+------+------+
     |                    5 |    5 |    1 |    4 |
     +----------------------+------+------+------+

(We had to use the `:=' syntax here as `=' was reserved for
comparisons.)

User variables may be used where expressions are allowed.  Note that
this does not currently include use in contexts where a number is
explicitly required, such as in the `LIMIT' clause of a `SELECT'
statement, or the `IGNORE number LINES' clause of a `LOAD DATA'
statement.

Column types
============

*MySQL* supports a number of column types, which may be grouped into
three categories: numeric types, date and time types, and string
(character) types.  This section first gives an overview of the types
available and summarizes the storage requirements for each column type,
then provides a more detailed description of the properties of the
types in each category.  The overview is intentionally brief.  The more
detailed descriptions should be consulted for additional information
about particular column types, such as the allowable formats in which
you can specify values.

The column types supported by *MySQL* are listed below.  The following
code letters are used in the descriptions:

`M'
     Indicates the maximum display size.  The maximum legal display
     size is 255.

`D'
     Applies to floating-point types and indicates the number of digits
     following the decimal point.  The maximum possible value is 30, but
     should be no greater than `M'-2.

Square brackets (`[' and `]') indicate parts of type specifiers that
are optional.

Note that if you specify `ZEROFILL' for a column, *MySQL* will
automatically add the `UNSIGNED' attribute to the column.

`TINYINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A very small integer. The signed range is `-128' to `127'. The
     unsigned range is `0' to `255'.

`SMALLINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A small integer. The signed range is `-32768' to `32767'. The
     unsigned range is `0' to `65535'.

`MEDIUMINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A medium-size integer. The signed range is `-8388608' to
     `8388607'. The unsigned range is `0' to `16777215'.

`INT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A normal-size integer. The signed range is `-2147483648' to
     `2147483647'.  The unsigned range is `0' to `4294967295'.

`INTEGER[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     This is a synonym for `INT'.

`BIGINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A large integer. The signed range is `-9223372036854775808' to
     `9223372036854775807'. The unsigned range is `0' to
     `18446744073709551615'.  Note that all arithmetic is done using
     signed `BIGINT' or `DOUBLE' values, so you shouldn't use unsigned
     big integers larger than `9223372036854775807' (63 bits) except
     with bit functions!  Note that `-', `+' and `*' will use `BIGINT'
     arithmetic when both arguments are `INTEGER' values!  This means
     that if you multiply two big integers (or results from functions
     that return integers) you may get unexpected results if the result
     is larger than `9223372036854775807'.

     A floating-point number. Cannot be unsigned.  `precision' can be
     `<=24' for a single precision floating point number and between 25
     and 53 for a double precision floating point number.  these types
     are like the `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE' types described immediately
     below. `FLOAT(X)' have the same ranges as the corresponding
     `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE' types, but the display size and number of
     decimals is undefined.

     In *MySQL* 3.23, this is a true floating point value.  In earlier
     *MySQL* versions, `FLOAT(precision)' always has 2 decimals.

     This syntax is provided for ODBC compatibility.

`FLOAT[(M,D)] [ZEROFILL]'
     A small (single-precision) floating-point number. Cannot be
     unsigned.  Allowable values are `-3.402823466E+38' to
     `-1.175494351E-38', `0' and `1.175494351E-38' to
     `3.402823466E+38'.  The M is the display width and D is the number
     of decimals.  `FLOAT' without an argument or with an argument of
     <= 24 stands for a single-precision floating point number.

`DOUBLE[(M,D)] [ZEROFILL]'
     A normal-size (double-precision) floating-point number. Cannot be
     unsigned. Allowable values are `-1.7976931348623157E+308' to
     `-2.2250738585072014E-308', `0' and `2.2250738585072014E-308' to
     `1.7976931348623157E+308'.  The M is the display width and D is
     the number of decimals.  `DOUBLE' without an argument or
     `FLOAT(X)' where 25 <= X <= 53 stands for a double-precision
     floating point number.

`DOUBLE PRECISION[(M,D)] [ZEROFILL]'
`REAL[(M,D)] [ZEROFILL]'
     These are synonyms for `DOUBLE'.

`DECIMAL[(M[,D])] [ZEROFILL]'
     An unpacked floating-point number.  Cannot be unsigned.  Behaves
     like a `CHAR' column: "unpacked" means the number is stored as a
     string, using one character for each digit of the value.  The
     decimal point, and, for negative numbers, the `-' sign is not
     counted in M.  If `D' is 0, values will have no decimal point or
     fractional part.  The maximum range of `DECIMAL' values is the
     same as for `DOUBLE', but the actual range for a given `DECIMAL'
     column may be constrained by the choice of `M' and `D'.

     If `D' is left out it's set to 0. If `M' is left out it's set to
     10.

     Note that in *MySQL* 3.22 the `M' argument includes the sign and
     the decimal point.

`NUMERIC(M,D) [ZEROFILL]'
     This is a synonym for `DECIMAL'.

`DATE'
     A date.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01'' to `'9999-12-31''.
     *MySQL* displays `DATE' values in `'YYYY-MM-DD'' format, but
     allows you to assign values to `DATE' columns using either strings
     or numbers.

`DATETIME'
     A date and time combination.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01
     00:00:00'' to `'9999-12-31 23:59:59''.  *MySQL* displays
     `DATETIME' values in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' format, but allows you
     to assign values to `DATETIME' columns using either strings or
     numbers.

`TIMESTAMP[(M)]'
     A timestamp.  The range is `'1970-01-01 00:00:00'' to sometime in
     the year `2037'.  *MySQL* displays `TIMESTAMP' values in
     `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS', `YYMMDDHHMMSS', `YYYYMMDD' or `YYMMDD' format,
     depending on whether `M' is `14' (or missing), `12', `8' or `6',
     but allows you to assign values to `TIMESTAMP' columns using
     either strings or numbers.  A `TIMESTAMP' column is useful for
     recording the date and time of an `INSERT' or `UPDATE' operation
     because it is automatically set to the date and time of the most
     recent operation if you don't give it a value yourself.  You can
     also set it to the current date and time by assigning it a `NULL'
     value.  *Note Date and time types::.

`TIME'
     A time.  The range is `'-838:59:59'' to `'838:59:59''.  *MySQL*
     displays `TIME' values in `'HH:MM:SS'' format, but allows you to
     assign values to `TIME' columns using either strings or numbers.

`YEAR[(2|4)]'
     A year in 2- or 4- digit formats (default is 4-digit).  The
     allowable values are `1901' to `2155', and `0000' in the 4 year
     format and 1970-2069 if you use the 2 digit format (70-69).
     *MySQL* displays `YEAR' values in `YYYY' format, but allows you to
     assign values to `YEAR' columns using either strings or numbers.
     (The `YEAR' type is new in *MySQL* 3.22.)

`CHAR(M) [BINARY]'
     A fixed-length string that is always right-padded with spaces to
     the specified length when stored. The range of `M' is 1 to 255
     characters.  Trailing spaces are removed when the value is
     retrieved. `CHAR' values are sorted and compared in
     case-insensitive fashion according to the default character set
     unless the `BINARY' keyword is given.

     `NATIONAL CHAR' (short form `NCHAR') is the ANSI SQL way to define
     that a CHAR column should use the default CHARACTER set.  This is
     default in `MySQL'.

     `CHAR' is a shorthand for `CHARACTER'.

     *MySQL* allows you to create a column of type `CHAR(0)'. This is
     mainly useful when you have to be compliant with some old
     applications that depend on that a column exists but never
     actually uses the value.  This is also quite nice when you need a
     column that only can take 2 values: A `CHAR(0)', that is not
     defined as `NOT NULL', will only occupy one bit and can only take
     2 values: `NULL' or `""'.

`[NATIONAL] VARCHAR(M) [BINARY]'
     A variable-length string.  Note: Trailing spaces are removed when
     the value is stored (this differs from the ANSI SQL
     specification). The range of `M' is 1 to 255 characters.
     `VARCHAR' values are sorted and compared in case-insensitive
     fashion unless the `BINARY' keyword is given. *Note Silent column
     changes::.

     `VARCHAR' is a shorthand for `CHARACTER VARYING'.

`TINYBLOB'
`TINYTEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 255 (2^8 - 1)
     characters. *Note Silent column changes::.

`BLOB'
`TEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 65535 (2^16 - 1)
     characters. *Note Silent column changes::.

`MEDIUMBLOB'
`MEDIUMTEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 16777215 (2^24
     - 1) characters. *Note Silent column changes::.

`LONGBLOB'
`LONGTEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 4294967295
     (2^32 - 1) characters. *Note Silent column changes::.

`ENUM('value1','value2',...)'
     An enumeration.  A string object that can have only one value,
     chosen from the list of values `'value1'', `'value2'', `...', or
     `NULL'.  An `ENUM' can have a maximum of 65535 distinct values.

`SET('value1','value2',...)'
     A set.  A string object that can have zero or more values, each of
     which must be chosen from the list of values `'value1'',
     `'value2'', `...' A `SET' can have a maximum of 64 members.

Column type storage requirements
--------------------------------

The storage requirements for each of the column types supported by
*MySQL* are listed below by category.

Numeric types
-------------

*Column type*             *Storage required*                              
`TINYINT'                 1 byte                                          
`SMALLINT'                2 bytes                                         
`MEDIUMINT'               3 bytes                                         
`INT'                     4 bytes                                         
`INTEGER'                 4 bytes                                         
`BIGINT'                  8 bytes                                         
`FLOAT(X)'                4 if X <= 24 or 8 if 25 <= X <= 53              
`FLOAT'                   4 bytes                                         
`DOUBLE'                  8 bytes                                         
`DOUBLE PRECISION'        8 bytes                                         
`REAL'                    8 bytes                                         
`DECIMAL(M,D)'            `M' bytes (`D'+2, if `M < D')                   
`NUMERIC(M,D)'            `M' bytes (`D'+2, if `M < D')                   

Date and time types
-------------------

*Column type*             *Storage required*                              
`DATE'                    3 bytes                                         
`DATETIME'                8 bytes                                         
`TIMESTAMP'               4 bytes                                         
`TIME'                    3 bytes                                         
`YEAR'                    1 byte                                          

String types
------------

*Column type*             *Storage required*                              
`CHAR(M)'                 `M' bytes, `1 <= M <= 255'                      
`VARCHAR(M)'              `L'+1 bytes, where `L <= M' and `1 <= M <= 255' 
`TINYBLOB', `TINYTEXT'    `L'+1 bytes, where `L' < 2^8                    
`BLOB', `TEXT'            `L'+2 bytes, where `L' < 2^16                   
`MEDIUMBLOB',             `L'+3 bytes, where `L' < 2^24                   
`MEDIUMTEXT'                                                              
`LONGBLOB', `LONGTEXT'    `L'+4 bytes, where `L' < 2^32                   
`ENUM('value1','value2',...)'1 or 2 bytes, depending on the number of        
                          enumeration values (65535 values maximum)       
`SET('value1','value2',...)'1, 2, 3, 4 or 8 bytes, depending on the number  
                          of set members (64 members maximum)             

`VARCHAR' and the `BLOB' and `TEXT' types are variable-length types,
for which the storage requirements depend on the actual length of
column values (represented by `L' in the preceding table), rather than
on the type's maximum possible size.  For example, a `VARCHAR(10)'
column can hold a string with a maximum length of 10 characters.  The
actual storage required is the length of the string (`L'), plus 1 byte
to record the length of the string.  For the string `'abcd'', `L' is 4
and the storage requirement is 5 bytes.

The `BLOB' and `TEXT' types require 1, 2, 3 or 4 bytes to record the
length of the column value, depending on the maximum possible length of
the type.

If a table includes any variable-length column types, the record format
will also be variable-length.  Note that when a table is created,
*MySQL* may under certain conditions change a column from a
variable-length type to a fixed-length type, or vice-versa.  *Note
Silent column changes::.

The size of an `ENUM' object is determined by the number of different
enumeration values.  1 byte is used for enumerations with up to 255
possible values.  2 bytes are used for enumerations with up to 65535
values.

The size of a `SET' object is determined by the number of different set
members.  If the set size is `N', the object occupies `(N+7)/8' bytes,
rounded up to 1, 2, 3, 4 or 8 bytes.  A `SET' can have a maximum of 64
members.

Numeric types
-------------

*MySQL* supports all of the ANSI/ISO SQL92 numeric types.  These types
include the exact numeric data types (`NUMERIC', `DECIMAL', `INTEGER',
and `SMALLINT'), as well as the approximate numeric data types
(`FLOAT', `REAL', and `DOUBLE PRECISION'). The keyword `INT' is a
synonym for `INTEGER', and the keyword `DEC' is a synonym for `DECIMAL'.

The `NUMERIC' and `DECIMAL' types are implemented as the same type by
*MySQL*, as permitted by the SQL92 standard.  They are used for values
for which it is important to preserve exact precision, for example with
monetary data.  When declaring a column of one of these types the
precision and scale can be (and usually is) specified; for example:

         salary DECIMAL(9,2)

In this example, `9' (`precision') represents the number of significant
decimal digits which will be stored for values, and `2' (`scale')
represents the number of digits which will be stored following the
decimal point.  In this case, therefore, the range of values which can
be stored in the `salary' column is from `-9999999.99' to `9999999.99'.
In ANSI/ISO SQL92, the syntax `DECIMAL(p)' is equivalent to
`DECIMAL(p,0)'.  Similarly, the syntax `DECIMAL' is equivalent to
`DECIMAL(p,0)', where the implementation is allowed to decide the value
of `p'.  *MySQL* does not currently support either of these variant
forms of the `DECIMAL'/`NUMERIC' data types.  This is not generally a
serious problem, as the principal benefits of these types derive from
the ability to control both precision and scale explicitly.

`DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' values are stored as strings, rather than as
binary floating point numbers, in order to preserve the decimal
precision of those values.  One character is used for each digit of the
value, the decimal point (if `scale' > 0) and the `-' sign (for
negative numbers).  If `scale' is 0, `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' values
contain no decimal point or fractional part.

The maximum range of `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' values is the same as for
`DOUBLE', but the actual range for a given `DECIMAL' or `NUMERIC'
column can be constrained by the `precision' or `scale' for a given
column.  When such a column is assigned a value with more digits
following the decimal point than are allowed by the specified `scale',
the value is rounded to that `scale'.  When a `DECIMAL' or `NUMERIC'
column is assigned a value whose magnitude exceeds the range implied by
the specified (or defaulted) `precision' and `scale', *MySQL* stores
the value representing the corresponding end point of that range.

As an extension to the ANSI/ISO SQL92 standard, *MySQL* also supports
the integral types `TINYINT', `MEDIUMINT', and `BIGINT' as listed in
the tables above.  Another extension is supported by *MySQL* for
optionally specifying the display width of an integral value in
parentheses following the base keyword for the type (for example,
`INT(4)').  This optional width specification is used to left-pad the
display of values whose width is less than the width specified for the
column, but does not constrain the range of values which can be stored
in the column, nor the number of digits which will be displayed for
values whose width exceeds that specified for the column.  When used in
conjunction with the optional extension attribute `ZEROFILL' the
default padding of spaces is replaced with zeroes.  For example, for a
column declared as `INT(5) ZEROFILL', a value of `4' is retrieved as
`00004'.  Note that if you store larger values than the display width
in an integral column, you may experience problems when *MySQL*
generates temporary tables for some complicated joins as in these case
*MySQL* trust that the data did fit into the original column width.

All integral types can have an optional (non-standard) attribute
`UNSIGNED'.  Unsigned values can be used when you want to allow only
positive numbers in a column and you need a little bigger numeric range
for the column.

The `FLOAT' type is used to represent approximate numeric data types.
The ANSI/ISO SQL92 standard allows an optional specification of the
precision (but not the range of the exponent) in bits following the
keyword `FLOAT' in parentheses.  The *MySQL* implementation also
supports this optional precision specification.  When the keyword
`FLOAT' is used for a column type without a precision specification,
*MySQL* uses four bytes to store the values.  A variant syntax is also
supported, with two numbers given in parentheses following the `FLOAT'
keyword.  With this option, the first number continues to represent the
storage requirements for the value in bytes, and the second number
specifies the number of digits to be stored and displayed following the
decimal point (as with `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC').  When *MySQL* is asked
to store a number for such a column with more decimal digits following
the decimal point than specified for the column, the value is rounded
to eliminate the extra digits when the value is stored.

The `REAL' and `DOUBLE PRECISION' types do not accept precision
specifications.  As an extension to the ANSI/ISO SQL92 standard,
*MySQL* recognizes `DOUBLE' as a synonym for the `DOUBLE PRECISION'
type.  In contrast with the standard's requirement that the precision
for `REAL' be smaller than that used for `DOUBLE PRECISION', *MySQL*
implements both as 8-byte double-precision floating point values (when
running in not "Ansi mode").  For maximum portability, code requiring
storage of approximate numeric data values should use `FLOAT' or
`DOUBLE PRECISION' with no specification of precision or number of
decimal points.

When asked to store a value in a numeric column that is outside the
column type's allowable range, *MySQL* clips the value to the
appropriate endpoint of the range and stores the resulting value
instead.

For example, the range of an `INT' column is `-2147483648' to
`2147483647'.  If you try to insert `-9999999999' into an `INT' column,
the value is clipped to the lower endpoint of the range, and
`-2147483648' is stored instead. Similarly, if you try to insert
`9999999999', `2147483647' is stored instead.

If the `INT' column is `UNSIGNED', the size of the column's range is
the same but its endpoints shift up to `0' and `4294967295'.  If you
try to store `-9999999999' and `9999999999', the values stored in the
column become `0' and `4294967296'.

Conversions that occur due to clipping are reported as "warnings" for
`ALTER TABLE', `LOAD DATA INFILE', `UPDATE' and multi-row `INSERT'
statements.

Date and time types
-------------------

The date and time types are `DATETIME', `DATE', `TIMESTAMP', `TIME' and
`YEAR'.  Each of these has a range of legal values, as well as a "zero"
value that is used when you specify a really illegal value.  Note that
MySQL allows you to store certain 'not strictly' legal date values, for
example `1999-11-31'.  The reason for this is that we think it's the
responsibility of the application to handle date checking, not the SQL
servers.  To make the date checking 'fast', *MySQL* only checks that
the month is in the range of 0-12 and the day is in the range of 0-31.
The above ranges are defined this way because *MySQL* allows you to
store, in a `DATE' or `DATETIME' column, dates where the day or
month-day are zero.  This is extremely useful for applications that
need to store a birth-date for which you don't know the exact date. In
this case you simply store the date like `1999-00-00' or `1999-01-00'.
(You can of course not expect to get a correct value from functions like
`DATE_SUB()' or `DATE_ADD' for dates like these).

Here are some general considerations to keep in mind when working with
date and time types:

   * *MySQL* retrieves values for a given date or time type in a
     standard format, but it attempts to interpret a variety of formats
     for values that you supply (e.g., when you specify a value to be
     assigned to or compared to a date or time type).  Nevertheless,
     only the formats described in the following sections are
     supported.  It is expected that you will supply legal values, and
     unpredictable results may occur if you use values in other formats.

   * Although *MySQL* tries to interpret values in several formats, it
     always expects the year part of date values to be leftmost.  Dates
     must be given in year-month-day order (e.g., `'98-09-04''), rather
     than in the month-day-year or day-month-year orders commonly used
     elsewhere (e.g., `'09-04-98'', `'04-09-98'').

   * *MySQL* automatically converts a date or time type value to a
     number if the value is used in a numeric context, and vice versa.

   * When *MySQL* encounters a value for a date or time type that is
     out of range or otherwise illegal for the type (see start of this
     section), it converts the value to the "zero" value for that type.
     (The exception is that out-of-range `TIME' values are clipped to
     the appropriate endpoint of the `TIME' range.)  The table below
     shows the format of the "zero" value for each type:

     *Column type*        *"Zero" value*                                  
     `DATETIME'           `'0000-00-00 00:00:00''                         
     `DATE'               `'0000-00-00''                                  
     `TIMESTAMP'          `00000000000000' (length depends on display     
                          size)                                           
     `TIME'               `'00:00:00''                                    
     `YEAR'               `0000'                                          

   * The "zero" values are special, but you can store or refer to them
     explicitly using the values shown in the table.  You can also do
     this using the values `'0'' or `0', which are easier to write.

   * "Zero" date or time values used through *MyODBC* are converted
     automatically to `NULL' in *MyODBC* 2.50.12 and above, because
     ODBC can't handle such values.

Y2K issues and date types
.........................

*MySQL* itself is Y2K-safe (*note Year 2000 compliance::.), but input
values presented to *MySQL* may not be.  Any input containing 2-digit
year values is ambiguous, since the century is unknown.  Such values
must be interpreted into 4-digit form since *MySQL* stores years
internally using four digits.

For `DATETIME', `DATE', `TIMESTAMP' and `YEAR' types, *MySQL*
interprets dates with ambiguous year values using the following rules:

   * Year values in the range `00-69' are converted to `2000-2069'.

   * Year values in the range `70-99' are converted to `1970-1999'.

Remember that these rules provide only reasonable guesses as to what
your data mean.  If the heuristics used by *MySQL* don't produce the
correct values, you should provide unambiguous input containing 4-digit
year values.

`ORDER BY' will sort 2 digit `YEAR/DATE/DATETIME' types properly.

Note also that some functions like MIN() and MAX() will convert a
`TIMESTAMP/DATE' to a number. This means that a timestamp with a 2
digit year will not work properly with these functions.  The fix in this
case is to convert the `TIMESTAMP/DATE' to 4 digit year format or use
something like `MIN(DATE_ADD(timestamp,INTERVAL 0 DAYS))'.

The `DATETIME', `DATE' and `TIMESTAMP' types
............................................

The `DATETIME', `DATE' and `TIMESTAMP' types are related.  This section
describes their characteristics, how they are similar and how they
differ.

The `DATETIME' type is used when you need values that contain both date
and time information.  *MySQL* retrieves and displays `DATETIME' values
in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' format.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01
00:00:00'' to `'9999-12-31 23:59:59''.  ("Supported" means that
although earlier values might work, there is no guarantee that they
will.)

The `DATE' type is used when you need only a date value, without a time
part.  *MySQL* retrieves and displays `DATE' values in `'YYYY-MM-DD''
format.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01'' to `'9999-12-31''.

The `TIMESTAMP' column type provides a type that you can use to
automatically mark `INSERT' or `UPDATE' operations with the current
date and time.  If you have multiple `TIMESTAMP' columns, only the first
one is updated automatically.

Automatic updating of the first `TIMESTAMP' column occurs under any of
the following conditions:

   * The column is not specified explicitly in an `INSERT' or `LOAD
     DATA INFILE' statement.

   * The column is not specified explicitly in an `UPDATE' statement
     and some other column changes value.  (Note that an `UPDATE' that
     sets a column to the value it already has will not cause the
     `TIMESTAMP' column to be updated, because if you set a column to
     its current value, *MySQL* ignores the update for efficiency.)

   * You explicitly set the `TIMESTAMP' column to `NULL'.

`TIMESTAMP' columns other than the first may also be set to the current
date and time.  Just set the column to `NULL', or to `NOW()'.

You can set any `TIMESTAMP' column to a value different than the current
date and time by setting it explicitly to the desired value.  This is
true even for the first `TIMESTAMP' column.  You can use this property
if, for example, you want a `TIMESTAMP' to be set to the current date
and time when you create a row, but not to be changed whenever the row
is updated later:

   * Let *MySQL* set the column when the row is created.  This will
     initialize it to the current date and time.

   * When you perform subsequent updates to other columns in the row,
     set the `TIMESTAMP' column explicitly to its current value.

On the other hand, you may find it just as easy to use a `DATETIME'
column that you initialize to `NOW()' when the row is created and leave
alone for subsequent updates.

`TIMESTAMP' values may range from the beginning of 1970 to sometime in
the year 2037, with a resolution of one second.  Values are displayed as
numbers.

The format in which *MySQL* retrieves and displays `TIMESTAMP' values
depends on the display size, as illustrated by the table below.  The
`full' `TIMESTAMP' format is 14 digits, but `TIMESTAMP' columns may be
created with shorter display sizes:

*Column type*          *Display format*                                   
`TIMESTAMP(14)'        `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS'                                   
`TIMESTAMP(12)'        `YYMMDDHHMMSS'                                     
`TIMESTAMP(10)'        `YYMMDDHHMM'                                       
`TIMESTAMP(8)'         `YYYYMMDD'                                         
`TIMESTAMP(6)'         `YYMMDD'                                           
`TIMESTAMP(4)'         `YYMM'                                             
`TIMESTAMP(2)'         `YY'                                               

All `TIMESTAMP' columns have the same storage size, regardless of
display size.  The most common display sizes are 6, 8, 12, and 14.  You
can specify an arbitrary display size at table creation time, but
values of 0 or greater than 14 are coerced to 14.  Odd-valued sizes in
the range from 1 to 13 are coerced to the next higher even number.

You can specify `DATETIME', `DATE' and `TIMESTAMP' values using any of
a common set of formats:

   * As a string in either `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' or `'YY-MM-DD
     HH:MM:SS'' format.  A "relaxed" syntax is allowed--any punctuation
     character may be used as the delimiter between date parts or time
     parts.  For example, `'98-12-31 11:30:45'', `'98.12.31 11+30+45'',
     `'98/12/31 11*30*45'' and `'98@12@31 11^30^45'' are equivalent.

   * As a string in either `'YYYY-MM-DD'' or `'YY-MM-DD'' format.  A
     "relaxed" syntax is allowed here, too.  For example, `'98-12-31'',
     `'98.12.31'', `'98/12/31'' and `'98@12@31'' are equivalent.

   * As a string with no delimiters in either `'YYYYMMDDHHMMSS'' or
     `'YYMMDDHHMMSS'' format, provided that the string makes sense as a
     date.  For example, `'19970523091528'' and `'970523091528'' are
     interpreted as `'1997-05-23 09:15:28'', but `'971122459015'' is
     illegal (it has a nonsensical minute part) and becomes `'0000-00-00
     00:00:00''.

   * As a string with no delimiters in either `'YYYYMMDD'' or `'YYMMDD''
     format, provided that the string makes sense as a date.  For
     example, `'19970523'' and `'970523'' are interpreted as
     `'1997-05-23'', but `'971332'' is illegal (it has nonsensical month
     and day parts) and becomes `'0000-00-00''.

   * As a number in either `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' or `YYMMDDHHMMSS' format,
     provided that the number makes sense as a date.  For example,
     `19830905132800' and `830905132800' are interpreted as
     `'1983-09-05 13:28:00''.

   * As a number in either `YYYYMMDD' or `YYMMDD' format, provided that
     the number makes sense as a date.  For example, `19830905' and
     `830905' are interpreted as `'1983-09-05''.

   * As the result of a function that returns a value that is acceptable
     in a `DATETIME', `DATE' or `TIMESTAMP' context, such as `NOW()' or
     `CURRENT_DATE'.

Illegal `DATETIME', `DATE' or `TIMESTAMP' values are converted to the
"zero" value of the appropriate type (`'0000-00-00 00:00:00'',
`'0000-00-00'' or `00000000000000').

For values specified as strings that include date part delimiters, it
is not necessary to specify two digits for month or day values that are
less than `10'.  `'1979-6-9'' is the same as `'1979-06-09''.  Similarly,
for values specified as strings that include time part delimiters, it
is not necessary to specify two digits for hour, month or second values
that are less than `10'.  `'1979-10-30 1:2:3'' is the same as
`'1979-10-30 01:02:03''.

Values specified as numbers should be 6, 8, 12 or 14 digits long.  If
the number is 8 or 14 digits long, it is assumed to be in `YYYYMMDD' or
`YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format and that the year is given by the first 4
digits.  If the number is 6 or 12 digits long, it is assumed to be in
`YYMMDD' or `YYMMDDHHMMSS' format and that the year is given by the
first 2 digits.  Numbers that are not one of these lengths are
interpreted as though padded with leading zeros to the closest length.

Values specified as non-delimited strings are interpreted using their
length as given.  If the string is 8 or 14 characters long, the year is
assumed to be given by the first 4 characters.  Otherwise the year is
assumed to be given by the first 2 characters.  The string is
interpreted from left to right to find year, month, day, hour, minute
and second values, for as many parts as are present in the string.
This means you should not use strings that have fewer than 6
characters.  For example, if you specify `'9903'', thinking that will
represent March, 1999, you will find that *MySQL* inserts a "zero" date
into your table.  This is because the year and month values are `99'
and `03', but the day part is missing (zero), so the value is not a
legal date.

`TIMESTAMP' columns store legal values using the full precision with
which the value was specified, regardless of the display size.  This has
several implications:

   * Always specify year, month, and day, even if your column types are
     `TIMESTAMP(4)' or `TIMESTAMP(2)'.  Otherwise, the value will not
     be a legal date and `0' will be stored.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE' to widen a narrow `TIMESTAMP' column,
     information will be displayed that previously was "hidden".

   * Similarly, narrowing a `TIMESTAMP' column does not cause
     information to be lost, except in the sense that less information
     is shown when the values are displayed.

   * Although `TIMESTAMP' values are stored to full precision, the only
     function that operates directly on the underlying stored value is
     `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()'.  Other functions operate on the formatted
     retrieved value.  This means you cannot use functions such as
     `HOUR()' or `SECOND()' unless the relevant part of the `TIMESTAMP'
     value is included in the formatted value.  For example, the `HH'
     part of a `TIMESTAMP' column is not displayed unless the display
     size is at least 10, so trying to use `HOUR()' on shorter
     `TIMESTAMP' values produces a meaningless result.

You can to some extent assign values of one date type to an object of a
different date type.  However, there may be some alteration of the
value or loss of information:

   * If you assign a `DATE' value to a `DATETIME' or `TIMESTAMP'
     object, the time part of the resulting value is set to
     `'00:00:00'', because the `DATE' value contains no time
     information.

   * If you assign a `DATETIME' or `TIMESTAMP' value to a `DATE'
     object, the time part of the resulting value is deleted, because
     the `DATE' type stores no time information.

   * Remember that although `DATETIME', `DATE' and `TIMESTAMP' values
     all can be specified using the same set of formats, the types do
     not all have the same range of values.  For example, `TIMESTAMP'
     values cannot be earlier than `1970' or later than `2037'.  This
     means that a date such as `'1968-01-01'', while legal as a
     `DATETIME' or `DATE' value, is not a valid `TIMESTAMP' value and
     will be converted to `0' if assigned to such an object.

Be aware of certain pitfalls when specifying date values:

   * The relaxed format allowed for values specified as strings can be
     deceiving.  For example, a value such as `'10:11:12'' might look
     like a time value because of the `:' delimiter, but if used in a
     date context will be interpreted as the year `'2010-11-12''.  The
     value `'10:45:15'' will be converted to `'0000-00-00'' because
     `'45'' is not a legal month.

   * Year values specified as two digits are ambiguous, since the
     century is unknown.  *MySQL* interprets 2-digit year values using
     the following rules:

        - Year values in the range `00-69' are converted to `2000-2069'.

        - Year values in the range `70-99' are converted to `1970-1999'.

The `TIME' type
...............

*MySQL* retrieves and displays `TIME' values in `'HH:MM:SS'' format (or
`'HHH:MM:SS'' format for large hours values).  `TIME' values may range
from `'-838:59:59'' to `'838:59:59''.  The reason the hours part may be
so large is that the `TIME' type may be used not only to represent a
time of day (which must be less than 24 hours), but also elapsed time
or a time interval between two events (which may be much greater than
24 hours, or even negative).

You can specify `TIME' values in a variety of formats:

   * As a string in `'HH:MM:SS'' format.  A "relaxed" syntax is
     allowed--any punctuation character may be used as the delimiter
     between time parts.  For example, `'10:11:12'' and `'10.11.12''
     are equivalent.

   * As a string with no delimiters in `'HHMMSS'' format, provided that
     it makes sense as a time.  For example, `'101112'' is understood as
     `'10:11:12'', but `'109712'' is illegal (it has a nonsensical
     minute part) and becomes `'00:00:00''.

   * As a number in `HHMMSS' format, provided that it makes sense as a
     time.  For example, `101112' is understood as `'10:11:12''.

   * As the result of a function that returns a value that is acceptable
     in a `TIME' context, such as `CURRENT_TIME'.

For `TIME' values specified as strings that include a time part
delimiter, it is not necessary to specify two digits for hours, minutes
or seconds values that are less than `10'.  `'8:3:2'' is the same as
`'08:03:02''.

Be careful about assigning "short" `TIME' values to a `TIME' column.
*MySQL* interprets values using the assumption that the rightmost
digits represent seconds.  (*MySQL* interprets `TIME' values as elapsed
time, rather than as time of day.)  For example, you might think of
`'11:12'', `'1112'' and `1112' as meaning `'11:12:00'' (12 minutes
after 11 o'clock), but *MySQL* interprets them as `'00:11:12'' (11
minutes, 12 seconds).  Similarly, `'12'' and `12' are interpreted as
`'00:00:12''.

Values that lie outside the `TIME' range but are otherwise legal are
clipped to the appropriate endpoint of the range.  For example,
`'-850:00:00'' and `'850:00:00'' are converted to `'-838:59:59'' and
`'838:59:59''.

Illegal `TIME' values are converted to `'00:00:00''.  Note that since
`'00:00:00'' is itself a legal `TIME' value, there is no way to tell,
from a value of `'00:00:00'' stored in a table, whether the original
value was specified as `'00:00:00'' or whether it was illegal.

The `YEAR' type
...............

The `YEAR' type is a 1-byte type used for representing years.

*MySQL* retrieves and displays `YEAR' values in `YYYY' format.  The
range is `1901' to `2155'.

You can specify `YEAR' values in a variety of formats:

   * As a four-digit string in the range `'1901'' to `'2155''.

   * As a four-digit number in the range `1901' to `2155'.

   * As a two-digit string in the range `'00'' to `'99''.  Values in the
     ranges `'00'' to `'69'' and `'70'' to `'99'' are converted to
     `YEAR' values in the ranges `2000' to `2069' and `1970' to `1999'.

   * As a two-digit number in the range `1' to `99'.  Values in the
     ranges `1' to `69' and `70' to `99' are converted to `YEAR' values
     in the ranges `2001' to `2069' and `1970' to `1999'.  Note that
     the range for two-digit numbers is slightly different than the
     range for two-digit strings, since you cannot specify zero
     directly as a number and have it be interpreted as `2000'.  You
     *must* specify it as a string `'0'' or `'00'' or it will be
     interpreted as `0000'.

   * As the result of a function that returns a value that is acceptable
     in a `YEAR' context, such as `NOW()'.

Illegal `YEAR' values are converted to `0000'.

String types
------------

The string types are `CHAR', `VARCHAR', `BLOB', `TEXT', `ENUM' and
`SET'.

The `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' types
..............................

The `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' types are similar, but differ in the way they
are stored and retrieved.

The length of a `CHAR' column is fixed to the length that you declare
when you create the table.  The length can be any value between 1 and
255.  (As of MySQL 3.23, the length of `CHAR' may be 0 to 255.)  When
`CHAR' values are stored, they are right-padded with spaces to the
specified length.  When `CHAR' values are retrieved, trailing spaces are
removed.

Values in `VARCHAR' columns are variable-length strings.  You can
declare a `VARCHAR' column to be any length between 1 and 255, just as
for `CHAR' columns.  However, in contrast to `CHAR', `VARCHAR' values
are stored using only as many characters as are needed, plus one byte
to record the length.  Values are not padded; instead, trailing spaces
are removed when values are stored.  (This space removal differs from
the ANSI SQL specification.)

If you assign a value to a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column that exceeds the
column's maximum length, the value is truncated to fit.

The table below illustrates the differences between the two types of
columns by showing the result of storing various string values into
`CHAR(4)' and `VARCHAR(4)' columns:

*Value*        `CHAR(4)'   *Storage       `VARCHAR(4)'   *Storage required* 
                           required*                                        
`'''           `'    ''    4 bytes        `'''           1 byte             
`'ab''         `'ab  ''    4 bytes        `'ab''         3 bytes            
`'abcd''       `'abcd''    4 bytes        `'abcd''       5 bytes            
`'abcdefgh''   `'abcd''    4 bytes        `'abcd''       5 bytes            

The values retrieved from the `CHAR(4)' and `VARCHAR(4)' columns will
be the same in each case, because trailing spaces are removed from
`CHAR' columns upon retrieval.

Values in `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns are sorted and compared in
case-insensitive fashion, unless the `BINARY' attribute was specified
when the table was created.  The `BINARY' attribute means that column
values are sorted and compared in case-sensitive fashion according to
the ASCII order of the machine where the *MySQL* server is running.

The `BINARY' attribute is "sticky".  This means that if a column marked
`BINARY' is used in an expression, the whole expression is compared as a
`BINARY' value.

*MySQL* may silently change the type of a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column at
table creation time.  *Note Silent column changes::.

The `BLOB' and `TEXT' types
...........................

A `BLOB' is a binary large object that can hold a variable amount of
data.  The four `BLOB' types `TINYBLOB', `BLOB', `MEDIUMBLOB' and
`LONGBLOB' differ only in the maximum length of the values they can
hold.  *Note Storage requirements::.

The four `TEXT' types `TINYTEXT', `TEXT', `MEDIUMTEXT' and `LONGTEXT'
correspond to the four `BLOB' types and have the same maximum lengths
and storage requirements.  The only difference between `BLOB' and
`TEXT' types is that sorting and comparison is performed in
case-sensitive fashion for `BLOB' values and case-insensitive fashion
for `TEXT' values.  In other words, a `TEXT' is a case-insensitive
`BLOB'.

If you assign a value to a `BLOB' or `TEXT' column that exceeds the
column type's maximum length, the value is truncated to fit.

In most respects, you can regard a `TEXT' column as a `VARCHAR' column
that can be as big as you like.  Similarly, you can regard a `BLOB'
column as a `VARCHAR BINARY' column.  The differences are:

   * You can have indexes on `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns with *MySQL*
     versions 3.23.2 and newer. Older versions of *MySQL* did not
     support this.

   * There is no trailing-space removal for `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns
     when values are stored, as there is for `VARCHAR' columns.

   * `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns cannot have `DEFAULT' values.

*MyODBC* defines `BLOB' values as `LONGVARBINARY' and `TEXT' values as
`LONGVARCHAR'.

Because `BLOB' and `TEXT' values may be extremely long, you may run up
against some constraints when using them:

   * If you want to use `GROUP BY' or `ORDER BY' on a `BLOB' or `TEXT'
     column, you must convert the column value into a fixed-length
     object. The standard way to do this is with the `SUBSTRING'
     function.  For example:

          mysql> select comment from tbl_name,substring(comment,20) as substr ORDER BY substr;

     If you don't do this, only the first `max_sort_length' bytes of the
     column are used when sorting.  The default value of
     `max_sort_length' is 1024; this value can be changed using the
     `-O' option when starting the `mysqld' server. You can group on an
     expression involving `BLOB' or `TEXT' values by specifying the
     column position or by using an alias:

          mysql> select id,substring(blob_col,1,100) from tbl_name
                     GROUP BY 2;
          mysql> select id,substring(blob_col,1,100) as b from tbl_name
                     GROUP BY b;

   * The maximum size of a `BLOB' or `TEXT' object is determined by its
     type, but the largest value you can actually transmit between the
     client and server is determined by the amount of available memory
     and the size of the communications buffers.  You can change the
     message buffer size, but you must do so on both the server and
     client ends. *Note Server parameters::.

Note that each `BLOB' or `TEXT' value is represented internally by a
separately-allocated object. This is in contrast to all other column
types, for which storage is allocated once per column when the table is
opened.

The `ENUM' type
...............

An `ENUM' is a string object whose value normally is chosen from a list
of allowed values that are enumerated explicitly in the column
specification at table creation time.

The value may also be the empty string (`""') or `NULL' under certain
circumstances:

   * If you insert an invalid value into an `ENUM' (that is, a string
     not present in the list of allowed values), the empty string is
     inserted instead as a special error value.

   * If an `ENUM' is declared `NULL', `NULL' is also a legal value for
     the column, and the default value is `NULL'.  If an `ENUM' is
     declared `NOT NULL', the default value is the first element of the
     list of allowed values.

Each enumeration value has an index:

   * Values from the list of allowable elements in the column
     specification are numbered beginning with 1.

   * The index value of the empty string error value is 0.  This means
     that you can use the following `SELECT' statement to find rows
     into which invalid `ENUM' values were assigned:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE enum_col=0;

   * The index of the `NULL' value is `NULL'.

For example, a column specified as `ENUM("one", "two", "three")' can
have any of the values shown below.  The index of each value is also
shown:

*Value*        *Index*                                                    
`NULL'         `NULL'                                                     
`""'           0                                                          
`"one"'        1                                                          
`"two"'        2                                                          
`"three"'      3                                                          

An enumeration can have a maximum of 65535 elements.

Lettercase is irrelevant when you assign values to an `ENUM' column.
However, values retrieved from the column later have lettercase
matching the values that were used to specify the allowable values at
table creation time.

If you retrieve an `ENUM' in a numeric context, the column value's index
is returned.  If you store a number into an `ENUM', the number is
treated as an index, and the the value stored is the enumeration member
with that index.

`ENUM' values are sorted according to the order in which the enumeration
members were listed in the column specification.  (In other words,
`ENUM' values are sorted according to their index numbers.)  For
example, `"a"' sorts before `"b"' for `ENUM("a", "b")', but `"b"' sorts
before `"a"' for `ENUM("b", "a")'.  The empty string sorts before
non-empty strings, and `NULL' values sort before all other enumeration
values.

If you want to get all possible values for an `ENUM' column, you should
use: `SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name LIKE enum_column_name' and parse the
`ENUM' definition in the second column.

The `SET' type
..............

A `SET' is a string object that can have zero or more values, each of
which must be chosen from a list of allowed values specified when the
table is created.  `SET' column values that consist of multiple set
members are specified with members separated by commas (`,').  A
consequence of this is that `SET' member values cannot themselves
contain commas.

For example, a column specified as `SET("one", "two") NOT NULL' can have
any of these values:

     ""
     "one"
     "two"
     "one,two"

A `SET' can have a maximum of 64 different members.

*MySQL* stores `SET' values numerically, with the low-order bit of the
stored value corresponding to the first set member.  If you retrieve a
`SET' value in a numeric context, the value retrieved has bits set
corresponding to the set members that make up the column value.  If a
number is stored into a `SET' column, the bits that are set in the
binary representation of the number determine the set members in the
column value.  Suppose a column is specified as `SET("a","b","c","d")'.
Then the members have the following bit values:

`SET'          *Decimal       *Binary value*                              
*member*       value*                                                     
`a'            `1'            `0001'                                      
`b'            `2'            `0010'                                      
`c'            `4'            `0100'                                      
`d'            `8'            `1000'                                      

If you assign a value of `9' to this column, that is `1001' in binary,
so the first and fourth `SET' value members `"a"' and `"d"' are
selected and the resulting value is `"a,d"'.

For a value containing more than one `SET' element, it does not matter
what order the elements are listed in when you insert the value.  It
also doesn't not matter how many times a given element is listed in the
value.  When the value is retrieved later, each element in the value
will appear once, with elements listed according to the order in which
they were specified at table creation time.  For example, if a column
is specified as `SET("a","b","c","d")', then `"a,d"', `"d,a"' and
`"d,a,a,d,d"' will all appear as `"a,d"' when retrieved.

`SET' values are sorted numerically.  `NULL' values sort before
non-`NULL' `SET' values.

Normally, you perform a `SELECT' on a `SET' column using the `LIKE'
operator or the `FIND_IN_SET()' function:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE set_col LIKE '%value%';
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE FIND_IN_SET('value',set_col)>0;

But the following will also work:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE set_col = 'val1,val2';
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE set_col & 1;

The first of these statements looks for an exact match.  The second
looks for values containing the first set member.

If you want to get all possible values for an `SET' column, you should
use: `SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name LIKE set_column_name' and parse the
`SET' definition in the second column.

Choosing the right type for a column
------------------------------------

For the most efficient use of storage, try to use the most precise type
in all cases. For example, if an integer column will be used for values
in the range between `1' and `99999', `MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED' is the best
type.

Accurate representation of monetary values is a common problem. In
*MySQL*, you should use the `DECIMAL' type. This is stored as a string,
so no loss of accuracy should occur. If accuracy is not too important,
the `DOUBLE' type may also be good enough.

For high precision, you can always convert to a fixed-point type stored
in a `BIGINT'. This allows you to do all calculations with integers and
convert results back to floating-point values only when necessary.
*Note Choosing table type::.

Column indexes
--------------

All *MySQL* column types can be indexed.  Use of indexes on the
relevant columns is the best way to improve the performance of `SELECT'
operations.

A table may have up to 16 indexes.  The maximum index length is 256
bytes, although this may be changed when compiling *MySQL*.

For `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns, you can index a prefix of a column.
This is much faster and requires less disk space than indexing the
whole column.  The syntax to use in the `CREATE TABLE' statement to
index a column prefix looks like this:

     KEY index_name (col_name(length))

The example below creates an index for the first 10 characters of the
`name' column:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE test (
                name CHAR(200) NOT NULL,
                KEY index_name (name(10)));

For `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns, you must index a prefix of the column,
you cannot index the entire thing.

Multiple-column indexes
-----------------------

*MySQL* can create indexes on multiple columns.  An index may consist
of up to 15 columns. (On `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns you can also use
a prefix of the column as a part of an index).

A multiple-column index can be considered a sorted array containing
values that are created by concatenating the values of the indexed
columns.

*MySQL* uses multiple-column indexes in such a way that queries are
fast when you specify a known quantity for the first column of the
index in a `WHERE' clause, even if you don't specify values for the
other columns.

Suppose a table is created using the following specification:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE test (
                id INT NOT NULL,
                last_name CHAR(30) NOT NULL,
                first_name CHAR(30) NOT NULL,
                PRIMARY KEY (id),
                INDEX name (last_name,first_name));

Then the index `name' is an index over `last_name' and `first_name'.
The index will be used for queries that specify values in a known range
for `last_name', or for both `last_name' and `first_name'.  Therefore,
the `name' index will be used in the following queries:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius";
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
                               AND first_name="Michael";
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
                               AND (first_name="Michael" OR first_name="Monty");
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
                               AND first_name >="M" AND first_name < "N";

However, the `name' index will NOT be used in the following queries:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE first_name="Michael";
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
                               OR first_name="Michael";

For more information on the manner in which *MySQL* uses indexes to
improve query performance, see *Note *MySQL* indexes: MySQL indexes.

Using column types from other database engines
----------------------------------------------

To make it easier to use code written for SQL implementations from other
vendors, *MySQL* maps column types as shown in the table below.  These
mappings make it easier to move table definitions from other database
engines to *MySQL*:

*Other vendor type*           *MySQL type*                                
`BINARY(NUM)'                 `CHAR(NUM) BINARY'                          
`CHAR VARYING(NUM)'           `VARCHAR(NUM)'                              
`FLOAT4'                      `FLOAT'                                     
`FLOAT8'                      `DOUBLE'                                    
`INT1'                        `TINYINT'                                   
`INT2'                        `SMALLINT'                                  
`INT3'                        `MEDIUMINT'                                 
`INT4'                        `INT'                                       
`INT8'                        `BIGINT'                                    
`LONG VARBINARY'              `MEDIUMBLOB'                                
`LONG VARCHAR'                `MEDIUMTEXT'                                
`MIDDLEINT'                   `MEDIUMINT'                                 
`VARBINARY(NUM)'              `VARCHAR(NUM) BINARY'                       

Column type mapping occurs at table creation time.  If you create a
table with types used by other vendors and then issue a `DESCRIBE
tbl_name' statement, *MySQL* reports the table structure using the
equivalent *MySQL* types.

Functions for use in `SELECT' and `WHERE' clauses
=================================================

A `select_expression' or `where_definition' in a SQL statement can
consist of any expression using the functions described below.

An expression that contains `NULL' always produces a `NULL' value
unless otherwise indicated in the documentation for the operators and
functions involved in the expression.

*Note:* There must be no whitespace between a function name and the
parenthesis following it. This helps the *MySQL* parser distinguish
between function calls and references to tables or columns that happen
to have the same name as a function.  Spaces around arguments are
permitted, though.

For the sake of brevity, examples display the output from the `mysql'
program in abbreviated form.  So this:

     mysql> select MOD(29,9);
     1 rows in set (0.00 sec)
     
     +-----------+
     | mod(29,9) |
     +-----------+
     |         2 |
     +-----------+

Is displayed like this:

     mysql> select MOD(29,9);
             -> 2

Grouping functions
------------------

`( ... )'
     Parentheses. Use these to force the order of evaluation in an
     expression.
          mysql> select 1+2*3;
                  -> 7
          mysql> select (1+2)*3;
                  -> 9

Normal arithmetic operations
----------------------------

The usual arithmetic operators are available.  Note that in the case of
`-', `+' and `*', the result is calculated with `BIGINT' (64-bit)
precision if both arguments are integers!

`+'
     Addition
          mysql> select 3+5;
                  -> 8

`-'
     Subtraction
          mysql> select 3-5;
                  -> -2

`*'
     Multiplication
          mysql> select 3*5;
                  -> 15
          mysql> select 18014398509481984*18014398509481984.0;
                  -> 324518553658426726783156020576256.0
          mysql> select 18014398509481984*18014398509481984;
                  -> 0

     The result of the last expression is incorrect because the result
     of the integer multiplication exceeds the 64-bit range of `BIGINT'
     calculations.

`/'
     Division
          mysql> select 3/5;
                  -> 0.60

     Division by zero produces a `NULL' result:

          mysql> select 102/(1-1);
                  -> NULL

     A division will be calculated with `BIGINT' arithmetic only if
     performed in a context where its result is converted to an integer!

Bit functions
-------------

*MySQL* uses `BIGINT' (64-bit) arithmetic for bit operations, so these
operators have a maximum range of 64 bits.

`|'
     Bitwise OR
          mysql> select 29 | 15;
                  -> 31

`&'
     Bitwise AND
          mysql> select 29 & 15;
                  -> 13

`<<'
     Shifts a longlong (`BIGINT') number to the left.
          mysql> select 1 << 2
                  -> 4

`>>'
     Shifts a longlong (`BIGINT') number to the right.
          mysql> select 4 >> 2
                  -> 1

`~'
     Invert all bits.
          mysql> select 5 & ~1
                  -> 4

`BIT_COUNT(N)'
     Returns the number of bits that are set in the argument `N'.
          mysql> select BIT_COUNT(29);
                  -> 4

Logical operations
------------------

All logical functions return `1' (TRUE) or `0' (FALSE).

`NOT'
`!'
     Logical NOT. Returns `1' if the argument is `0', otherwise returns
     `0'.  Exception: `NOT NULL' returns `NULL'.
          mysql> select NOT 1;
                  -> 0
          mysql> select NOT NULL;
                  -> NULL
          mysql> select ! (1+1);
                  -> 0
          mysql> select ! 1+1;
                  -> 1
     The last example returns `1' because the expression evaluates the
     same way as `(!1)+1'.

`OR'
`||'
     Logical OR. Returns `1' if either argument is not `0' and not
     `NULL'.
          mysql> select 1 || 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> select 0 || 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 1 || NULL;
                  -> 1

`AND'
`&&'
     Logical AND. Returns `0' if either argument is `0' or `NULL',
     otherwise returns `1'.
          mysql> select 1 && NULL;
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 1 && 0;
                  -> 0

Comparison operators
--------------------

Comparison operations result in a value of `1' (TRUE), `0' (FALSE) or
`NULL'. These functions work for both numbers and strings.  Strings are
automatically converted to numbers and numbers to strings as needed (as
in Perl).

*MySQL* performs comparisons using the following rules:

   * If one or both arguments are `NULL', the result of the comparison
     is `NULL', except for the `<=>' operator.

   * If both arguments in a comparison operation are strings, they are
     compared as strings.

   * If both arguments are integers, they are compared as integers.

   * Hexadecimal values are treated as binary strings if not compared
     to a number.

   * If one of the arguments is a `TIMESTAMP' or `DATETIME' column and
     the other argument is a constant, the constant is converted to a
     timestamp before the comparison is performed. This is done to be
     more ODBC-friendly.

   * In all other cases, the arguments are compared as floating-point
     (real) numbers.

By default, string comparisons are done in case-independent fashion
using the current character set (ISO-8859-1 Latin1 by default, which
also works excellently for English).

The examples below illustrate conversion of strings to numbers for
comparison operations:

     mysql> SELECT 1 > '6x';
              -> 0
     mysql> SELECT 7 > '6x';
              -> 1
     mysql> SELECT 0 > 'x6';
              -> 0
     mysql> SELECT 0 = 'x6';
              -> 1

`='
     Equal
          mysql> select 1 = 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> select '0' = 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> select '0.0' = 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> select '0.01' = 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> select '.01' = 0.01;
                  -> 1

`<>'
`!='
     Not equal
          mysql> select '.01' <> '0.01';
                  -> 1
          mysql> select .01 <> '0.01';
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 'zapp' <> 'zappp';
                  -> 1

`<='
     Less than or equal
          mysql> select 0.1 <= 2;
                  -> 1

`<'
     Less than
          mysql> select 2 <= 2;
                  -> 1

`>='
     Greater than or equal
          mysql> select 2 >= 2;
                  -> 1

`>'
     Greater than
          mysql> select 2 > 2;
                  -> 0

`<=>'
     Null safe equal
          mysql> select 1 <=> 1, NULL <=> NULL, 1 <=> NULL;
                  -> 1 1 0

`IS NULL'
`IS NOT NULL'
     Test whether or not a value is or is not `NULL'
          mysql> select 1 IS NULL, 0 IS NULL, NULL IS NULL:
                  -> 0 0 1
          mysql> select 1 IS NOT NULL, 0 IS NOT NULL, NULL IS NOT NULL;
                  -> 1 1 0

`expr BETWEEN min AND max'
     If `expr' is greater than or equal to `min' and `expr' is less
     than or equal to `max', `BETWEEN' returns `1', otherwise it
     returns `0'.  This is equivalent to the expression `(min <= expr
     AND expr <= max)' if all the arguments are of the same type.  The
     first argument (`expr') determines how the comparison is performed
     as follows:

        * If `expr' is a `TIMESTAMP', `DATE' or `DATETIME' column, min
          and max are formated to a the same format if they are
          constants.

        * If `expr' is a case-insensitive string expression, a
          case-insensitive string comparison is done.

        * If `expr' is a case-sensitive string expression, a
          case-sensitive string comparison is done.

        * If `expr' is an integer expression, an integer comparison is
          done.

        * Otherwise, a floating-point (real) comparison is done.

          mysql> select 1 BETWEEN 2 AND 3;
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 'b' BETWEEN 'a' AND 'c';
                  -> 1
          mysql> select 2 BETWEEN 2 AND '3';
                  -> 1
          mysql> select 2 BETWEEN 2 AND 'x-3';
                  -> 0

`expr IN (value,...)'
     Returns `1' if `expr' is any of the values in the `IN' list, else
     returns `0'.  If all values are constants, then all values are
     evaluated according to the type of `expr' and sorted. The search
     for the item is then done using a binary search. This means `IN'
     is very quick if the `IN' value list consists entirely of
     constants.  If `expr' is a case-sensitive string expression, the
     string comparison is performed in case-sensitive fashion.

          mysql> select 2 IN (0,3,5,'wefwf');
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 'wefwf' IN (0,3,5,'wefwf');
                  -> 1

`expr NOT IN (value,...)'
     Same as `NOT (expr IN (value,...))'.

`ISNULL(expr)'
     If `expr' is `NULL', `ISNULL()' returns `1', otherwise it returns
     `0'.
          mysql> select ISNULL(1+1);
                  -> 0
          mysql> select ISNULL(1/0);
                  -> 1

     Note that a comparison of `NULL' values using `=' will always be
     false!

`COALESCE(list)'
     Returns first non-`NULL' element in list.

          mysql> select COALESCE(NULL,1);
                  -> 1
          mysql> select COALESCE(NULL,NULL,NULL);
                  -> NULL

`INTERVAL(N,N1,N2,N3,...)'
     Returns `0' if `N' < `N1', `1' if `N' < `N2' and so on. All
     arguments are treated as integers.  It is required that `N1' <
     `N2' < `N3' < `...' < `Nn' for this function to work correctly.
     This is because a binary search is used (very fast).

          mysql> select INTERVAL(23, 1, 15, 17, 30, 44, 200);
                  -> 3
          mysql> select INTERVAL(10, 1, 10, 100, 1000);
                  -> 2
          mysql> select INTERVAL(22, 23, 30, 44, 200);
                  -> 0

String comparison functions
---------------------------

Normally, if any expression in a string comparison is case sensitive,
the comparison is performed in case-sensitive fashion.

`expr LIKE pat [ESCAPE 'escape-char']'
     Pattern matching using SQL simple regular expression comparison.
     Returns `1' (TRUE) or `0' (FALSE).  With `LIKE' you can use the
     following two wildcard characters in the pattern:

     `%'     Matches any number of characters, even zero characters       
     `_'     Matches exactly one character                                

          mysql> select 'David!' LIKE 'David_';
                  -> 1
          mysql> select 'David!' LIKE '%D%v%';
                  -> 1

     To test for literal instances of a wildcard character, precede the
     character with the escape character.  If you don't specify the
     `ESCAPE' character, `\' is assumed:

     `\%'    Matches one `%' character                                    
     `\_'    Matches one `_' character                                    

          mysql> select 'David!' LIKE 'David\_';
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 'David_' LIKE 'David\_';
                  -> 1

     To specify a different escape character, use the `ESCAPE' clause:

          mysql> select 'David_' LIKE 'David|_' ESCAPE '|';
                  -> 1

     `LIKE' is allowed on numeric expressions! (This is a *MySQL*
     extension to the ANSI SQL `LIKE'.)

          mysql> select 10 LIKE '1%';
                  -> 1

     Note: Because *MySQL* uses the C escape syntax in strings (e.g.,
     `\n'), you must double any `\' that you use in your `LIKE'
     strings.  For example, to search for `\n', specify it as `\\n'.  To
     search for `\', specify it as `\\\\' (the backslashes are stripped
     once by the parser, and another time when the pattern match is
     done, leaving a single backslash to be matched).

`expr NOT LIKE pat [ESCAPE 'escape-char']'
     Same as `NOT (expr LIKE pat [ESCAPE 'escape-char'])'.

`expr REGEXP pat'
`expr RLIKE pat'
     Performs a pattern match of a string expression `expr' against a
     pattern `pat'.  The pattern can be an extended regular expression.
     *Note Regexp::.  Returns `1' if `expr' matches `pat', otherwise
     returns `0'.  `RLIKE' is a synonym for `REGEXP', provided for
     `mSQL' compatibility. Note: Because *MySQL* uses the C escape
     syntax in strings (e.g., `\n'), you must double any `\' that you
     use in your `REGEXP' strings.  In `MySQL' 3.23.4 `REGEXP' is case
     insensitive for normal (not binary) strings.

          mysql> select 'Monty!' REGEXP 'm%y%%';
                  -> 0
          mysql> select 'Monty!' REGEXP '.*';
                  -> 1
          mysql> select 'new*\n*line' REGEXP 'new\\*.\\*line';
                  -> 1
          mysql> select "a" REGEXP "A", "a" REGEXP BINARY "A";
                  -> 1  0

`'
     `REGEXP' and `RLIKE' use the current character set (ISO-8859-1
     Latin1 by default) when deciding the type of a character.

`expr NOT REGEXP pat'
`expr NOT RLIKE pat'
     Same as `NOT (expr REGEXP pat)'.

`STRCMP(expr1,expr2)'
     `STRCMP()' returns `0' if the strings are the same, `-1' if the
     first argument is smaller than the second according to the current
     sort order, and `1' otherwise.

          mysql> select STRCMP('text', 'text2');
                  -> -1
          mysql> select STRCMP('text2', 'text');
                  -> 1
          mysql> select STRCMP('text', 'text');
                  -> 0

Cast operators
--------------

``BINARY''
     The `BINARY' operator casts the string following it to a binary
     string.  This is an easy way to force a column comparison to be
     case sensitive even if the column isn't defined as `BINARY' or
     `BLOB'.
          mysql> select "a" = "A";
                  -> 1
          mysql> select BINARY "a" = "A";
                  -> 0

     `BINARY' was introduced in *MySQL* 3.23.0

Control flow functions
----------------------

`IFNULL(expr1,expr2)'
     If `expr1' is not `NULL', `IFNULL()' returns `expr1', else it
     returns `expr2'.  `IFNULL()' returns a numeric or string value,
     depending on the context in which it is used.
          mysql> select IFNULL(1,0);
                  -> 1
          mysql> select IFNULL(0,10);
                  -> 0
          mysql> select IFNULL(1/0,10);
                  -> 10
          mysql> select IFNULL(1/0,'yes');
                  -> 'yes'

`IF(expr1,expr2,expr3)'
     If `expr1' is TRUE (`expr1 <> 0' and `expr1 <> NULL') then `IF()'
     returns `expr2', else it returns `expr3'.  `IF()' returns a
     numeric or string value, depending on the context in which it is
     used.

          mysql> select IF(1>2,2,3);
                  -> 3
          mysql> select IF(1<2,'yes','no');
                  -> 'yes'
          mysql> select IF(strcmp('test','test1'),'yes','no');
                  -> 'no'

     `expr1' is evaluated as an integer value, which means that if you
     are testing floating-point or string values, you should do so
     using a comparison operation.

          mysql> select IF(0.1,1,0);
                  -> 0
          mysql> select IF(0.1<>0,1,0);
                  -> 1

     In the first case above, `IF(0.1)' returns `0' because `0.1' is
     converted to an integer value, resulting in a test of `IF(0)'.
     This may not be what you expect.  In the second case, the
     comparison tests the original floating-point value to see whether
     it is non-zero.  The result of the comparison is used as an
     integer.

`CASE value WHEN [compare-value] THEN result [WHEN [compare-value] THEN result ...] [ELSE result] END'

`CASE WHEN [condition] THEN result [WHEN [condition] THEN result ...] [ELSE result] END'
     The first version returns the `result' where
     `value=compare-value'. The second version returns the result for
     the first condition which is true. If there was no matching result
     value, then the result after `ELSE' is returned. If there is no
     `ELSE' part then `NULL' is returned.

          mysql> SELECT CASE 1 WHEN 1 THEN "one" WHEN 2 THEN "two" ELSE "more" END;
                 -> "one"
          mysql> SELECT CASE WHEN 1>0 THEN "true" ELSE "false" END;
                 -> "true"
          mysql> SELECT CASE BINARY "B" when "a" then 1 when "b" then 2 END;
                 -> NULL

Mathematical functions
----------------------

All mathematical functions return `NULL' in case of an error.

`-'
     Unary minus. Changes the sign of the argument.
          mysql> select - 2;
                  -> -2

     Note that if this operator is used with a `BIGINT', the return
     value is a `BIGINT'!  This means that you should avoid using `-'
     on integers that may have the value of `-2^63'!

`ABS(X)'
     Returns the absolute value of `X'.
          mysql> select ABS(2);
                  -> 2
          mysql> select ABS(-32);
                  -> 32

     This function is safe to use with `BIGINT' values.

`SIGN(X)'
     Returns the sign of the argument as `-1', `0' or `1', depending on
     whether `X' is negative, zero, or positive.
          mysql> select SIGN(-32);
                  -> -1
          mysql> select SIGN(0);
                  -> 0
          mysql> select SIGN(234);
                  -> 1

`MOD(N,M)'
`%'
     Modulo (like the `%' operator in C).  Returns the remainder of `N'
     divided by `M'.
          mysql> select MOD(234, 10);
                  -> 4
          mysql> select 253 % 7;
                  -> 1
          mysql> select MOD(29,9);
                  -> 2

     This function is safe to use with `BIGINT' values.

`FLOOR(X)'
     Returns the largest integer value not greater than `X'.
          mysql> select FLOOR(1.23);
                  -> 1
          mysql> select FLOOR(-1.23);
                  -> -2

     Note that the return value is converted to a `BIGINT'!

`CEILING(X)'
     Returns the smallest integer value not less than `X'.
          mysql> select CEILING(1.23);
                  -> 2
          mysql> select CEILING(-1.23);
                  -> -1

     Note that the return value is converted to a `BIGINT'!

`ROUND(X)'
     Returns the argument `X', rounded to the nearest integer.
          mysql> select ROUND(-1.23);
                  -> -1
          mysql> select ROUND(-1.58);
                  -> -2
          mysql> select ROUND(1.58);
                  -> 2

`ROUND(X,D)'
     Returns the argument `X', rounded to a number with `D' decimals.
     If `D' is `0', the result will have no decimal point or fractional
     part.

          mysql> select ROUND(1.298, 1);
                  -> 1.3
          mysql> select ROUND(1.298, 0);
                  -> 1

`EXP(X)'
     Returns the value of `e' (the base of natural logarithms) raised to
     the power of `X'.
          mysql> select EXP(2);
                  -> 7.389056
          mysql> select EXP(-2);
                  -> 0.135335

`LOG(X)'
     Returns the natural logarithm of `X'.
          mysql> select LOG(2);
                  -> 0.693147
          mysql> select LOG(-2);
                  -> NULL
     If you want the log of a number `X' to some arbitary base `B', use
     the formula `LOG(X)/LOG(B)'.

`LOG10(X)'
     Returns the base-10 logarithm of `X'.
          mysql> select LOG10(2);
                  -> 0.301030
          mysql> select LOG10(100);
                  -> 2.000000
          mysql> select LOG10(-100);
                  -> NULL

`POW(X,Y)'
`POWER(X,Y)'
     Returns the value of `X' raised to the power of `Y'.
          mysql> select POW(2,2);
                  -> 4.000000
          mysql> select POW(2,-2);
                  -> 0.250000

`SQRT(X)'
     Returns the non-negative square root of `X'.
          mysql> select SQRT(4);
                  -> 2.000000
          mysql> select SQRT(20);
                  -> 4.472136

`PI()'
     Returns the value of PI.
          mysql> select PI();
                  -> 3.141593

`COS(X)'
     Returns the cosine of `X', where `X' is given in radians.
          mysql> select COS(PI());
                  -> -1.000000

`SIN(X)'
     Returns the sine of `X', where `X' is given in radians.
          mysql> select SIN(PI());
                  -> 0.000000

`TAN(X)'
     Returns the tangent of `X', where `X' is given in radians.
          mysql> select TAN(PI()+1);
                  -> 1.557408

`ACOS(X)'
     Returns the arc cosine of `X', that is, the value whose cosine is
     `X'. Returns `NULL' if `X' is not in the range `-1' to `1'.
          mysql> select ACOS(1);
                  -> 0.000000
          mysql> select ACOS(1.0001);
                  -> NULL
          mysql> select ACOS(0);
                  -> 1.570796

`ASIN(X)'
     Returns the arc sine of `X', that is, the value whose sine is `X'.
     Returns `NULL' if `X' is not in the range `-1' to `1'.
          mysql> select ASIN(0.2);
                  -> 0.201358
          mysql> select ASIN('foo');
                  -> 0.000000

`ATAN(X)'
     Returns the arc tangent of `X', that is, the value whose tangent is
     `X'.
          mysql> select ATAN(2);
                  -> 1.107149
          mysql> select ATAN(-2);
                  -> -1.107149

`ATAN2(X,Y)'
     Returns the arc tangent of the two variables `X' and `Y'. It is
     similar to calculating the arc tangent of `Y / X', except that the
     signs of both arguments are used to determine the quadrant of the
     result.
          mysql> select ATAN(-2,2);
                  -> -0.785398
          mysql> select ATAN(PI(),0);
                  -> 1.570796

`COT(X)'
     Returns the cotangent of `X'.
          mysql> select COT(12);
                  -> -1.57267341
          mysql> select COT(0);
                  -> NULL

`RAND()'
`RAND(N)'
     Returns a random floating-point value in the range `0' to `1.0'.
     If an integer argument `N' is specified, it is used as the seed
     value.
          mysql> select RAND();
                  -> 0.5925
          mysql> select RAND(20);
                  -> 0.1811
          mysql> select RAND(20);
                  -> 0.1811
          mysql> select RAND();
                  -> 0.2079
          mysql> select RAND();
                  -> 0.7888
     You can't use a column with `RAND()' values in an `ORDER BY'
     clause, because `ORDER BY' would evaluate the column multiple
     times.  In *MySQL* 3.23, you can however do: `SELECT * FROM
     table_name ORDER BY RAND()'

     This is useful to get a random sample of a set `SELECT * FROM
     table1,table2 WHERE a=b AND c<d ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1000'.

     Note that a `RAND()' in a `WHERE' clause will be re-evaluated
     every time the `WHERE' is executed.

`LEAST(X,Y,...)'
     With two or more arguments, returns the smallest (minimum-valued)
     argument.  The arguments are compared using the following rules:

        * If the return value is used in an `INTEGER' context, or all
          arguments are integer-valued, they are compared as integers.

        * If the return value is used in a `REAL' context, or all
          arguments are real-valued, they are compared as reals.

        * If any argument is a case-sensitive string, the arguments are
          compared as case-sensitive strings.

        * In other cases, the arguments are compared as
          case-insensitive strings.

          mysql> select LEAST(2,0);
                  -> 0
          mysql> select LEAST(34.0,3.0,5.0,767.0);
                  -> 3.0
          mysql> select LEAST("B","A","C");
                  -> "A"
     In *MySQL* versions prior to 3.22.5, you can use `MIN()' instead
     of `LEAST'.

`GREATEST(X,Y,...)'
     Returns the largest (maximum-valued) argument.  The arguments are
     compared using the same rules as for `LEAST'.
          mysql> select GREATEST(2,0);
                  -> 2
          mysql> select GREATEST(34.0,3.0,5.0,767.0);
                  -> 767.0
          mysql> select GREATEST("B","A","C");
                  -> "C"
     In *MySQL* versions prior to 3.22.5, you can use `MAX()' instead
     of `GREATEST'.

`DEGREES(X)'
     Returns the argument `X', converted from radians to degrees.
          mysql> select DEGREES(PI());
                  -> 180.000000

`RADIANS(X)'
     Returns the argument `X', converted from degrees to radians.
          mysql> select RADIANS(90);
                  -> 1.570796

`TRUNCATE(X,D)'
     Returns the number `X', truncated to `D' decimals.  If `D' is `0',
     the result will have no decimal point or fractional part.
          mysql> select TRUNCATE(1.223,1);
                  -> 1.2
          mysql> select TRUNCATE(1.999,1);
                  -> 1.9
          mysql> select TRUNCATE(1.999,0);
                  -> 1

String functions
----------------

String-valued functions return `NULL' if the length of the result would
be greater than the `max_allowed_packet' server parameter.  *Note
Server parameters::.

For functions that operate on string positions, the first position is
numbered 1.

`ASCII(str)'
     Returns the ASCII code value of the leftmost character of the
     string `str'. Returns `0' if `str' is the empty string.  Returns
     `NULL' if `str' is `NULL'.

          mysql> select ASCII('2');
                  -> 50
          mysql> select ASCII(2);
                  -> 50
          mysql> select ASCII('dx');
                  -> 100

     See also the `ORD()' function.

`ORD(str)'
     If the leftmost character of the string str is a multi-byte
     character, returns the code of multi-byte character by returning
     the ASCII code value of the character in the format of: `((first
     byte ASCII code)*256+(second byte ASCII code))[*256+third byte
     ASCII code...]'.  If the leftmost character is not a multi-byte
     character, returns the same value as the like `ASCII()' function
     does.

          mysql> select ORD('2');
                  -> 50

`CONV(N,from_base,to_base)'
     Converts numbers between different number bases.  Returns a string
     representation of the number `N', converted from base `from_base'
     to base `to_base'.  Returns `NULL' if any argument is `NULL'.  The
     argument `N' is interpreted as an integer, but may be specified as
     an integer or a string.  The minimum base is `2' and the maximum
     base is `36'.  If `to_base' is a negative number, `N' is regarded
     as a signed number.  Otherwise, `N' is treated as unsigned.
     `CONV' works with 64-bit precision.

          mysql> select CONV("a",16,2);
                  -> '1010'
          mysql> select CONV("6E",18,8);
                  -> '172'
          mysql> select CONV(-17,10,-18);
                  -> '-H'
          mysql> select CONV(10+"10"+'10'+0xa,10,10);
                  -> '40'

`BIN(N)'
     Returns a string representation of the binary value of `N', where
     `N' is a longlong (`BIGINT') number.  This is equivalent to
     `CONV(N,10,2)'.  Returns `NULL' if `N' is `NULL'.

          mysql> select BIN(12);
                  -> '1100'

`OCT(N)'
     Returns a string representation of the octal value of `N', where
     `N' is a longlong number.  This is equivalent to `CONV(N,10,8)'.
     Returns `NULL' if `N' is `NULL'.

          mysql> select OCT(12);
                  -> '14'

`HEX(N)'
     Returns a string representation of the hexadecimal value of `N',
     where `N' is a longlong (`BIGINT') number.  This is equivalent to
     `CONV(N,10,16)'.  Returns `NULL' if `N' is `NULL'.

          mysql> select HEX(255);
                  -> 'FF'

`CHAR(N,...)'
     `CHAR()' interprets the arguments as integers and returns a string
     consisting of the characters given by the ASCII code values of
     those integers. `NULL' values are skipped.

          mysql> select CHAR(77,121,83,81,'76');
                  -> 'MySQL'
          mysql> select CHAR(77,77.3,'77.3');
                  -> 'MMM'

`CONCAT(str1,str2,...)'
     Returns the string that results from concatenating the arguments.
     Returns `NULL' if any argument is `NULL'.  May have more than 2
     arguments.  A numeric argument is converted to the equivalent
     string form.
          mysql> select CONCAT('My', 'S', 'QL');
                  -> 'MySQL'
          mysql> select CONCAT('My', NULL, 'QL');
                  -> NULL
          mysql> select CONCAT(14.3);
                  -> '14.3'

`LENGTH(str)'
`OCTET_LENGTH(str)'
`CHAR_LENGTH(str)'
`CHARACTER_LENGTH(str)'
     Returns the length of the string `str'.
          mysql> select LENGTH('text');
                  -> 4
          mysql> select OCTET_LENGTH('text');
                  -> 4

     Note that for `CHAR_LENGTH()', multi-byte characters are only
     counted once.

`LOCATE(substr,str)'
`POSITION(substr IN str)'
     Returns the position of the first occurrence of substring `substr'
     in string `str'. Returns `0' if `substr' is not in `str'.
          mysql> select LOCATE('bar', 'foobarbar');
                  -> 4
          mysql> select LOCATE('xbar', 'foobar');
                  -> 0

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`LOCATE(substr,str,pos)'
     Returns the position of the first occurrence of substring `substr'
     in string `str', starting at position `pos'.  Returns `0' if
     `substr' is not in `str'.
          mysql> select LOCATE('bar', 'foobarbar',5);
                  -> 7

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`INSTR(str,substr)'
     Returns the position of the first occurrence of substring `substr'
     in string `str'. This is the same as the two-argument form of
     `LOCATE()', except that the arguments are swapped.

          mysql> select INSTR('foobarbar', 'bar');
                  -> 4
          mysql> select INSTR('xbar', 'foobar');
                  -> 0

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`LPAD(str,len,padstr)'
     Returns the string `str', left-padded with the string `padstr'
     until `str' is `len' characters long.
          mysql> select LPAD('hi',4,'??');
                  -> '??hi'

`RPAD(str,len,padstr)'
     Returns the string `str', right-padded with the string `padstr'
     until `str' is `len' characters long.
          mysql> select RPAD('hi',5,'?');
                  -> 'hi???'

`LEFT(str,len)'
     Returns the leftmost `len' characters from the string `str'.
          mysql> select LEFT('foobarbar', 5);
                  -> 'fooba'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`RIGHT(str,len)'
     Returns the rightmost `len' characters from the string `str'.
          mysql> select RIGHT('foobarbar', 4);
                  -> 'rbar'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`SUBSTRING(str,pos,len)'
`SUBSTRING(str FROM pos FOR len)'
`MID(str,pos,len)'
     Returns a substring `len' characters long from string `str',
     starting at position `pos'.  The variant form that uses `FROM' is
     ANSI SQL92 syntax.
          mysql> select SUBSTRING('Quadratically',5,6);
                  -> 'ratica'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`SUBSTRING(str,pos)'

`SUBSTRING(str FROM pos)'
     Returns a substring from string `str' starting at position `pos'.
          mysql> select SUBSTRING('Quadratically',5);
                  -> 'ratically'
          mysql> select SUBSTRING('foobarbar' FROM 4);
                  -> 'barbar'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`SUBSTRING_INDEX(str,delim,count)'
     Returns the substring from string `str' after `count' occurrences
     of the delimiter `delim'.  If `count' is positive, everything to
     the left of the final delimiter (counting from the left) is
     returned.  If `count' is negative, everything to the right of the
     final delimiter (counting from the right) is returned.
          mysql> select SUBSTRING_INDEX('www.mysql.com', '.', 2);
                  -> 'www.mysql'
          mysql> select SUBSTRING_INDEX('www.mysql.com', '.', -2);
                  -> 'mysql.com'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`LTRIM(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with leading space characters removed.
          mysql> select LTRIM('  barbar');
                  -> 'barbar'

`RTRIM(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with trailing space characters removed.
          mysql> select RTRIM('barbar   ');
                  -> 'barbar'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`TRIM([[BOTH | LEADING | TRAILING] [remstr] FROM] str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all `remstr' prefixes and/or suffixes
     removed. If none of the specifiers `BOTH', `LEADING' or `TRAILING'
     are given, `BOTH' is assumed. If `remstr' is not specified, spaces
     are removed.
          mysql> select TRIM('  bar   ');
                  -> 'bar'
          mysql> select TRIM(LEADING 'x' FROM 'xxxbarxxx');
                  -> 'barxxx'
          mysql> select TRIM(BOTH 'x' FROM 'xxxbarxxx');
                  -> 'bar'
          mysql> select TRIM(TRAILING 'xyz' FROM 'barxxyz');
                  -> 'barx'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`SOUNDEX(str)'
     Returns a soundex string from `str'. Two strings that sound "about
     the same" should have identical soundex strings. A "standard"
     soundex string is 4 characters long, but the `SOUNDEX()' function
     returns an arbitrarily long string. You can use `SUBSTRING()' on
     the result to get a "standard" soundex string.  All
     non-alphanumeric characters are ignored in the given string. All
     international alpha characters outside the A-Z range are treated
     as vowels.

          mysql> select SOUNDEX('Hello');
                  -> 'H400'
          mysql> select SOUNDEX('Quadratically');
                  -> 'Q36324'

`SPACE(N)'
     Returns a string consisting of `N' space characters.
          mysql> select SPACE(6);
                  -> '      '

`REPLACE(str,from_str,to_str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all all occurrences of the string
     `from_str' replaced by the string `to_str'.

          mysql> select REPLACE('www.mysql.com', 'w', 'Ww');
                  -> 'WwWwWw.mysql.com'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`REPEAT(str,count)'
     Returns a string consisting of the string `str' repeated `count'
     times. If `count <= 0', returns an empty string. Returns `NULL' if
     `str' or `count' are `NULL'.

          mysql> select REPEAT('MySQL', 3);
                  -> 'MySQLMySQLMySQL'

`REVERSE(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with the order of the characters reversed.
          mysql> select REVERSE('abc');
                  -> 'cba'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`INSERT(str,pos,len,newstr)'
     Returns the string `str', with the substring beginning at position
     `pos' and `len' characters long replaced by the string `newstr'.

          mysql> select INSERT('Quadratic', 3, 4, 'What');
                  -> 'QuWhattic'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`ELT(N,str1,str2,str3,...)'
     Returns `str1' if `N' = `1', `str2' if `N' = `2', and so on.
     Returns `NULL' if `N' is less than `1' or greater than the number
     of arguments.  `ELT()' is the complement of `FIELD()'.

          mysql> select ELT(1, 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 'ej'
          mysql> select ELT(4, 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 'foo'

`FIELD(str,str1,str2,str3,...)'
     Returns the index of `str' in the `str1', `str2', `str3', `...'
     list.  Returns `0' if `str' is not found.  `FIELD()' is the
     complement of `ELT()'.

          mysql> select FIELD('ej', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 2
          mysql> select FIELD('fo', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 0

`FIND_IN_SET(str,strlist)'
     Returns a value `1' to `N' if the string `str' is in the list
     `strlist' consisting of `N' substrings. A string list is a string
     composed of substrings separated by `,' characters. If the first
     argument is a constant string and the second is a column of type
     `SET', the `FIND_IN_SET()' function is optimized to use bit
     arithmetic!  Returns `0' if `str' is not in `strlist' or if
     `strlist' is the empty string.  Returns `NULL' if either argument
     is `NULL'.  This function will not work properly if the first
     argument contains a `,'.

          mysql> SELECT FIND_IN_SET('b','a,b,c,d');
                  -> 2

`MAKE_SET(bits,str1,str2,...)'
     Returns a set (a string containing substrings separated by `,'
     characters) consisting of the strings that have the corresponding
     bit in `bits' set.  `str1' corresponds to bit 0, `str2' to bit 1,
     etc.  `NULL' strings in `str1', `str2', `...'  are not appended to
     the result.

          mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1,'a','b','c');
                  -> 'a'
          mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1 | 4,'hello','nice','world');
                  -> 'hello,world'
          mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(0,'a','b','c');
                  -> ''

`EXPORT_SET(bits,on,off,[separator,[number_of_bits]])'
     Returns a string where for every bit set in 'bit', you get a 'on'
     string and for every reset bit you get an 'off' string. Each
     string is separated with 'separator' (default ',') and only
     'number_of_bits' (default 64) of 'bits' is used.

          mysql> select EXPORT_SET(5,'Y','N',',',4)
                  -> Y,N,Y,N

`LCASE(str)'
`LOWER(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all characters changed to lowercase
     according to the current character set mapping (the default is
     ISO-8859-1 Latin1).

     This function is multi-byte safe.

          mysql> select LCASE('QUADRATICALLY');
                  -> 'quadratically'

`UCASE(str)'
`UPPER(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all characters changed to uppercase
     according to the current character set mapping (the default is
     ISO-8859-1 Latin1).

          mysql> select UCASE('Hej');
                  -> 'HEJ'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`LOAD_FILE(file_name)'
     Reads the file and returns the file contents as a string.  The file
     must be on the server, you must specify the full pathname to the
     file, and you must have the *file* privilege.  The file must be
     readable by all and be smaller than `max_allowed_packet'.

     If the file doesn't exist or can't be read due to one of the above
     reasons, the function returns `NULL'.

          mysql> UPDATE table_name
                     SET blob_column=LOAD_FILE("/tmp/picture")
                     WHERE id=1;

*MySQL* automatically converts numbers to strings as necessary, and
vice versa:

     mysql> SELECT 1+"1";
             -> 2
     mysql> SELECT CONCAT(2,' test');
             -> '2 test'

If you want to convert a number to a string explicitly, pass it as the
argument to `CONCAT()'.

If a string function is given a binary string as an argument, the
resulting string is also a binary string.  A number converted to a
string is treated as a binary string.  This only affects comparisons.

Date and time functions
-----------------------

See *Note Date and time types:: for a description of the range of values
each type has, and the valid formats in which date and time values may
be specified.

Here is an example that uses date functions.  The query below selects
all records with a `date_col' value from within the last 30 days:

     mysql> SELECT something FROM table
                WHERE TO_DAYS(NOW()) - TO_DAYS(date_col) <= 30;

`DAYOFWEEK(date)'
     Returns the weekday index for `date' (`1' = Sunday, `2' = Monday,
     ... `7' = Saturday).  These index values correspond to the ODBC
     standard.
          mysql> select DAYOFWEEK('1998-02-03');
                  -> 3

`WEEKDAY(date)'
     Returns the weekday index for `date' (`0' = Monday, `1' = Tuesday,
     ... `6' = Sunday).
          mysql> select WEEKDAY('1997-10-04 22:23:00');
                  -> 5
          mysql> select WEEKDAY('1997-11-05');
                  -> 2

`DAYOFMONTH(date)'
     Returns the day of the month for `date', in the range `1' to `31'.
          mysql> select DAYOFMONTH('1998-02-03');
                  -> 3

`DAYOFYEAR(date)'
     Returns the day of the year for `date', in the range `1' to `366'.
          mysql> select DAYOFYEAR('1998-02-03');
                  -> 34

`MONTH(date)'
     Returns the month for `date', in the range `1' to `12'.
          mysql> select MONTH('1998-02-03');
                  -> 2

`DAYNAME(date)'
     Returns the name of the weekday for `date'.
          mysql> select DAYNAME("1998-02-05");
                  -> 'Thursday'

`MONTHNAME(date)'
     Returns the name of the month for `date'.
          mysql> select MONTHNAME("1998-02-05");
                  -> 'February'

`QUARTER(date)'
     Returns the quarter of the year for `date', in the range `1' to
     `4'.
          mysql> select QUARTER('98-04-01');
                  -> 2

`WEEK(date)'
`WEEK(date,first)'
     With a single argument, returns the week for `date', in the range
     `0' to `53' (yes, there may be the beginnings of a 53 week), for
     locations where Sunday is the first day of the week.  The
     two-argument form of `WEEK()' allows you to specify whether the
     week starts on Sunday or Monday.  The week starts on Sunday if the
     second argument is `0', on Monday if the second argument is `1'.
          mysql> select WEEK('1998-02-20');
                  -> 7
          mysql> select WEEK('1998-02-20',0);
                  -> 7
          mysql> select WEEK('1998-02-20',1);
                  -> 8
          mysql> select WEEK('1998-12-31',1);
                  -> 53

`YEAR(date)'
     Returns the year for `date', in the range `1000' to `9999'.
          mysql> select YEAR('98-02-03');
                  -> 1998

`YEARWEEK(date)'
`YEARWEEK(date,first)'
     Returns year and week for a data.  The second arguments works
     exactly like the second argument to `WEEK()'.  Note that the year
     may be different from the year in the date argument for the first
     and the last week of the year!

          mysql> select YEARWEEK('1987-01-01');
                  -> 198653

`HOUR(time)'
     Returns the hour for `time', in the range `0' to `23'.
          mysql> select HOUR('10:05:03');
                  -> 10

`MINUTE(time)'
     Returns the minute for `time', in the range `0' to `59'.
          mysql> select MINUTE('98-02-03 10:05:03');
                  -> 5

`SECOND(time)'
     Returns the second for `time', in the range `0' to `59'.
          mysql> select SECOND('10:05:03');
                  -> 3

`PERIOD_ADD(P,N)'
     Adds `N' months to period `P' (in the format `YYMM' or `YYYYMM').
     Returns a value in the format `YYYYMM'.

     Note that the period argument `P' is *not* a date value.

          mysql> select PERIOD_ADD(9801,2);
                  -> 199803

`PERIOD_DIFF(P1,P2)'
     Returns the number of months between periods `P1' and `P2'.  `P1'
     and `P2' should be in the format `YYMM' or `YYYYMM'.

     Note that the period arguments `P1' and `P2' are *not* date values.

          mysql> select PERIOD_DIFF(9802,199703);
                  -> 11

`DATE_ADD(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
`DATE_SUB(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
`ADDDATE(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
`SUBDATE(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
     These functions perform date arithmetic.  They are new for *MySQL*
     3.22.  `ADDDATE()' and `SUBDATE()' are synonyms for `DATE_ADD()'
     and `DATE_SUB()'.

     In *MySQL* 3.23, you can use `+' and `-' instead of `DATE_ADD()'
     and `DATE_SUB()'. (See example)

     `date' is a `DATETIME' or `DATE' value specifying the starting
     date.  `expr' is an expression specifying the interval value to be
     added or substracted from the starting date.  `expr' is a string;
     it may start with a `-' for negative intervals.  `type' is a
     keyword indicating how the expression should be interpreted.

     The `EXTRACT(type FROM date)' function returns the 'type' interval
     from the date.

     The following table shows how the `type' and `expr' arguments are
     related:

     `type'       *Meaning*            *Expected* `expr' *format*   
     *value*                                                        
     `SECOND'     Seconds              `SECONDS'                    
     `MINUTE'     Minutes              `MINUTES'                    
     `HOUR'       Hours                `HOURS'                      
     `DAY'        Days                 `DAYS'                       
     `MONTH'      Months               `MONTHS'                     
     `YEAR'       Years                `YEARS'                      
     `MINUTE_SECOND'Minutes and seconds  `"MINUTES:SECONDS"'          
     `HOUR_MINUTE'Hours and minutes    `"HOURS:MINUTES"'            
     `DAY_HOUR'   Days and hours       `"DAYS HOURS"'               
     `YEAR_MONTH' Years and months     `"YEARS-MONTHS"'             
     `HOUR_SECOND'Hours, minutes,      `"HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS"'    
     `DAY_MINUTE' Days, hours,         `"DAYS HOURS:MINUTES"'       
                  minutes                                           
     `DAY_SECOND' Days, hours,         `"DAYS                       
                  minutes, seconds     HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS"'      

     *MySQL* allows any punctuation delimiter in the `expr' format.
     The ones shown in the table are the suggested delimiters.  If the
     `date' argument is a `DATE' value and your calculations involve
     only `YEAR', `MONTH' and `DAY' parts (that is, no time parts), the
     result is a `DATE' value.  Otherwise the result is a `DATETIME'
     value.

          mysql> SELECT "1997-12-31 23:59:59" + INTERVAL 1 SECOND;
                  -> 1998-01-01 00:00:00
          mysql> SELECT INTERVAL 1 DAY + "1997-12-31";
                  -> 1998-01-01
          mysql> SELECT "1998-01-01" - INTERVAL 1 SECOND;
                 -> 1997-12-31 23:59:59
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD("1997-12-31 23:59:59",
                                 INTERVAL 1 SECOND);
                  -> 1998-01-01 00:00:00
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD("1997-12-31 23:59:59",
                                 INTERVAL 1 DAY);
                  -> 1998-01-01 23:59:59
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD("1997-12-31 23:59:59",
                                 INTERVAL "1:1" MINUTE_SECOND);
                  -> 1998-01-01 00:01:00
          mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB("1998-01-01 00:00:00",
                                 INTERVAL "1 1:1:1" DAY_SECOND);
                  -> 1997-12-30 22:58:59
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD("1998-01-01 00:00:00",
                                 INTERVAL "-1 10" DAY_HOUR);
                  -> 1997-12-30 14:00:00
          mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB("1998-01-02", INTERVAL 31 DAY);
                  -> 1997-12-02
          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(YEAR FROM "1999-07-02");
                 -> 1999
          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(YEAR_MONTH FROM "1999-07-02 01:02:03");
                 -> 199907
          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(DAY_MINUTE FROM "1999-07-02 01:02:03");
                 -> 20102

     If you specify an interval value that is too short (does not
     include all the interval parts that would be expected from the
     `type' keyword), *MySQL* assumes you have left out the leftmost
     parts of the interval value.  For example, if you specify a `type'
     of `DAY_SECOND', the value of `expr' is expected to have days,
     hours, minutes and seconds parts.  If you specify a value like
     `"1:10"', *MySQL* assumes that the days and hours parts are
     missing and the value represents minutes and seconds.  In other
     words, `"1:10" DAY_SECOND' is interpreted in such a way that it is
     equivalent to `"1:10" MINUTE_SECOND'.  This is analogous to the
     way that *MySQL* interprets `TIME' values as representing elapsed
     time rather than as time of day.

     If you use really incorrect dates, the result is `NULL'. If you add
     `MONTH', `YEAR_MONTH' or `YEAR' and the resulting date has a day
     that is larger than the maximum day for the new month, the day is
     adjusted to the maximum days in the new month.

          mysql> select DATE_ADD('1998-01-30', Interval 1 month);
                  -> 1998-02-28

     Note from the preceding example that the word `INTERVAL' and the
     `type' keyword are not case sensitive.

`TO_DAYS(date)'
     Given a date `date', returns a daynumber (the number of days since
     year 0).

          mysql> select TO_DAYS(950501);
                  -> 728779
          mysql> select TO_DAYS('1997-10-07');
                  -> 729669

     `TO_DAYS()' is not intended for use with values that precede the
     advent of the Gregorian calendar (1582) as it doesn't take in
     account the days that was lost when the calender was changed.

`FROM_DAYS(N)'
     Given a daynumber `N', returns a `DATE' value.

          mysql> select FROM_DAYS(729669);
                  -> '1997-10-07'

     `FROM_DAYS()' is not intended for use with values that precede the
     advent of the Gregorian calendar (1582).

`DATE_FORMAT(date,format)'
     Formats the `date' value according to the `format' string. The
     following specifiers may be used in the `format' string:      `%M'    Month name (`January'..`December')                           
     `%W'    Weekday name (`Sunday'..`Saturday')                          
     `%D'    Day of the month with english suffix (`1st', `2nd', `3rd',   
             etc.)                                                        
     `%Y'    Year, numeric, 4 digits                                      
     `%y'    Year, numeric, 2 digits                                      
     `%X'    Year for the week where Sunday is the first day of the       
             week, numeric, 4 digits, used with '%V'                      
     `%x'    Year for the week, where Monday is the first day of the      
             week, numeric, 4 digits, used with '%v'                      
     `%a'    Abbreviated weekday name (`Sun'..`Sat')                      
     `%d'    Day of the month, numeric (`00'..`31')                       
     `%e'    Day of the month, numeric (`0'..`31')                        
     `%m'    Month, numeric (`01'..`12')                                  
     `%c'    Month, numeric (`1'..`12')                                   
     `%b'    Abbreviated month name (`Jan'..`Dec')                        
     `%j'    Day of year (`001'..`366')                                   
     `%H'    Hour (`00'..`23')                                            
     `%k'    Hour (`0'..`23')                                             
     `%h'    Hour (`01'..`12')                                            
     `%I'    Hour (`01'..`12')                                            
     `%l'    Hour (`1'..`12')                                             
     `%i'    Minutes, numeric (`00'..`59')                                
     `%r'    Time, 12-hour (`hh:mm:ss [AP]M')                             
     `%T'    Time, 24-hour (`hh:mm:ss')                                   
     `%S'    Seconds (`00'..`59')                                         
     `%s'    Seconds (`00'..`59')                                         
     `%p'    `AM' or `PM'                                                 
     `%w'    Day of the week (`0'=Sunday..`6'=Saturday)                   
     `%U'    Week (`0'..`53'), where Sunday is the first day of the week  
     `%u'    Week (`0'..`53'), where Monday is the first day of the week  
     `%V'    Week (`1'..`53'), where Sunday is the first day of the       
             week. Used with '%X'                                         
     `%v'    Week (`1'..`53'), where Monday is the first day of the       
             week. Used with '%x'                                         
     `%%'    A literal `%'.                                               



     All other characters are just copied to the result without
     interpretation.

          mysql> select DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00', '%W %M %Y');
                  -> 'Saturday October 1997'
          mysql> select DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00', '%H:%i:%s');
                  -> '22:23:00'
          mysql> select DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00',
                                    '%D %y %a %d %m %b %j');
                  -> '4th 97 Sat 04 10 Oct 277'
          mysql> select DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00',
                                    '%H %k %I %r %T %S %w');
                  -> '22 22 10 10:23:00 PM 22:23:00 00 6'
          mysql> select DATE_FORMAT('1999-01-01', '%X %V');
                  -> '1998 52'

     As of *MySQL* 3.23, the `%' character is required before format
     specifier characters.  In earlier versions of *MySQL*, `%' was
     optional.

`TIME_FORMAT(time,format)'
     This is used like the `DATE_FORMAT()' function above, but the
     `format' string may contain only those format specifiers that
     handle hours, minutes and seconds.  Other specifiers produce a
     `NULL' value or `0'.

`CURDATE()'
`CURRENT_DATE'
     Returns today's date as a value in `'YYYY-MM-DD'' or `YYYYMMDD'
     format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or
     numeric context.

          mysql> select CURDATE();
                  -> '1997-12-15'
          mysql> select CURDATE() + 0;
                  -> 19971215

`CURTIME()'
`CURRENT_TIME'
     Returns the current time as a value in `'HH:MM:SS'' or `HHMMSS'
     format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or
     numeric context.

          mysql> select CURTIME();
                  -> '23:50:26'
          mysql> select CURTIME() + 0;
                  -> 235026

`NOW()'
`SYSDATE()'
`CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'
     Returns the current date and time as a value in `'YYYY-MM-DD
     HH:MM:SS'' or `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format, depending on whether the
     function is used in a string or numeric context.

          mysql> select NOW();
                  -> '1997-12-15 23:50:26'
          mysql> select NOW() + 0;
                  -> 19971215235026

`UNIX_TIMESTAMP()'
`UNIX_TIMESTAMP(date)'
     If called with no argument, returns a Unix timestamp (seconds since
     `'1970-01-01 00:00:00'' GMT). If `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' is called with
     a `date' argument, it returns the value of the argument as seconds
     since `'1970-01-01 00:00:00'' GMT.  `date' may be a `DATE' string,
     a `DATETIME' string, a `TIMESTAMP', or a number in the format
     `YYMMDD' or `YYYYMMDD' in local time.

          mysql> select UNIX_TIMESTAMP();
                  -> 882226357
          mysql> select UNIX_TIMESTAMP('1997-10-04 22:23:00');
                  -> 875996580

     When `UNIX_TIMESTAMP' is used on a `TIMESTAMP' column, the function
     will receive the value directly, with no implicit
     "string-to-unix-timestamp" conversion.

`FROM_UNIXTIME(unix_timestamp)'
     Returns a representation of the `unix_timestamp' argument as a
     value in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' or `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format,
     depending on whether the function is used in a string or numeric
     context.

          mysql> select FROM_UNIXTIME(875996580);
                  -> '1997-10-04 22:23:00'
          mysql> select FROM_UNIXTIME(875996580) + 0;
                  -> 19971004222300

`FROM_UNIXTIME(unix_timestamp,format)'
     Returns a string representation of the Unix timestamp, formatted
     according to the `format' string. `format' may contain the same
     specifiers as those listed in the entry for the `DATE_FORMAT()'
     function.

          mysql> select FROM_UNIXTIME(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(),
                                      '%Y %D %M %h:%i:%s %x');
                  -> '1997 23rd December 03:43:30 x'

`SEC_TO_TIME(seconds)'
     Returns the `seconds' argument, converted to hours, minutes and
     seconds, as a value in `'HH:MM:SS'' or `HHMMSS' format, depending
     on whether the function is used in a string or numeric context.

          mysql> select SEC_TO_TIME(2378);
                  -> '00:39:38'
          mysql> select SEC_TO_TIME(2378) + 0;
                  -> 3938

`TIME_TO_SEC(time)'
     Returns the `time' argument, converted to seconds.
          mysql> select TIME_TO_SEC('22:23:00');
                  -> 80580
          mysql> select TIME_TO_SEC('00:39:38');
                  -> 2378

Miscellaneous functions
-----------------------

`DATABASE()'
     Returns the current database name.
          mysql> select DATABASE();
                  -> 'test'

     If there is no current database, `DATABASE()' returns the empty
     string.

`USER()'
`SYSTEM_USER()'
`SESSION_USER()'
     Returns the current *MySQL* user name.
          mysql> select USER();
                  -> 'davida@localhost'

     In MySQL 3.22.11 or later, this includes the client hostname as
     well as the username.  You can extract just the username part like
     this (which works whether or not the value includes a hostname
     part):

          mysql> select substring_index(USER(),"@",1);
                  -> 'davida'

`PASSWORD(str)'
     Calculates a password string from the plaintext password `str'.
     This is the function that is used for encrypting *MySQL* passwords
     for storage in the `Password' column of the `user' grant table.

          mysql> select PASSWORD('badpwd');
                  -> '7f84554057dd964b'

     `PASSWORD()' encryption is non-reversible.

     `PASSWORD()' does not perform password encryption in the same way
     that Unix passwords are encrypted.  You should not assume that if
     your Unix password and your *MySQL* password are the same,
     `PASSWORD()' will result in the same encrypted value as is stored
     in the Unix password file.  See `ENCRYPT()'.

`ENCRYPT(str[,salt])'
     Encrypt `str' using the Unix `crypt()' system call. The `salt'
     argument should be a string with two characters.  (As of MySQL
     3.22.16, `salt' may be longer than two characters.)

          mysql> select ENCRYPT("hello");
                  -> 'VxuFAJXVARROc'

     If `crypt()' is not available on your system, `ENCRYPT()' always
     returns `NULL'.

     `ENCRYPT()' ignores all but the first 8 characters of `str', at
     least on some systems.  This will be determined by the behavior of
     the underlying `crypt()' system call.

`ENCODE(str,pass_str)'
     Encrypt `str' using `pass_str' as the password.  To decrypt the
     result, use `DECODE()'.

     The results is a binary string.  If you want to save it in a
     column, use a `BLOB' column type.

`DECODE(crypt_str,pass_str)'
     Descrypts the encrypted string `crypt_str' using `pass_str' as the
     password.  `crypt_str' should be a string returned from `ENCODE()'.

`MD5(string)'
     Calculates a MD5 checksum for the string. Value is returned as a
     32 long hex number that may, for example, be used as a hash key.

          mysql> select MD5("testing")
                  -> 'ae2b1fca515949e5d54fb22b8ed95575'

     This is a "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm".

`LAST_INSERT_ID([expr])'
     Returns the last automatically generated value that was inserted
     into an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column.  *Note `mysql_insert_id()':
     mysql_insert_id.

          mysql> select LAST_INSERT_ID();
                  -> 195

     The last ID that was generated is maintained in the server on a
     per-connection basis.  It will not be changed by another client.
     It will not even be changed if you update another `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     column with a non-magic value (that is, a value that is not `NULL'
     and not `0').

     If `expr' is given as an argument to `LAST_INSERT_ID()' in an
     `UPDATE' clause, then the value of the argument is returned as a
     `LAST_INSERT_ID()' value.  This can be used to simulate sequences:

     First create the table:

          mysql> create table sequence (id int not null);
          mysql> insert into sequence values (0);

     Then the table can be used to generate sequence numbers like this:

          mysql> update sequence set id=LAST_INSERT_ID(id+1);

     You can generate sequences without calling `LAST_INSERT_ID()', but
     the utility of using the function this way is that the ID value is
     maintained in the server as the last automatically generated
     value.  You can retrieve the new ID as you would read any normal
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' value in *MySQL*.  For example,
     `LAST_INSERT_ID()' (without an argument) will return the new ID.
     The C API function `mysql_insert_id()' can also be used to get the
     value.

`FORMAT(X,D)'
     Formats the number `X' to a format like `'#,###,###.##'', rounded
     to `D' decimals.  If `D' is `0', the result will have no decimal
     point or fractional part.

          mysql> select FORMAT(12332.123456, 4);
                  -> '12,332.1235'
          mysql> select FORMAT(12332.1,4);
                  -> '12,332.1000'
          mysql> select FORMAT(12332.2,0);
                  -> '12,332'

`VERSION()'
     Returns a string indicating the *MySQL* server version.
          mysql> select VERSION();
                  -> '3.22.19b-log'

`GET_LOCK(str,timeout)'
     Tries to obtain a lock with a name given by the string `str', with
     a timeout of `timeout' seconds.  Returns `1' if the lock was
     obtained successfully, `0' if the attempt timed out, or `NULL' if
     an error occurred (such as running out of memory or the thread was
     killed with `mysqladmin kill').  A lock is released when you
     execute `RELEASE_LOCK()', execute a new `GET_LOCK()' or the thread
     terminates.  This function can be used to implement application
     locks or to simulate record locks.  It blocks requests by other
     clients for locks with the same name; clients that agree on a
     given lock string name can use the string to perform cooperative
     advisory locking.

          mysql> select GET_LOCK("lock1",10);
                  -> 1
          mysql> select GET_LOCK("lock2",10);
                  -> 1
          mysql> select RELEASE_LOCK("lock2");
                  -> 1
          mysql> select RELEASE_LOCK("lock1");
                  -> NULL

     Note that the second `RELEASE_LOCK()' call returns `NULL' because
     the lock `"lock1"' was automatically released by the second
     `GET_LOCK()' call.

`RELEASE_LOCK(str)'
     Releases the lock named by the string `str' that was obtained with
     `GET_LOCK()'. Returns `1' if the lock was released, `0' if the
     lock wasn't locked by this thread (in which case the lock is not
     released) and `NULL' if the named lock didn't exist.  The lock
     will not exist if it was never obtained by a call to `GET_LOCK()'
     or if it already has been released.

`BENCHMARK(count,expr)'
     The `BENCHMARK()' function executes the expression `expr'
     repeatedly `count' times.  It may be used to time how fast *MySQL*
     processes the expression.  The result value is always `0'.  The
     intended use is in the `mysql' client, which reports query
     execution times.

          mysql> select BENCHMARK(1000000,encode("hello","goodbye"));
          +----------------------------------------------+
          | BENCHMARK(1000000,encode("hello","goodbye")) |
          +----------------------------------------------+
          |                                            0 |
          +----------------------------------------------+
          1 row in set (4.74 sec)

     The time reported is elapsed time on the client end, not CPU time
     on the server end.  It may be advisable to execute `BENCHMARK()'
     several times, and interpret the result with regard to how heavily
     loaded the server machine is.

Functions for use with `GROUP BY' clauses
-----------------------------------------

If you use a group function in a statement containing no `GROUP BY'
clause, it is equivalent to grouping on all rows.

`COUNT(expr)'
     Returns a count of the number of non-`NULL' values in the rows
     retrieved by a `SELECT' statement.

          mysql> select student.student_name,COUNT(*)
                     from student,course
                     where student.student_id=course.student_id
                     GROUP BY student_name;

     `COUNT(*)' is somewhat different in that it returns a count of the
     number of rows retrieved, whether or not they contain `NULL'
     values.

     `COUNT(*)' is optimized to return very quickly if the `SELECT'
     retrieves from one table, no other columns are retrieved and there
     is no `WHERE' clause.  For example:

          mysql> select COUNT(*) from student;

`COUNT(DISTINCT expr,[expr...])'
     Returns a count of the number of different values.

          mysql> select COUNT(DISTINCT results) from student;

     In *MySQL* you can get the number of distinct expressions
     combinations by giving a list of expressions.  In ANSI SQL you
     would have to do a concatenation of all expressions inside
     `CODE(DISTINCT ..)'.

`AVG(expr)'
     Returns the average value of `expr'.

          mysql> select student_name, AVG(test_score)
                     from student
                     GROUP BY student_name;

`MIN(expr)'
`MAX(expr)'
     Returns the minimum or maximum value of `expr'.  `MIN()' and
     `MAX()' may take a string argument; in such cases they return the
     minimum or maximum string value.

          mysql> select student_name, MIN(test_score), MAX(test_score)
                     from student
                     GROUP BY student_name;

`SUM(expr)'
     Returns the sum of `expr'.  Note that if the return set has no
     rows, it returns NULL!

`STD(expr)'
`STDDEV(expr)'
     Returns the standard deviation of `expr'. This is an extension to
     ANSI SQL.  The `STDDEV()' form of this function is provided for
     Oracle compatability.

`BIT_OR(expr)'
     Returns the bitwise `OR' of all bits in `expr'. The calculation is
     performed with 64-bit (`BIGINT' precision.

`BIT_AND(expr)'
     Returns the bitwise `AND' of all bits in `expr'. The calculation is
     performed with 64-bit (`BIGINT' precision.

*MySQL* has extended the use of `GROUP BY'. You can use columns or
calculations in the `SELECT' expressions which don't appear in the
`GROUP BY' part. This stands for *any possible value for this group*.
You can use this to get better performance by avoiding sorting and
grouping on unnecessary items.  For example, you don't need to group on
`customer.name' in the following query:

     mysql> select order.custid,customer.name,max(payments)
            from order,customer
            where order.custid = customer.custid
            GROUP BY order.custid;

In ANSI SQL, you would have to add `customer.name' to the `GROUP BY'
clause.  In *MySQL*, the name is redundant.

Don't use this feature if the columns you omit from the `GROUP BY' part
aren't unique in the group!

In some cases, you can use `MIN()' and `MAX()' to obtain a specific
column value even if it isn't unique. The following gives the value of
`column' from the row containing the smallest value in the `sort'
column:

     substr(MIN(concat(sort,space(6-length(sort)),column),7,length(column)))

Note that if you are using *MySQL* 3.22 (or earlier) or if you are
trying to follow ANSI SQL, you can't use expressions in `GROUP BY' or
`ORDER BY' clauses.  You can work around this limitation by using an
alias for the expression:

     mysql> SELECT id,FLOOR(value/100) AS val FROM tbl_name
                GROUP BY id,val ORDER BY val;

In `MySQL' 3.23 you can do:

     mysql> SELECT id,FLOOR(value/100) FROM tbl_name ORDER BY RAND();

`CREATE DATABASE' syntax
========================

     CREATE DATABASE db_name

`CREATE DATABASE' creates a database with the given name.  Rules for
allowable database names are given in *Note Legal names::.  An error
occurs if the database already exists.

Databases in *MySQL* are implemented as directories containing files
that correspond to tables in the database.  Since there are no tables
in a database when it is initially created, the `CREATE DATABASE'
statement only creates a directory under the *MySQL* data directory.

You can also create databases with `mysqladmin'.  *Note Programs::.

`DROP DATABASE' syntax
======================

     DROP DATABASE [IF EXISTS] db_name

`DROP DATABASE' drops all tables in the database and deletes the
database.  *Be VERY careful with this command!*

`DROP DATABASE' returns the number of files that were removed from the
database directory.  Normally, this is three times the number of tables,
since each table corresponds to a `.MYD' file, a `.MYI' file and a
`.frm' file.

In *MySQL* 3.22 or later, you can use the keywords `IF EXISTS' to
prevent an error from occurring if the database doesn't exist.

You can also drop databases with `mysqladmin'.  *Note Programs::.

`CREATE TABLE' syntax
=====================

     CREATE [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF NOT EXISTS] tbl_name [(create_definition,...)]
     [table_options] [select_statement]
     
     create_definition:
       col_name type [NOT NULL | NULL] [DEFAULT default_value] [AUTO_INCREMENT]
                 [PRIMARY KEY] [reference_definition]
       or    PRIMARY KEY (index_col_name,...)
       or    KEY [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       or    INDEX [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       or    UNIQUE [INDEX] [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       or    [CONSTRAINT symbol] FOREIGN KEY index_name (index_col_name,...)
                 [reference_definition]
       or    CHECK (expr)
     
     type:
             TINYINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    SMALLINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    MEDIUMINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    INT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    INTEGER[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    BIGINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    REAL[(length,decimals)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    DOUBLE[(length,decimals)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    FLOAT[(length,decimals)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    DECIMAL(length,decimals) [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    NUMERIC(length,decimals) [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       or    CHAR(length) [BINARY]
       or    VARCHAR(length) [BINARY]
       or    DATE
       or    TIME
       or    TIMESTAMP
       or    DATETIME
       or    TINYBLOB
       or    BLOB
       or    MEDIUMBLOB
       or    LONGBLOB
       or    TINYTEXT
       or    TEXT
       or    MEDIUMTEXT
       or    LONGTEXT
       or    ENUM(value1,value2,value3,...)
       or    SET(value1,value2,value3,...)
     
     index_col_name:
             col_name [(length)]
     
     reference_definition:
             REFERENCES tbl_name [(index_col_name,...)]
                        [MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL]
                        [ON DELETE reference_option]
                        [ON UPDATE reference_option]
     
     reference_option:
             RESTRICT | CASCADE | SET NULL | NO ACTION | SET DEFAULT
     
     table_options:
     	TYPE = {ISAM | MYISAM | HEAP}
     or	AUTO_INCREMENT = #
     or	AVG_ROW_LENGTH = #
     or	CHECKSUM = {0 | 1}
     or	COMMENT = "string"
     or	MAX_ROWS = #
     or	MIN_ROWS = #
     or	PACK_KEYS = {0 | 1}
     or	PASSWORD = "string"
     or	DELAY_KEY_WRITE = {0 | 1}
     or      ROW_FORMAT= { default | dynamic | static | compressed }
     
     select_statement:
     	[IGNORE | REPLACE] SELECT ...  (Some legal select statement)

`CREATE TABLE' creates a table with the given name in the current
database.  Rules for allowable table names are given in *Note Legal
names::.  An error occurs if there is no current database or if the
table already exists.

In *MySQL* 3.22 or later, the table name can be specified as
`db_name.tbl_name'.  This works whether or not there is a current
database.

In *MySQL* 3.23, you can use the `TEMPORARY' keyword when you create a
table.  A temporary table will automatically be deleted if a connection
dies and the name is per connection.  This means that two different
connections can both use the same temporary table name without
conflicting with each other or with an existing table of the same name.
(The existing table is hidden until the temporary table is deleted).

In *MySQL* 3.23 or later, you can use the keywords `IF NOT EXISTS' so
that an error does not occur if the table already exists.  Note that
there is no verification that the table structures are identical.

Each table `tbl_name' is represented by some files in the database
directory. In the case of MyISAM-type tables you will get:

*File*         *Purpose*                                                  
`tbl_name.frm' Table definition (form) file                               
`tbl_name.MYD' Data file                                                  
`tbl_name.MYI' Index file                                                 

For more information on the properties of the various column types, see
*Note Column types::.

   * If neither `NULL' nor `NOT NULL' is specified, the column is
     treated as though `NULL' had been specified.

   * An integer column may have the additional attribute
     `AUTO_INCREMENT'.  When you insert a value of `NULL' (recommended)
     or `0' into an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the column is set to
     `value+1', where `value' is the largest value for the column
     currently in the table.  `AUTO_INCREMENT' sequences begin with `1'.
     *Note `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

     If you delete the row containing the maximum value for an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the value will be reused with an ISAM
     table but not with a MyISAM table.  If you delete all rows in the
     table with `DELETE FROM TABLE' (without a WHERE), the sequence
     starts over.

     *Note:* There can be only one `AUTO_INCREMENT' column per table,
     and it must be indexed.

     To make *MySQL* compatible with some ODBC applications, you can
     find the last inserted row with the following query:

          SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE auto_col IS NULL

   * `NULL' values are handled differently for `TIMESTAMP' columns than
     for other column types.  You cannot store a literal `NULL' in a
     `TIMESTAMP' column; setting the column to `NULL' sets it to the
     current date and time.  Because `TIMESTAMP' columns behave this
     way, the `NULL' and `NOT NULL' attributes do not apply in the
     normal way and are ignored if you specify them.

     On the other hand, to make it easier for *MySQL* clients to use
     `TIMESTAMP' columns, the server reports that such columns may be
     assigned `NULL' values (which is true), even though `TIMESTAMP'
     never actually will contain a `NULL' value.  You can see this when
     you use `DESCRIBE tbl_name' to get a description of your table.

     Note that setting a `TIMESTAMP' column to `0' is not the same as
     setting it to `NULL', because `0' is a valid `TIMESTAMP' value.

   * If no `DEFAULT' value is specified for a column, *MySQL*
     automatically assigns one.

     If the column may take `NULL' as a value, the default value is
     `NULL'.

     If the column is declared as `NOT NULL', the default value depends
     on the column type:

        - For numeric types other than those declared with the
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute, the default is `0'.  For an
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the default value is the next value
          in the sequence.

        - For date and time types other than `TIMESTAMP', the default
          is the appropriate "zero" value for the type.  For the first
          `TIMESTAMP' column in a table, the default value is the
          current date and time.  *Note Date and time types::.

        - For string types other than `ENUM', the default is the empty
          string.  For `ENUM', the default is the first enumeration
          value.

   * `KEY' is a synonym for `INDEX'.

   * In *MySQL*, a `UNIQUE' key can have only distinct values. An error
     occurs if you try to add a new row with a key that matches an
     existing row.

   * A `PRIMARY KEY' is an unique `KEY' with the extra constraint that
     all key columns must be defined as `NOT NULL'.  In *MySQL* the key
     is named `PRIMARY'. A table can have only one `PRIMARY KEY'.  If
     you don't have a `PRIMARY KEY' and some applications ask for the
     `PRIMARY KEY' in your tables, *MySQL* will return the first
     `UNIQUE' key, which doesn't have any `NULL' columns, as the
     `PRIMARY KEY'.

   * A `PRIMARY KEY' can be a multiple-column index.  However, you
     cannot create a multiple-column index using the `PRIMARY KEY' key
     attibute in a column specification.  Doing so will mark only that
     single column as primary.  You must use the `PRIMARY
     KEY(index_col_name, ...)' syntax.

   * If the `PRIMARY/ UNIQUE' key consists of only one column and this
     is of type integer, one can also refer to it as `_rowid' (new in
     3.23.11).

   * If you don't assign a name to an index, the index will be assigned
     the same name as the first `index_col_name', with an optional
     suffix (`_2', `_3', `...') to make it unique.  You can see index
     names for a table using `SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name'.  *Note `SHOW':
     SHOW.

   * Only the `MyISAM' table type supports indexes on columns that can
     have `NULL' values. In other cases you must declare such columns
     `NOT NULL' or an error results.

   * With `col_name(length)' syntax, you can specify an index which
     uses only a part of a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column. This can make
     the index file much smaller.  *Note Indexes::.

   * Only the `MyISAM' table type supports indexing on `BLOB' and
     `TEXT' columns.  When putting an index on a `BLOB' or `TEXT'
     column you MUST always specify the length of the index:
          CREATE TABLE test (blob_col BLOB, index(blob_col(10)));

   * When you use `ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY' with a `TEXT' or `BLOB'
     column, only the first `max_sort_length' bytes are used.  *Note
     `BLOB': BLOB.

   * The `FOREIGN KEY', `CHECK' and `REFERENCES' clauses don't actually
     do anything.  The syntax for them is provided only for
     compatibility, to make it easier to port code from other SQL
     servers and to run applications that create tables with references.
     *Note Missing functions::.

   * Each `NULL' column takes one bit extra, rounded up to the nearest
     byte.

   * The maximum record length in bytes can be calculated as follows:

          row length = 1
                       + (sum of column lengths)
                       + (number of NULL columns + 7)/8
                       + (number of variable-length columns)

   * The `table_options' and `SELECT' options is only implemented in
     *MySQL* 3.23 and above.

     The different table types are:

     ISAM          The original table handler                             
     MyISAM        The new binary portable table handler                  
     HEAP          The data for this table is only stored in memory       

     *Note Table types::.

     The other table options are used to optimize the behavior of the
     table. In most cases, you don't have to specify any of them.  The
     options work for all table types, if not otherwise indicated.

     `AUTO_INCREMENT'The next auto_increment value you want to set for      
                   your table (MyISAM)                                    
     `AVG_ROW_LENGTH'An approximation of the average row length for your    
                   table. You only need to set this for tables with       
                   variable size records.                                 
     `CHECKSUM'    Set this to 1 if you want *MySQL* to maintain a        
                   checksum for all rows (makes the table a little        
                   slower to update but makes it easier to find           
                   corrupted tables) (MyISAM)                             
     `COMMENT'     A 60 character comment for your table                  
     `MAX_ROWS'    Max number of rows you plan to store in the table      
     `MIN_ROWS'    Minimum number of rows you plan to store in the table  
     `PACK_KEYS'   Set this to 1 if you want to have smaller index. This  
                   usually makes updates slower and reads faster          
                   (MyISAM, ISAM).                                        
     `PASSWORD'    Encrypt the `.frm' file with a password.  This option  
                   doesn't do anything in the standard *MySQL* version.   
     `DELAY_KEY_WRITE'Set this to 1 if want to delay key table updates       
                   until the table is closed (MyISAM).                    
     `ROW_FORMAT'  Defines how the rows should be stored (for the         
                   future).                                               

     When you use a `MyISAM' table, *MySQL* uses the product of
     `max_rows * avg_row_length' to decide how big the resulting table
     will be.  If you don't specify any of the above options, the
     maximum size for a table will be 4G (or 2G if your operating
     systems only supports 2G tables).

     If you don't use `PACK_KEYS', the default is to only pack strings,
     not numbers.  If you use `PACK_KEYS=1', numbers will be packed as
     well.

     When packing binary number keys, *MySQL* will use prefix
     compression.  This means that you will only get a big benefit of
     this if you have many numbers that are the same.  Prefix
     compression means that every key needs one extra byte to indicate
     how many bytes of the previous key are the same for the next key
     (note that the pointer to the row is stored in
     high-byte-first-order directly after the key, to improve
     compression.  This means that if you have many equal keys on two
     rows in a row, all following 'same' keys will usually only take 2
     bytes (including the pointer to the row).  Compare this to the
     ordinary case where the following keys will take
     'storage_size_for_key' + pointer_size (usually 4).  On the other
     hand, if all keys are totally different, you will lose 1 byte per
     key, if the key isn't a key that can have `NULL' values (In this
     case the packed key length will be stored in the same byte that is
     used to mark if a key is `NULL').

   * If you specify a `SELECT' after the `CREATE STATEMENT', *MySQL*
     will create new fields for all elements in the `SELECT'.  For
     example:

          mysql> CREATE TABLE test (a int not null auto_increment,
                     primary key (a), key(b))
                     TYPE=HEAP SELECT b,c from test2;

     This will create a `HEAP' table with 3 columns.  Note that the
     table will automatically be deleted if any errors occur while
     copying data into the table.

Silent column specification changes
-----------------------------------

In some cases, *MySQL* silently changes a column specification from
that given in a `CREATE TABLE' statement.  (This may also occur with
`ALTER TABLE'.)

   * `VARCHAR' columns with a length less than four are changed to
     `CHAR'.

   * If any column in a table has a variable length, the entire row is
     variable-length as a result.  Therefore, if a table contains any
     variable-length columns (`VARCHAR', `TEXT' or `BLOB'), all `CHAR'
     columns longer than three characters are changed to `VARCHAR'
     columnss.  This doesn't affect how you use the columns in any way;
     in *MySQL*, `VARCHAR' is just a different way to store characters.
     *MySQL* performs this conversion because it saves space and makes
     table operations faster.  *Note Choosing table type::.

   * `TIMESTAMP' display sizes must be even and in the range from 2 to
     14.  If you specify a display size of 0 or greater than 14, the
     size is coerced to 14.  Odd-valued sizes in the range from 1 to 13
     are coerced to the next higher even number.

   * You cannot store a literal `NULL' in a `TIMESTAMP' column; setting
     it to `NULL' sets it to the current date and time.  Because
     `TIMESTAMP' columns behave this way, the `NULL' and `NOT NULL'
     attributes do not apply in the normal way and are ignored if you
     specify them.  `DESCRIBE tbl_name' always reports that a
     `TIMESTAMP' column may be assigned `NULL' values.

   * *MySQL* maps certain column types used by other SQL database
     vendors to *MySQL* types.  *Note Other-vendor column types::.

If you want to see whether or not *MySQL* used a column type other than
the one you specified, issue a `DESCRIBE tbl_name' statement after
creating or altering your table.

Certain other column type changes may occur if you compress a table
using `myisampack'. *Note Compressed format::.

`ALTER TABLE' syntax
====================

     ALTER [IGNORE] TABLE tbl_name alter_spec [, alter_spec ...]
     
     alter_specification:
             ADD [COLUMN] create_definition [FIRST | AFTER column_name ]
       or    ADD INDEX [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       or    ADD PRIMARY KEY (index_col_name,...)
       or    ADD UNIQUE [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       or    ALTER [COLUMN] col_name {SET DEFAULT literal | DROP DEFAULT}
       or    CHANGE [COLUMN] old_col_name create_definition
       or    MODIFY [COLUMN] create_definition
       or    DROP [COLUMN] col_name
       or    DROP PRIMARY KEY
       or    DROP INDEX index_name
       or    RENAME [AS] new_tbl_name
       or    table_options

`ALTER TABLE' allows you to change the structure of an existing table.
For example, you can add or delete columns, create or destroy indexes,
change the type of existing columns, or rename columns or the table
itself.  You can also change the comment for the table and type of the
table.  *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

If you use `ALTER TABLE' to change a column specification but `DESCRIBE
tbl_name' indicates that your column was not changed, it is possible
that *MySQL* ignored your modification for one of the reasons described
in *Note Silent column changes::.  For example, if you try to change a
`VARCHAR' column to `CHAR', *MySQL* will still use `VARCHAR' if the
table contains other variable-length columns.

`ALTER TABLE' works by making a temporary copy of the original table.
The alteration is performed on the copy, then the original table is
deleted and the new one is renamed. This is done in such a way that all
updates are automatically redirected to the new table without any
failed updates. While `ALTER TABLE' is executing, the original table is
readable by other clients. Updates and writes to the table are stalled
until the new table is ready.

   * To use `ALTER TABLE', you need *select*, *insert*, *delete*,
     *update*, *create* and *drop* privileges on the table.

   * `IGNORE' is a *MySQL* extension to ANSI SQL92.  It controls how
     `ALTER TABLE' works if there are duplicates on unique keys in the
     new table.  If `IGNORE' isn't specified, the copy is aborted and
     rolled back.  If `IGNORE' is specified, then for rows with
     duplicates on a unique key, only the first row is used; the others
     are deleted.

   * You can issue multiple `ADD', `ALTER', `DROP' and `CHANGE' clauses
     in a single `ALTER TABLE' statement. This is a *MySQL* extension
     to ANSI SQL92, which allows only one of each clause per `ALTER
     TABLE' statement.

   * `CHANGE col_name', `DROP col_name' and `DROP INDEX' are *MySQL*
     extensions to ANSI SQL92.

   * `MODIFY' is an Oracle extension to `ALTER TABLE'.

   * The optional word `COLUMN' is a pure noise word and can be omitted.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE tbl_name RENAME AS new_name' without any
     other options, *MySQL* simply renames the files that correspond to
     the table `tbl_name'.  There is no need to create the temporary
     table.

   * `create_definition' clauses use the same syntax for `ADD' and
     `CHANGE' as for `CREATE TABLE'.  Note that this syntax includes
     the column name, not just the column type.  *Note `CREATE TABLE':
     CREATE TABLE.

   * You can rename a column using a `CHANGE old_col_name
     create_definition' clause.  To do so, specify the old and new
     column names and the type that the column currently has.  For
     example, to rename an `INTEGER' column from `a' to `b', you can do
     this:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 CHANGE a b INTEGER;

     If you want to change a column's type but not the name, `CHANGE'
     syntax still requires two column names even if they are the same.
     For example:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 CHANGE b b BIGINT NOT NULL;

     However, as of *MySQL* 3.22.16a, you can also use `MODIFY' to
     change a column's type without renaming it:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 MODIFY b BIGINT NOT NULL;

   * If you use `CHANGE' or `MODIFY' to shorten a column for which an
     index exists on part of the column (for instance, if you have an
     index on the first 10 characters of a `VARCHAR' column), you
     cannot make the column shorter than the number of characters that
     are indexed.

   * When you change a column type using `CHANGE' or `MODIFY', *MySQL*
     tries to convert data to the new type as well as possible.

   * In *MySQL* 3.22 or later, you can use `FIRST' or `ADD ...  AFTER
     col_name' to add a column at a specific position within a table
     row.  The default is to add the column last.

   * `ALTER COLUMN' specifies a new default value for a column or
     removes the old default value.  If the old default is removed and
     the column can be `NULL', the new default is `NULL'. If the column
     cannot be `NULL', *MySQL* assigns a default value.  Default value
     assignment is described in *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

   * `DROP INDEX' removes an index. This is a *MySQL* extension to ANSI
     SQL92.

   * If columns are dropped from a table, the columns are also removed
     from any index of which they are a part.  If all columns that make
     up an index are dropped, the index is dropped as well.

   * `DROP PRIMARY KEY' drops the primary index. If no such index
     exists, it drops the first `UNIQUE' index in the table.  (*MySQL*
     marks the first `UNIQUE' key as the `PRIMARY KEY' if no `PRIMARY
     KEY' was specified explicitly.)

   * With the C API function `mysql_info()', you can find out how many
     records were copied, and (when `IGNORE' is used) how many records
     were deleted due to duplication of unique key values.

   * The `FOREIGN KEY', `CHECK' and `REFERENCES' clauses don't actually
     do anything.  The syntax for them is provided only for
     compatibility, to make it easier to port code from other SQL
     servers and to run applications that create tables with references.
     *Note Missing functions::.

Here is an example that shows some of the uses of `ALTER TABLE'.  We
begin with a table `t1' that is created as shown below:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (a INTEGER,b CHAR(10));

To rename the table from `t1' to `t2':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 RENAME t2;

To change column `a' from `INTEGER' to `TINYINT NOT NULL' (leaving the
name the same), and to change column `b' from `CHAR(10)' to `CHAR(20)'
as well as renaming it from `b' to `c':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 MODIFY a TINYINT NOT NULL, CHANGE b c CHAR(20);

To add a new `TIMESTAMP' column named `d':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 ADD d TIMESTAMP;

To add an index on column `d', and make column `a' the primary key:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 ADD INDEX (d), ADD PRIMARY KEY (a);

To remove column `c':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 DROP COLUMN c;

To add a new `AUTO_INCREMENT' integer column named `c':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 ADD c INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
                ADD INDEX (c);

Note that we indexed `c', because `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns must be
indexed, and also that we declare `c' as `NOT NULL', because indexed
columns cannot be `NULL'.

When you add an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, column values are filled in
with sequence numbers for you automatically.

`OPTIMIZE TABLE' syntax
=======================

     OPTIMIZE TABLE tbl_name

`OPTIMZE TABLE' should be used if you have deleted a large part of a
table or if you have made many changes to a table with variable-length
rows (tables that have `VARCHAR', `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns).  Deleted
records are maintained in a linked list and subsequent `INSERT'
operations reuse old record positions. You can use `OPTIMIZE TABLE' to
reclaim the unused space.

`OPTIMIZE TABLE' works by making a temporary copy of the original
table; The old table is copied to the new table (without the unused
rows), then the original table is deleted and the new one is renamed.
While `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is executing, the original table is readable by
other clients. Updates and writes to the table are stalled until the
new table is ready. This is done in such a way that all updates are
automatically redirected to the new table without any failed updates.

`DROP TABLE' syntax
===================

     DROP TABLE [IF EXISTS] tbl_name [, tbl_name,...]

`DROP TABLE' removes one or more tables. All table data and the table
definition are *removed*, so *be careful* with this command!

In *MySQL* 3.22 or later, you can use the keywords `IF EXISTS' to
prevent an error from occurring for tables that don't exist.

`DELETE' syntax
===============

     DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] FROM tbl_name
         [WHERE where_definition] [LIMIT rows]

`DELETE' deletes rows from `tbl_name' that satisfy the condition given
by `where_definition', and returns the number of records deleted.

If you issue a `DELETE' with no `WHERE' clause, all rows are deleted.
*MySQL* does this by recreating the table as an empty table, which is
much faster than deleting each row.  In this case, `DELETE' returns
zero as the number of affected records. (*MySQL* can't return the
number of rows that were actually deleted, since the recreate is done
without opening the data files. As long as the table definition file
`tbl_name.frm' is valid, the table can be recreated this way, even if
the data or index files have become corrupted.).

If you really want to know how many records are deleted when you are
deleting all rows, and are willing to suffer a speed penalty, you can
use a `DELETE' statement of this form:

     mysql> DELETE FROM tbl_name WHERE 1>0;

Note that this is MUCH slower than `DELETE FROM tbl_name' with no
`WHERE' clause, because it deletes rows one at a time.

If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the `DELETE' is
delayed until no other clients are reading from the table.

Deleted records are maintained in a linked list and subsequent `INSERT'
operations reuse old record positions. To reclaim unused space and
reduce file sizes, use the `OPTIMIZE TABLE' statement or the `myisamchk'
utility to reorganize tables.  `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is easier, but
`myisamchk' is faster.  *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE': OPTIMIZE TABLE, and
*Note Optimization::.

The *MySQL*-specific `LIMIT rows' option to `DELETE' tells the server
the maximum number of rows to be deleted before control is returned to
the client.  This can be used to ensure that a specific `DELETE'
command doesn't take too much time.  You can simply repeat the `DELETE'
command until the number of affected rows is less than the `LIMIT'
value.

`SELECT' syntax
===============

     SELECT [STRAIGHT_JOIN] [SQL_SMALL_RESULT] [SQL_BIG_RESULT] [HIGH_PRIORITY]
            [DISTINCT | DISTINCTROW | ALL]
         select_expression,...
         [INTO {OUTFILE | DUMPFILE} 'file_name' export_options]
         [FROM table_references
             [WHERE where_definition]
             [GROUP BY col_name,...]
             [HAVING where_definition]
             [ORDER BY {unsigned_integer | col_name | formula} [ASC | DESC] ,...]
             [LIMIT [offset,] rows]
             [PROCEDURE procedure_name] ]

`SELECT' is used to retrieve rows selected from one or more tables.
`select_expression' indicates the columns you want to retrieve.
`SELECT' may also be used to retrieve rows computed without reference to
any table.  For example:

     mysql> SELECT 1 + 1;
              -> 2

All keywords used must be given in exactly the order shown above. For
example, a `HAVING' clause must come after any `GROUP BY' clause and
before any `ORDER BY' clause.

   * A `SELECT' expression may be given an alias using `AS'. The alias
     is used as the expression's column name and can be used with
     `ORDER BY' or `HAVING' clauses.  For example:

          mysql> select concat(last_name,', ',first_name) AS full_name
              from mytable ORDER BY full_name;

   * The `FROM table_references' clause indicates the tables from which
     to retrieve rows.  If you name more than one table, you are
     performing a join.  For information on join syntax, see *Note
     `JOIN': JOIN.

   * You can refer to a column as `col_name', `tbl_name.col_name' or
     `db_name.tbl_name.col_name'.  You need not specify a `tbl_name' or
     `db_name.tbl_name' prefix for a column reference in a `SELECT'
     statement unless the reference would be ambiguous.  See *Note
     Legal names::, for examples of ambiguity that require the more
     explicit column reference forms.

   * A table reference may be aliased using `tbl_name [AS] alias_name'.

          mysql> select t1.name, t2.salary from employee AS t1, info AS t2
                     where t1.name = t2.name;
          mysql> select t1.name, t2.salary from employee t1, info t2
                     where t1.name = t2.name;

   * Columns selected for output may be referred to in `ORDER BY' and
     `GROUP BY' clauses using column names, column aliases or column
     positions.  Column positions begin with 1.

          mysql> select college, region, seed from tournament
                     ORDER BY region, seed;
          mysql> select college, region AS r, seed AS s from tournament
                     ORDER BY r, s;
          mysql> select college, region, seed from tournament
                     ORDER BY 2, 3;

     To sort in reverse order, add the `DESC' (descending) keyword to
     the name of the column in the `ORDER BY' clause that you are
     sorting by.  The default is ascending order; this may be specified
     explicitly using the `ASC' keyword.

   * The `HAVING' clause can refer to any column or alias named in the
     `select_expression'. It is applied last, just before items are
     sent to the client, with no optimization. Don't use `HAVING' for
     items that should be in the `WHERE' clause.  For example, do not
     write this:

          mysql> select col_name from tbl_name HAVING col_name > 0;

     Write this instead:

          mysql> select col_name from tbl_name WHERE col_name > 0;

     In *MySQL* 3.22.5 or later, you can also write queries like this:

          mysql> select user,max(salary) from users
                     group by user HAVING max(salary)>10;

     In older *MySQL* versions, you can write this instead:

          mysql> select user,max(salary) AS sum from users
                     group by user HAVING sum>10;

   * `SQL_SMALL_RESULT', `SQL_BIG_RESULT', `STRAIGHT_JOIN' and
     `HIGH_PRIORITY' are *MySQL* extensions to ANSI SQL92.

   * `STRAIGHT_JOIN' forces the optimizer to join the tables in the
     order in which they are listed in the `FROM' clause. You can use
     this to speed up a query if the optimizer joins the tables in
     non-optimal order.  *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

   * `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' can be used with `GROUP BY' or `DISTINCT' to
     tell the optimizer that the result set will be small.  In this
     case, *MySQL* will use fast temporary tables to store the
     resulting table instead of using sorting.  `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' is a
     *MySQL*

   * `SQL_BIG_RESULT' can be used with `GROUP BY' or `DISTINCT' to tell
     the optimizer that the result set will have many rows.  In this
     case, *MySQL* will directly use disk based temporary tables if
     needed.  `MySQL' in this case will prefer to do a sort instead
     doing a temporary table with a key on the `GROUP BY' elements.

   * `HIGH_PRIORITY' will give the `SELECT' higher priority than a
     statement that updates a table.  You should only use this for
     queries that are very fast and must be done at once.  A `SELECT
     HIGH_PRIORITY' query will run if the table is locked for read even
     if there is an update statement that is waiting for the table to
     be free.

   * The `LIMIT' clause can be used to constrain the number of rows
     returned by the `SELECT' statement.  `LIMIT' takes one or two
     numeric arguments.

     If two arguments are given, the first specifies the offset of the
     first row to return, the second specifies the maximum number of
     rows to return.  The offset of the initial row is 0 (not 1).

          mysql> select * from table LIMIT 5,10;  # Retrieve rows 6-15

     If one argument is given, it indicates the maximum number of rows
     to return.

          mysql> select * from table LIMIT 5;     # Retrieve first 5 rows

     In other words, `LIMIT n' is equivalent to `LIMIT 0,n'.

   * The `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE 'file_name'' form of `SELECT' writes
     the selected rows to a file. The file is created on the server
     host, and cannot already exist (among other things, this prevents
     database tables and files such as `/etc/passwd' from being
     destroyed).  You must have the *file* privilege on the server host
     to use this form of `SELECT'.

     `SELECT ...  INTO OUTFILE' is the complement of `LOAD DATA
     INFILE'; the syntax for the `export_options' part of the statement
     consists of the same `FIELDS' and `LINES' clauses that are used
     with the `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement.  *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD
     DATA.

     In the resulting text file, only the following characters are
     escaped by the `ESCAPED BY' character:

        * The `ESCAPED BY' character

        * The first character in `FIELDS TERMINATED BY'

        * The first character in `LINES TERMINATED BY'

     Additionally, `ASCII 0' is converted to `ESCAPED BY' followed by 0
     (`ASCII 48').

     The reason for the above is that you MUST escape any `FIELDS
     TERMINATED BY', `ESCAPED BY' or `LINES TERMINATED BY' characters
     to reliably be able to read the file back. `ASCII 0' is escaped to
     make it easier to view with some pagers.

     As the resulting file doesn't have to conform to the SQL syntax,
     nothing else need be escaped.

If you use `INTO DUMPFILE' instead of `INTO OUTFILE' *MySQL* will only
write one row into the file, without any column or line terminations
and without any escaping.  This is useful if you want to store a blob
in a file.

`JOIN' syntax
=============

*MySQL* supports the following `JOIN' syntaxes for use in `SELECT'
statements:

     table_reference, table_reference
     table_reference [CROSS] JOIN table_reference
     table_reference INNER JOIN table_reference
     table_reference STRAIGHT_JOIN table_reference
     table_reference LEFT [OUTER] JOIN table_reference ON conditional_expr
     table_reference LEFT [OUTER] JOIN table_reference USING (column_list)
     table_reference NATURAL LEFT [OUTER] JOIN table_reference
     { oj table_reference LEFT OUTER JOIN table_reference ON conditional_expr }

The last `LEFT OUTER JOIN' syntax shown above exists only for
compatibility with ODBC.

   * A table reference may be aliased using `tbl_name AS alias_name' or
     `tbl_name alias_name'.

          mysql> select t1.name, t2.salary from employee AS t1, info AS t2
                     where t1.name = t2.name;

   * `INNER JOIN' and `,' (comma) are semantically equivalent.  Both do
     a full join between the tables used.  Normally, you specify how
     the tables should be linked in the `WHERE' condition.

   * The `ON' conditional is any conditional of the form that may be
     used in a `WHERE' clause.

   * If there is no matching record for the right table in a `LEFT
     JOIN', a row with all columns set to `NULL' is used for the right
     table.  You can use this fact to find records in a table that have
     no counterpart in another table:

          mysql> select table1.* from table1
                     LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id
                     where table2.id is NULL;

     This example finds all rows in `table1' with an `id' value that is
     not present in `table2' (i.e., all rows in `table1' with no
     corresponding row in `table2').  This assumes that `table2.id' is
     declared `NOT NULL', of course.

   * The `USING' `(column_list)' clause names a list of columns that
     must exist in both tables.  A `USING' clause such as:

          A LEFT JOIN B USING (C1,C2,C3,...)

     is defined to be semantically identical to an `ON' expression like
     this:

          A.C1=B.C1 AND A.C2=B.C2 AND A.C3=B.C3,...

   * The `NATURAL LEFT JOIN' of two tables is defined to be semantically
     equivalent to a `LEFT JOIN' with a `USING' clause that names all
     columns that exist in both tables.

   * `STRAIGHT_JOIN' is identical to `JOIN', except that the left table
     is always read before the right table. This can be used for those
     (few) cases where the join optimizer puts the tables in the wrong
     order.

Some examples:

     mysql> select * from table1,table2 where table1.id=table2.id;
     mysql> select * from table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id;
     mysql> select * from table1 LEFT JOIN table2 USING (id);
     mysql> select * from table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id
                LEFT JOIN table3 ON table2.id=table3.id;

*Note `LEFT JOIN' optimization: LEFT JOIN optimization.

`INSERT' syntax
===============

         INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED] [IGNORE]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             VALUES (expression,...),(...),...
     or  INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED] [IGNORE]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             SELECT ...
     or  INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED] [IGNORE]
             [INTO] tbl_name
             SET col_name=expression, col_name=expression, ...

`INSERT' inserts new rows into an existing table.  The `INSERT ...
VALUES' form of the statement inserts rows based on explicitly-specified
values.  The `INSERT ... SELECT' form inserts rows selected from another
table or tables.  The `INSERT ... VALUES' form with multiple value lists
is supported in *MySQL* 3.22.5 or later.  The `col_name=expression'
syntax is supported in *MySQL* 3.22.10 or later.

`tbl_name' is the table into which rows should be inserted.  The column
name list or the `SET' clause indicates which columns the statement
specifies values for.

   * If you specify no column list for `INSERT ... VALUES' or `INSERT
     ... SELECT', values for all columns must be provided in the
     `VALUES()' list or by the `SELECT'.  If you don't know the order of
     the columns in the table, use `DESCRIBE tbl_name' to find out.

   * Any column not explicitly given a value is set to its default
     value.  For example, if you specify a column list that doesn't
     name all the columns in the table, unnamed columns are set to
     their default values.  Default value assignment is described in
     *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

   * An `expression' may refer to any column that was set earlier in a
     value list.  For example, you can say this:

          mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (col1,col2) VALUES(15,col1*2);

     But not this:

          mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (col1,col2) VALUES(col2*2,15);

   * If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the
     `INSERT' is delayed until no other clients are reading from the
     table.  In this case the client has to wait until the insert
     statement is completed, which may take a long time if the table is
     in heavy use. This is in contrast to `INSERT DELAYED' which lets
     the client continue at once.

   * If you specify the keyword `IGNORE' in an `INSERT' with many value
     rows, any rows which duplicate an existing `PRIMARY' or `UNIQUE'
     key in the table are ignored and are not inserted.  If you do not
     specify `IGNORE', the insert is aborted if there is any row that
     duplicates an existing key value.  You can check with the C API
     function `mysql_info()' how many rows were inserted into the table.

   * If *MySQL* was configured using the `DONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS'
     option, `INSERT' statements generate an error unless you explicitly
     specify values for all columns that require a non-`NULL' value.
     *Note `configure' options: configure options.

   * The following conditions hold for a `INSERT INTO ... SELECT'
     statement:

        - The query cannot contain an `ORDER BY' clause.

        - The target table of the `INSERT' statement cannot appear in
          the `FROM' clause of the `SELECT' part of the query, because
          it's forbidden in ANSI SQL to `SELECT' from the same table
          into which you are `INSERT'ing.  (The problem is that the
          `SELECT' possibly would find records that were inserted
          earlier during the same run.  When using sub-select clauses,
          the situation could easily be very confusing!)

        - `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns work as usual.

If you use `INSERT ... SELECT' or a `INSERT ... VALUES' statement with
multiple value lists, you can use the C API function `mysql_info()' to
get information about the query.  The format of the information string
is shown below:

     Records: 100 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0

`Duplicates' indicates the number of rows that couldn't be inserted
because they would duplicate some existing unique index value.
`Warnings' indicates the number of attempts to insert column values that
were problematic in some way. Warnings can occur under any of the
following conditions:

   * Inserting `NULL' into a column that has been declared `NOT NULL'.
     The column is set to its default value.

   * Setting a numeric column to a value that lies outside the column's
     range.  The value is clipped to the appropriate endpoint of the
     range.

   * Setting a numeric column to a value such as `'10.34 a''.  The
     trailing garbage is stripped and the remaining numeric part is
     inserted.  If the value doesn't make sense as a number at all, the
     column is set to `0'.

   * Inserting a string into a `CHAR', `VARCHAR', `TEXT' or `BLOB'
     column that exceeds the column's maximum length.  The value is
     truncated to the column's maximum length.

   * Inserting a value into a date or time column that is illegal for
     the column type.  The column is set to the appropriate "zero"
     value for the type.

The `DELAYED' option for the `INSERT' statement is a *MySQL*-specific
option that is very useful if you have clients that can't wait for the
`INSERT' to complete.  This is a common problem when you use *MySQL*
for logging and you also periodically run `SELECT' statements that take
a long time to complete.  `DELAYED' was introduced in *MySQL* 3.22.15.
It is a *MySQL* extension to ANSI SQL92.

When you use `INSERT DELAYED', the client will get an ok at once and
the row will be inserted when the table is not in use by any other
thread.

Another major benefit of using `INSERT DELAYED' is that inserts from
many clients are bundled together and written in one block. This is much
faster than doing many separate inserts.

Note that currently the queued rows are only stored in memory until
they are inserted into the table.  This means that if you kill `mysqld'
the hard way (`kill -9') or if `mysqld' dies unexpectedly, any queued
rows that weren't written to disk are lost!

The following describes in detail what happens when you use the
`DELAYED' option to `INSERT' or `REPLACE'.  In this description, the
"thread" is the thread that received an `INSERT DELAYED' command and
"handler" is the thread that handles all `INSERT DELAYED' statements
for a particular table.

   * When a thread executes a `DELAYED' statement for a table, a handler
     thread is created to process all `DELAYED' statements for the
     table, if no such handler already exists.

   * The thread checks whether or not the handler has acquired a
     `DELAYED' lock already; if not, it tells the handler thread to do
     so.  The `DELAYED' lock can be obtained even if other threads have
     a `READ' or `WRITE' lock on the table.  However, the handler will
     wait for all `ALTER TABLE' locks or `FLUSH TABLES' to ensure that
     the table structure is up to date.

   * The thread executes the `INSERT' statement but instead of writing
     the row to the table it puts a copy of the final row into a queue
     that is managed by the handler thread. Any syntax errors are
     noticed by the thread and reported to the client program.

   * The client can't report the number of duplicates or the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' value for the resulting row; it can't obtain them
     from the server, because the `INSERT' returns before the insert
     operation has been completed.  If you use the C API, the
     `mysql_info()' function doesn't return anything meaningful, for
     the same reason.

   * The update log is updated by the handler thread when the row is
     inserted into the table.  In case of multiple-row inserts, the
     update log is updated when the first row is inserted.

   * After every `delayed_insert_limit' rows are written, the handler
     checks whether or not any `SELECT' statements are still pending.
     If so, it allows these to execute before continuing.

   * When the handler has no more rows in its queue, the table is
     unlocked.  If no new `INSERT DELAYED' commands are received within
     `delayed_insert_timeout' seconds, the handler terminates.

   * If more than `delayed_queue_size' rows are pending already in a
     specific handler queue, the thread waits until there is room in
     the queue.  This is useful to ensure that the `mysqld' server
     doesn't use all memory for the delayed memory queue.

   * The handler thread will show up in the *MySQL* process list with
     `delayed_insert' in the `Command' column.  It will be killed if
     you execute a `FLUSH TABLES' command or kill it with `KILL
     thread_id'. However, it will first store all queued rows into the
     table before exiting. During this time it will not accept any new
     `INSERT' commands from another thread. If you execute an `INSERT
     DELAYED' command after this, a new handler thread will be created.

   * Note that the above means that `INSERT DELAYED' commands have
     higher priority than normal `INSERT' commands if there is an
     `INSERT DELAYED' handler already running!  Other update commands
     will have to wait until the `INSERT DELAY' queue is empty, someone
     kills the handler thread (with `KILL thread_id') or someone
     executes `FLUSH TABLES'.

   * The following status variables provide information about `INSERT
     DELAYED' commands:

     `Delayed_insert_threads'Number of handler threads                    
     `Delayed_writes'        Number of rows written with `INSERT DELAYED' 
     `Not_flushed_delayed_rows'Number of rows waiting to be written         

     You can view these variables by issuing a `SHOW STATUS' statement
     or by executing a `mysqladmin extended-status' command.

Note that `INSERT DELAYED' is slower than a normal INSERT if the table
is not in use.  There is also the additional overhead for the server to
handle a separate thread for each table on which you use `INSERT
DELAYED'.  This means that you should only use `INSERT DELAYED' when
you are really sure you need it!

`REPLACE' syntax
================

         REPLACE [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             VALUES (expression,...)
     or  REPLACE [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             SELECT ...
     or  REPLACE [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED]
             [INTO] tbl_name
             SET col_name=expression, col_name=expression,...

`REPLACE' works exactly like `INSERT', except that if an old record in
the table has the same value as a new record on a unique index, the old
record is deleted before the new record is inserted.  *Note `INSERT':
INSERT.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' syntax
=========================

     LOAD DATA [LOW_PRIORITY] [LOCAL] INFILE 'file_name.txt' [REPLACE | IGNORE]
         INTO TABLE tbl_name
         [FIELDS
             [TERMINATED BY '\t']
             [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY '']
             [ESCAPED BY '\\' ]]
         [LINES TERMINATED BY '\n']
         [IGNORE number LINES]
         [(col_name,...)]

The `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement reads rows from a text file into a
table at a very high speed.  If the `LOCAL' keyword is specified, the
file is read from the client host.  If `LOCAL' is not specified, the
file must be located on the server.  (`LOCAL' is available in *MySQL*
3.22.6 or later.)

For security reasons, when reading text files located on the server, the
files must either reside in the database directory or be readable by
all.  Also, to use `LOAD DATA INFILE' on server files, you must have the
*file* privilege on the server host.  *Note Privileges provided::.

If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the `LOAD DATA'
statement is delayed until no other clients are reading from the table.

Using `LOCAL' will be a bit slower than letting the server access the
files directly, since the contents of the file must travel from the
client host to the server host.  On the other hand, you do not need the
*file* privilege to load local files.

You can also load data files by using the `mysqlimport' utility; it
operates by sending a `LOAD DATA INFILE' command to the server.  The
`--local' option causes `mysqlimport' to read data files from the
client host.  You can specify the `--compress' option to get better
performance over slow networks if the client and server support the
compressed protocol.

When locating files on the server host, the server uses the following
rules:

   * If an absolute pathname is given, the server uses the pathname as
     is.

   * If a relative pathname with one or more leading components is
     given, the server searches for the file relative to the server's
     data directory.

   * If a filename with no leading components is given, the server
     looks for the file in the database directory of the current
     database.

Note that these rules mean a file given as `./myfile.txt' is read from
the server's data directory, whereas a file given as `myfile.txt' is
read from the database directory of the current database.  For example,
the following `LOAD DATA' statement reads the file `data.txt' from the
database directory for `db1' because `db1' is the current database,
even though the statement explicitly loads the file into a table in the
`db2' database:

     mysql> USE db1;
     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE "data.txt" INTO TABLE db2.my_table;

The `REPLACE' and `IGNORE' keywords control handling of input records
that duplicate existing records on unique key values.  If you specify
`REPLACE', new rows replace existing rows that have the same unique key
value. If you specify `IGNORE', input rows that duplicate an existing
row on a unique key value are skipped.  If you don't specify either
option, an error occurs when a duplicate key value is found, and the
rest of the text file is ignored.

If you load data from a local file using the `LOCAL' keyword, the server
has no way to stop transmission of the file in the middle of the
operation, so the default bahavior is the same as if `IGNORE' is
specified.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' is the complement of `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'.
*Note `SELECT': SELECT.  To write data from a database to a file, use
`SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'.  To read the file back into the database,
use `LOAD DATA INFILE'.  The syntax of the `FIELDS' and `LINES' clauses
is the same for both commands.  Both clauses are optional, but `FIELDS'
must precede `LINES' if both are specified.

If you specify a `FIELDS' clause, each of its subclauses (`TERMINATED
BY', `[OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' and `ESCAPED BY') is also optional,
except that you must specify at least one of them.

If you don't specify a `FIELDS' clause, the defaults are the same as if
you had written this:

     FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t' ENCLOSED BY '' ESCAPED BY '\\'

If you don't specify a `LINES' clause, the default is the same as if
you had written this:

     LINES TERMINATED BY '\n'

In other words, the defaults cause `LOAD DATA INFILE' to act as follows
when reading input:

   * Look for line boundaries at newlines

   * Break lines into fields at tabs

   * Do not expect fields to be enclosed within any quoting characters

   * Interpret occurrences of tab, newline or `\' preceded by `\' as
     literal characters that are part of field values

Conversely, the defaults cause `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' to act as
follows when writing output:

   * Write tabs between fields

   * Do not enclose fields within any quoting characters

   * Use `\' to escape instances of tab, newline or `\' that occur
     within field values

   * Write newlines at the ends of lines

Note that to write `FIELDS ESCAPED BY '\\'', you must specify two
backslashes for the value to be read as a single backslash.

The `IGNORE number LINES' option can be used to ignore a header of
column names at the start of the file:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE "/tmp/file_name" into table test IGNORE 1 LINES;

When you use `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' in tandem with `LOAD DATA
INFILE' to write data from a database into a file and then read the
file back into the database later, the field and line handling options
for both commands must match.  Otherwise, `LOAD DATA INFILE' will not
interpret the contents of the file properly.  Suppose you use `SELECT
... INTO OUTFILE' to write a file with fields delimited by commas:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1 INTO OUTFILE 'data.txt'
                FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
                FROM ...

To read the comma-delimited file back in, the correct statement would
be:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE table2
                FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',';

If instead you tried to read in the file with the statement shown
below, it wouldn't work because it instructs `LOAD DATA INFILE' to look
for tabs between fields:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE table2
                FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t';

The likely result is that each input line would be interpreted as a
single field.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' can be used to read files obtained from external
sources, too. For example, a file in dBASE format will have fields
separated by commas and enclosed in double quotes.  If lines in the
file are terminated by newlines, the command shown below illustrates
the field and line handling options you would use to load the file:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE tbl_name
                FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' ENCLOSED BY '"'
                LINES TERMINATED BY '\n';

Any of the field or line handling options may specify an empty string
(`''').  If not empty, the `FIELDS [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' and
`FIELDS ESCAPED BY' values must be a single character.  The `FIELDS
TERMINATED BY' and `LINES TERMINATED BY' values may be more than one
character.  For example, to write lines that are terminated by carriage
return-linefeed pairs, or to read a file containing such lines, specify
a `LINES TERMINATED BY '\r\n'' clause.

`FIELDS [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' controls quoting of fields.  For
output (`SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'), if you omit the word `OPTIONALLY',
all fields are enclosed by the `ENCLOSED BY' character.  An example of
such output (using a comma as the field delimiter) is shown below:

     "1","a string","100.20"
     "2","a string containing a , comma","102.20"
     "3","a string containing a \" quote","102.20"
     "4","a string containing a \", quote and comma","102.20"

If you specify `OPTIONALLY', the `ENCLOSED BY' character is used only
to enclose `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' fields:

     1,"a string",100.20
     2,"a string containing a , comma",102.20
     3,"a string containing a \" quote",102.20
     4,"a string containing a \", quote and comma",102.20

Note that occurrences of the `ENCLOSED BY' character within a field
value are escaped by prefixing them with the `ESCAPED BY' character.
Also note that if you specify an empty `ESCAPED BY' value, it is
possible to generate output that cannot be read properly by `LOAD DATA
INFILE'. For example, the output just shown above would appear as shown
below if the escape character is empty.  Observe that the second field
in the fourth line contains a comma following the quote, which
(erroneously) appears to terminate the field:

     1,"a string",100.20
     2,"a string containing a , comma",102.20
     3,"a string containing a " quote",102.20
     4,"a string containing a ", quote and comma",102.20

For input, the `ENCLOSED BY' character, if present, is stripped from the
ends of field values.  (This is true whether or not `OPTIONALLY' is
specified; `OPTIONALLY' has no effect on input interpretation.)
Occurrences of the `ENCLOSED BY' character preceded by the `ESCAPED BY'
character are interpreted as part of the current field value.  In
addition, duplicated `ENCLOSED BY' characters occurring within fields
are interpreted as single `ENCLOSED BY' characters if the field itself
starts with that character.  For example, if `ENCLOSED BY '"'' is
specified, quotes are handled as shown below:

     "The ""BIG"" boss"  -> The "BIG" boss
     The "BIG" boss      -> The "BIG" boss
     The ""BIG"" boss    -> The ""BIG"" boss

`FIELDS ESCAPED BY' controls how to write or read special characters.
If the `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character is not empty, it is used to prefix
the following characters on output:
   * The `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character

   * The `FIELDS [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' character

   * The first character of the `FIELDS TERMINATED BY' and `LINES
     TERMINATED BY' values

   * ASCII `0' (what is actually written following the escape character
     is ASCII `'0'', not a zero-valued byte)

If the `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character is empty, no characters are
escaped.  It is probably not a good idea to specify an empty escape
character, particularly if field values in your data contain any of the
characters in the list just given.

For input, if the `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character is not empty,
occurrences of that character are stripped and the following character
is taken literally as part of a field value.  The exceptions are an
escaped `0' or `N' (e.g., `\0' or `\N' if the escape character is `\').
These sequences are interpreted as ASCII `0' (a zero-valued byte) and
`NULL'.  See below for the rules on `NULL' handling.

For more information about `\'-escape syntax, see *Note Literals::.

In certain cases, field and line handling options interact:

   * If `LINES TERMINATED BY' is an empty string and `FIELDS TERMINATED
     BY' is non-empty, lines are also terminated with `FIELDS
     TERMINATED BY'.

   * If the `FIELDS TERMINATED BY' and `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' values are
     both empty (`'''), a fixed-row (non-delimited) format is used.
     With fixed-row format, no delimiters are used between fields.
     Instead, column values are written and read using the "display"
     widths of the columns.  For example, if a column is declared as
     `INT(7)', values for the column are written using 7-character
     fields.  On input, values for the column are obtained by reading 7
     characters.  Fixed-row format also affects handling of `NULL'
     values; see below.  Note that fixed size format will not work if
     you are using a multi-byte character set.

Handling of `NULL' values varies, depending on the `FIELDS' and `LINES'
options you use:

   * For the default `FIELDS' and `LINES' values, `NULL' is written as
     `\N' for output and `\N' is read as `NULL' for input (assuming the
     `ESCAPED BY' character is `\').

   * If `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' is not empty, a field containing the
     literal word `NULL' as its value is read as a `NULL' value (this
     differs from the word `NULL' enclosed within `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY'
     characters, which is read as the string `'NULL'').

   * If `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' is empty, `NULL' is written as the word
     `NULL'.

   * With fixed-row format (which happens when `FIELDS TERMINATED BY'
     and `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' are both empty), `NULL' is written as an
     empty string.  Note that this causes both `NULL' values and empty
     strings in the table to be indistinguishable when written to the
     file since they are both written as empty strings.  If you need to
     be able to tell the two apart when reading the file back in, you
     should not use fixed-row format.

Some cases are not supported by `LOAD DATA INFILE':
   * Fixed-size rows (`FIELDS TERMINATED BY' and `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY'
     both empty) and `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns.

   * If you specify one separator that is the same as or a prefix of
     another, `LOAD DATA INFILE' won't be able to interpret the input
     properly.  For example, the following `FIELDS' clause would cause
     problems:

          FIELDS TERMINATED BY '"' ENCLOSED BY '"'

   * If `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' is empty, a field value that contains an
     occurrence of `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' or `LINES TERMINATED BY'
     followed by the `FIELDS TERMINATED BY' value will cause `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' to stop reading a field or line too early.  This happens
     because `LOAD DATA INFILE' cannot properly determine where the
     field or line value ends.

The following example loads all columns of the `persondata' table:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'persondata.txt' INTO TABLE persondata;

No field list is specified, so `LOAD DATA INFILE' expects input rows to
contain a field for each table column.  The default `FIELDS' and
`LINES' values are used.

If you wish to load only some of a table's columns, specify a field
list:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'persondata.txt'
                INTO TABLE persondata (col1,col2,...);

You must also specify a field list if the order of the fields in the
input file differs from the order of the columns in the table.
Otherwise, *MySQL* cannot tell how to match up input fields with table
columns.

If a row has too few fields, the columns for which no input field is
present are set to default values.  Default value assignment is
described in *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

An empty field value is interpreted differently than if the field value
is missing:

   * For string types, the column is set to the empty string.

   * For numeric types, the column is set to `0'.

   * For date and time types, the column is set to the appropriate
     "zero" value for the type.  *Note Date and time types::.

`TIMESTAMP' columns are only set to the current date and time if there
is a `NULL' value for the column, or (for the first `TIMESTAMP' column
only) if the `TIMESTAMP' column is left out from the field list when a
field list is specified.

If an input row has too many fields, the extra fields are ignored and
the number of warnings is incremented.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' regards all input as strings, so you can't use
numeric values for `ENUM' or `SET' columns the way you can with
`INSERT' statements.  All `ENUM' and `SET' values must be specified as
strings!

If you are using the C API, you can get information about the query by
calling the API function `mysql_info()' when the `LOAD DATA INFILE'
query finishes.  The format of the information string is shown below:

     Records: 1  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0

Warnings occur under the same circumstances as when values are inserted
via the `INSERT' statement (*note `INSERT': INSERT.), except that `LOAD
DATA INFILE' also generates warnings when there are too few or too many
fields in the input row.  The warnings are not stored anywhere; the
number of warnings can only be used as an indication if everything went
well.  If you get warnings and want to know exactly why you got them,
one way to do this is to use `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' into another
file and compare this to your original input file.

For more information about the efficiency of `INSERT' versus `LOAD DATA
INFILE' and speeding up `LOAD DATA INFILE', *Note Insert speed::.

`UPDATE' syntax
===============

     UPDATE [LOW_PRIORITY] tbl_name SET col_name1=expr1,col_name2=expr2,...
         [WHERE where_definition] [LIMIT #]

`UPDATE' updates columns in existing table rows with new values.  The
`SET' clause indicates which columns to modify and the values they
should be given.  The `WHERE' clause, if given, specifies which rows
should be updated.  Otherwise all rows are updated.

If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the `UPDATE' is
delayed until no other clients are reading from the table.

If you access a column from `tbl_name' in an expression, `UPDATE' uses
the current value of the column.  For example, the following statement
sets the `age' column to one more than its current value:

     mysql> UPDATE persondata SET age=age+1;

`UPDATE' assignments are evaluated from left to right.  For example, the
following statement doubles the `age' column, then increments it:

     mysql> UPDATE persondata SET age=age*2, age=age+1;

If you set a column to the value it currently has, *MySQL* notices this
and doesn't update it.

`UPDATE' returns the number of rows that were actually changed.  In
*MySQL* 3.22 or later, the C API function `mysql_info()' returns the
number of rows that were matched and updated and the number of warnings
that occurred during the `UPDATE'.

In *MySQL* 3.23 you can use `LIMIT #' to ensure that only a given
number of rows are changed.

`USE' syntax
============

     USE db_name

The `USE db_name' statement tells *MySQL* to use the `db_name' database
as the default database for subsequent queries.  The database remains
current until the end of the session, or until another `USE' statement
is issued:

     mysql> USE db1;
     mysql> SELECT count(*) FROM mytable;      # selects from db1.mytable
     mysql> USE db2;
     mysql> SELECT count(*) FROM mytable;      # selects from db2.mytable

Making a particular database current by means of the `USE' statement
does not preclude you from accessing tables in other databases.  The
example below accesses the `author' table from the `db1' database and
the `editor' table from the `db2' database:

     mysql> USE db1;
     mysql> SELECT author_name,editor_name FROM author,db2.editor
                WHERE author.editor_id = db2.editor.editor_id;

The `USE' statement is provided for Sybase compatibility.

`FLUSH' syntax (clearing caches)
================================

     FLUSH flush_option [,flush_option]

You should use the `FLUSH' command if you want to clear some of the
internal caches *MySQL* uses.  To execute `FLUSH', you must have the
*reload* privilege.

`flush_option' can be any of the following:

`HOSTS'     Empties the host cache tables.  You should flush the host     
            tables if some of your hosts change IP number or if you get   
            the error message `Host ... is blocked'.  When more than      
            `max_connect_errors' errors occur in a row for a given host   
            while connection to the *MySQL* server, *MySQL* assumes       
            something is wrong and blocks the host from further           
            connection requests.  Flushing the host tables allows the     
            host to attempt to connect again. *Note Blocked host::.) You  
            can start `mysqld' with `-O max_connection_errors=999999999'  
            to avoid this error message.                                  
`LOGS'      Closes and reopens the standard and update log files.  If     
            you have specified the update log file without an extension,  
            the extension number of the new update log file will be       
            incremented by one relative to the previous file.  If you     
            have used an extension in the file name, MySQL will close     
            and reopen the update log file.  On Unix you can use this     
            behaviour to your advantage by first moving the file to       
            another name and then issue `FLUSH LOGS'.                     
`PRIVILEGES'Reloads the privileges from the grant tables in the `mysql'   
            database.                                                     
`TABLES'    Closes all open tables.                                       
`STATUS'    Resets most status variables to zero.                         

You can also access each of the commands shown above with the
`mysqladmin' utility, using the `flush-hosts', `flush-logs', `reload'
or `flush-tables' commands.

`KILL' syntax
=============

     KILL thread_id

Each connection to `mysqld' runs in a separate thread.  You can see
which threads are running with the `SHOW PROCESSLIST' command, and kill
a thread with the `KILL thread_id' command.

If you have the *process* privilege, you can see and kill all threads.
Otherwise, you can see and kill only your own threads.

You can also use the `mysqladmin processlist' and `mysqladmin kill'
commands to examine and kill threads.

`SHOW' syntax (Get information about tables, columns,...)
=========================================================

        SHOW DATABASES [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW TABLES [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name [FROM db_name]
     or SHOW STATUS
     or SHOW VARIABLES [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW [FULL] PROCESSLIST
     or SHOW TABLE STATUS [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW GRANTS FOR user

`SHOW' provides information about databases, tables, columns or the
server. If the `LIKE wild' part is used, the `wild' string can be a
string that uses the SQL `%' and `_' wildcard characters.

You can use `db_name.tbl_name' as an alternative to the `tbl_name FROM
db_name' syntax.  These two statements are equivalent:

     mysql> SHOW INDEX FROM mytable FROM mydb;
     mysql> SHOW INDEX FROM mydb.mytable;

`SHOW DATABASES' lists the databases on the *MySQL* server host.  You
can also get this list using the `mysqlshow' command.

`SHOW TABLES' lists the tables in a given database.  You can also get
this list using the `mysqlshow db_name' command.

*Note:* If a user doesn't have any privileges for a table, the table
will not show up in the output from `SHOW TABLES' or `mysqlshow
db_name'.

`SHOW COLUMNS' lists the columns in a given table.  If the column types
are different than you expect them to be based on a `CREATE TABLE'
statement, note that MySQL sometimes changes column types.  *Note
Silent column changes::.

The `DESCRIBE' statement provides information similar to `SHOW COLUMNS'.
*Note `DESCRIBE': DESCRIBE.

`SHOW TABLE STATUS' (new in version 3.23) works likes `SHOW STATUS',
but provides a lot of information about each table. You can also get
this list using the `mysqlshow --status db_name' command.  The
following columns are returned:

*Column*               *Meaning*                                          
`Name'                 Name of the table                                  
`Type'                 Type of table (ISAM, MyISAM or HEAP)               
`Row_format'           The row storage format (Fixed, Dynamic, or         
                       Compressed)                                        
`Rows'                 Number of rows                                     
`Avg_row_length'       Average row length                                 
`Data_length'          Length of the data file                            
`Max_data_length'      Max length of the data file                        
`Index_length'         Length of the index file                           
`Data_free'            Number of allocated but not used bytes             
`Auto_increment'       Next autoincrement value                           
`Create_time'          When the table was created                         
`Update_time'          When the data file was last updated                
`Check_time'           When one last run a check on the table             
`Create_options'       Extra options used with `CREATE TABLE'             
`Comment'              The comment used when creating the table (or some  
                       information why MySQL couldn't access the table    
                       information).                                      

`SHOW FIELDS' is a synonym for `SHOW COLUMNS' and `SHOW KEYS' is a
synonym for `SHOW INDEX'.  You can also list a table's columns or
indexes with `mysqlshow db_name tbl_name' or `mysqlshow -k db_name
tbl_name'.

`SHOW INDEX' returns the index information in a format that closely
resembles the `SQLStatistics' call in ODBC. The following columns are
returned:

*Column*                  *Meaning*                                       
`Table'                   Name of the table                               
`Non_unique'              0 if the index can't contain duplicates.        
`Key_name'                Name of the index                               
`Seq_in_index'            Column sequence number in index, starting with  
                          1.                                              
`Column_name'             Column name.                                    
`Collation'               How the column is sorted in the index.  In      
                          *MySQL*, this can have values `A' (Ascending)   
                          or `NULL' (Not sorted).                         
`Cardinality'             Number of unique values in the index.  This is  
                          updated by running `isamchk -a'.                
`Sub_part'                Number of indexed characters if the column is   
                          only partly indexed. `NULL' if the entire key   
                          is indexed.                                     

`SHOW STATUS' provides server status information (like `mysqladmin
extended-status'). The output resembles that shown below, though the
format and numbers may differ somewhat:

     +--------------------------+--------+
     | Variable_name            | Value  |
     +--------------------------+--------+
     | Aborted_clients          | 0      |
     | Aborted_connects         | 0      |
     | Connections              | 17     |
     | Created_tmp_tables       | 0      |
     | Delayed_insert_threads   | 0      |
     | Delayed_writes           | 0      |
     | Delayed_errors           | 0      |
     | Flush_commands           | 2      |
     | Handler_delete           | 2      |
     | Handler_read_first       | 0      |
     | Handler_read_key         | 1      |
     | Handler_read_next        | 0      |
     | Handler_read_rnd         | 35     |
     | Handler_update           | 0      |
     | Handler_write            | 2      |
     | Key_blocks_used          | 0      |
     | Key_read_requests        | 0      |
     | Key_reads                | 0      |
     | Key_write_requests       | 0      |
     | Key_writes               | 0      |
     | Max_used_connections     | 1      |
     | Not_flushed_key_blocks   | 0      |
     | Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0      |
     | Open_tables              | 1      |
     | Open_files               | 2      |
     | Open_streams             | 0      |
     | Opened_tables            | 11     |
     | Questions                | 14     |
     | Slow_queries             | 0      |
     | Threads_connected        | 1      |
     | Threads_running          | 1      |
     | Uptime                   | 149111 |
     +--------------------------+--------+

The status variables listed above have the following meaning:

`Aborted_clients'         Number of connections that has been aborted     
                          because the client has died without closing     
                          the connection properly.                        
`Aborted_connects'        Number of tries to connect to the MySQL server  
                          that has failed.                                
`Connections'             Number of connection attempts to the MySQL      
                          server.                                         
`Created_tmp_tables'      Number of implicit temporary tables that has    
                          been created while executing statements.        
`Delayed_insert_threads'  Number of delayed insert handler threads in     
                          use.                                            
`Delayed_writes'          Number of rows written with `INSERT DELAYED'.   
`Delayed_errors'          Number of rows written with `INSERT DELAYED'    
                          for which some error occurred (probably         
                          `duplicate key').                               
`Flush_commands'          Number of executed `FLUSH' commands.            
`Handler_delete'          Number of requests to delete a row from a       
                          table.                                          
`Handler_read_first'      Number of requests to read the first row in a   
                          table.                                          
`Handler_read_key'        Number of requests to read a row based on a     
                          key.                                            
`Handler_read_next'       Number of requests to read next row in key      
                          order.                                          
`Handler_read_rnd'        Number of requests to read a row based on a     
                          fixed position.                                 
`Handler_update'          Number of requests to update a row in a table.  
`Handler_write'           Number of requests to insert a row in a table.  
`Key_blocks_used'         The number of used blocks in the key cache.     
`Key_read_requests'       The number of requests to read a key block      
                          from the cache.                                 
`Key_reads'               The number of physical reads of a key block     
                          from disk.                                      
`Key_write_requests'      The number of requests to write a key block to  
                          the cache.                                      
`Key_writes'              The number of physical writes of a key block    
                          to disk.                                        
`Max_used_connections'    The maximum number of connections that has      
                          been in use simultaneously.                     
`Not_flushed_key_blocks'  Keys blocks in the key cache that has changed   
                          but hasn't yet been flushed to disk.            
`Not_flushed_delayed_rows'Number of rows waiting to be written in         
                          `INSERT DELAY' queues.                          
`Open_tables'             Number of tables that are open.                 
`Open_files'              Number of files that are open.                  
`Open_streams'            Number of streams that are open (used mainly    
                          for logging)                                    
`Opened_tables'           Number of tables that has been opened.          
`Questions'               Number of queries sent to the server.           
`Slow_queries'            Number of queries that has taken more than      
                          `long_query_time'                               
`Threads_connected'       Number of currently open connections.           
`Threads_running'         Number of threads that are not sleeping.        
`Uptime'                  How many seconds the server has been up.        

Some comments about the above:

   * If `Opened_tables' is big, then your `table_cache' variable is
     probably too small.

   * If `key_reads' is big, then your `key_cache' is probably too
     small.  The cache hit rate can be calculated with
     `key_reads'/`key_read_requests'.

   * If `Handler_read_rnd' is big, then you have a probably a lot of
     queries that requires MySQL to scan whole tables or you have joins
     that doesn't use keys properly.

`SHOW VARIABLES' shows the values of the some of *MySQL* system
variables.  You can also get this information using the `mysqladmin
variables' command.  If the default values are unsuitable, you can set
most of these variables using command-line options when `mysqld' starts
up.  The output resembles that shown below, though the format and
numbers may differ somewhat:

     +------------------------+--------------------------+
     | Variable_name          | Value                    |
     +------------------------+--------------------------+
     | back_log               | 5                        |
     | connect_timeout        | 5                        |
     | basedir                | /my/monty/               |
     | datadir                | /my/monty/data/          |
     | delayed_insert_limit   | 100                      |
     | delayed_insert_timeout | 300                      |
     | delayed_queue_size     | 1000                     |
     | join_buffer_size       | 131072                   |
     | flush_time             | 0                        |
     | interactive_timeout    | 28800                    |
     | key_buffer_size        | 1048540                  |
     | language               | /my/monty/share/english/ |
     | log                    | OFF                      |
     | log_update             | OFF                      |
     | long_query_time        | 10                       |
     | low_priority_updates   | OFF                      |
     | max_allowed_packet     | 1048576                  |
     | max_connections        | 100                      |
     | max_connect_errors     | 10                       |
     | max_delayed_threads    | 20                       |
     | max_heap_table_size    | 16777216                 |
     | max_join_size          | 4294967295               |
     | max_sort_length        | 1024                     |
     | max_tmp_tables         | 32                       |
     | net_buffer_length      | 16384                    |
     | port                   | 3306                     |
     | protocol-version       | 10                       |
     | record_buffer          | 131072                   |
     | skip_locking           | ON                       |
     | socket                 | /tmp/mysql.sock          |
     | sort_buffer            | 2097116                  |
     | table_cache            | 64                       |
     | thread_stack           | 131072                   |
     | tmp_table_size         | 1048576                  |
     | tmpdir                 | /machine/tmp/            |
     | version                | 3.23.0-alpha-debug       |
     | wait_timeout           | 28800                    |
     +------------------------+--------------------------+

*Note Server parameters: Server parameters.

`SHOW PROCESSLIST' shows you which threads are running.  You can also
get this information using the `mysqladmin processlist' command.  If
you have the *process* privilege, you can see all threads.  Otherwise,
you can see only your own threads.  *Note `KILL': KILL.  If you don't
use the the `FULL' option, then only the first 100 characters of each
query will be shown.

`SHOW GRANTS FOR user' lists the grant commands that must be issued to
duplicate the grants for a user.

     mysql> SHOW GRANTS FOR root@localhost;
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | Grants for root@localhost                                           |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root''localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

`EXPLAIN' syntax (Get information about a `SELECT')
===================================================

         EXPLAIN tbl_name
     or  EXPLAIN SELECT select_options

`EXPLAIN tbl_name' is a synonym for `DESCRIBE tbl_name' or `SHOW
COLUMNS FROM tbl_name'.

When you precede a `SELECT' statement with the keyword `EXPLAIN',
*MySQL* explains how it would process the `SELECT', providing
information about how tables are joined and in which order.

With the help of `EXPLAIN', you can see when you must add indexes to
tables to get a faster `SELECT' that uses indexes to find the records.
You can also see if the optimizer joins the tables in an optimal order.
To force the optimizer to use a specific join order for a `SELECT'
statement, add a `STRAIGHT_JOIN' clause.

For non-simple joins, `EXPLAIN' returns a row of information for each
table used in the `SELECT' statement. The tables are listed in the order
they would be read.  *MySQL* resolves all joins using a single-sweep
multi-join method. This means that *MySQL* reads a row from the first
table, then finds a matching row in the second table, then in the third
table and so on. When all tables are processed, it outputs the selected
columns and backtracks through the table list until a table is found
for which there are more matching rows. The next row is read from this
table and the process continues with the next table.

Output from `EXPLAIN' includes the following columns:

`table'
     The table to which the row of output refers.

`type'
     The join type.  Information about the various types is given below.

`possible_keys'
     The `possible_keys' column indicates which indexes *MySQL* could
     use to find the rows in this table. Note that this colums is
     totally indepentent on the order of the tables. That means that
     some of the keys in possible_keys may not the usable in practice
     with the generated table order.

     If this column is empty, 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 see if 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. *Note
     ALTER TABLE::.

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

`key'
     The `key' column indicates the key that *MySQL* actually decided
     to use. The key is `NULL' if no index was chosen.

`key_len'
     The `key_len' column indicates the length of the key that *MySQL*
     decided to use.  The length is `NULL' if the `key' is `NULL'. Note
     that this tell us how many parts of a multi part key MySQL will
     actually use.

`ref'
     The `ref' column shows which columns or constants are used with the
     `key' to select rows from the table.

`rows'
     The `rows' column indicates the number of rows *MySQL* believe it
     must examine to execute the query.

`Extra'
     If the `Extra' column includes the text `Only index', this means
     that information is retrieved from the table using only
     information in the index tree. Normally, this is much faster than
     scanning the entire table.

     If the `Extra' column includes the text `where used', it means
     that a `WHERE' clause will be used to restrict which rows will be
     matched against the next table or sent to the client.

The different join types are listed below, ordered from best to worst
type:

`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 will be read at the
     start of the query. Since 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 as they are read only once!

`eq_ref'
     One row will be read from this table for each combination of rows
     from the previous tables.  This the best possible join type, other
     than the `const' types.  It is used when all parts of an index are
     used by the join and the index is `UNIQUE' or a `PRIMARY KEY'.

`ref'
     All rows with matching index values will be 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 `UNIQUE' or a `PRIMARY KEY' (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 join type is good.

`range'
     Only rows that are in a given range will be retrieved, using an
     index to select the rows.  The `ref' column indicates which index
     is used.

`index'
     This is the same as `ALL', except that only the index tree is
     scanned.  This is usually faster than `ALL', as the index file is
     usually smaller than the data file.

`ALL'
     A full table scan will be 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. You normally can avoid `ALL' by adding more indexes,
     so that the row can be retrieved based on constant values or
     column values from earlier tables.

You can get a good indication of how good a join is by multiplying all
values in the `rows' column of the `EXPLAIN' output. This should tell
you roughly how many rows *MySQL* must examine to execute the query.
This number is also used when you restrict queries with the
`max_join_size' variable.  *Note Server parameters::.

The following example shows how a `JOIN' can be optimized progressively
using the information provided by `EXPLAIN'.

Suppose you have the `SELECT' statement shown below, that you examine
using `EXPLAIN':

     EXPLAIN SELECT tt.TicketNumber, tt.TimeIn,
                 tt.ProjectReference, tt.EstimatedShipDate,
                 tt.ActualShipDate, tt.ClientID,
                 tt.ServiceCodes, tt.RepetitiveID,
                 tt.CurrentProcess, tt.CurrentDPPerson,
                 tt.RecordVolume, tt.DPPrinted, et.COUNTRY,
                 et_1.COUNTRY, do.CUSTNAME
             FROM tt, et, et AS et_1, do
             WHERE tt.SubmitTime IS NULL
                 AND tt.ActualPC = et.EMPLOYID
                 AND tt.AssignedPC = et_1.EMPLOYID
                 AND tt.ClientID = do.CUSTNMBR;

For this example, assume that:

   * The columns being compared have been declared as follows:

     *Table* *Column*      *Column type*                                   
     `tt'    `ActualPC'    `CHAR(10)'                                      
     `tt'    `AssignedPC'  `CHAR(10)'                                      
     `tt'    `ClientID'    `CHAR(10)'                                      
     `et'    `EMPLOYID'    `CHAR(15)'                                      
     `do'    `CUSTNMBR'    `CHAR(15)'                                      

   * The tables have the indexes shown below:

     *Table* *Index*                                                      
     `tt'    `ActualPC'                                                   
     `tt'    `AssignedPC'                                                 
     `tt'    `ClientID'                                                   
     `et'    `EMPLOYID' (primary key)                                     
     `do'    `CUSTNMBR' (primary key)                                     

   * The `tt.ActualPC' values aren't evenly distributed.

Initially, before any optimizations have been performed, the `EXPLAIN'
statement produces the following information:

     table type possible_keys                key  key_len ref  rows  Extra
     et    ALL  PRIMARY                      NULL NULL    NULL 74
     do    ALL  PRIMARY                      NULL NULL    NULL 2135
     et_1  ALL  PRIMARY                      NULL NULL    NULL 74
     tt    ALL  AssignedPC,ClientID,ActualPC NULL NULL    NULL 3872
           range checked for each record (key map: 35)

Since `type' is `ALL' for each table, this output indicates that
*MySQL* is doing a full join for all tables!  This will take quite a
long time, as the product of the number of rows in each table must be
examined!  For the case at hand, this is `74 * 2135 * 74 * 3872 =
45,268,558,720' rows.  If the tables were bigger, you can only imagine
how long it would take...

One problem here is that *MySQL* can't (yet) use indexes on columns
efficiently if they are declared differently.  In this context,
`VARCHAR' and `CHAR' are the same unless they are declared as different
lengths. Since `tt.ActualPC' is declared as `CHAR(10)' and
`et.EMPLOYID' is declared as `CHAR(15)', there is a length mismatch.

To fix this disparity between column lengths, use `ALTER TABLE' to
lengthen `ActualPC' from 10 characters to 15 characters:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE tt MODIFY ActualPC VARCHAR(15);

Now `tt.ActualPC' and `et.EMPLOYID' are both `VARCHAR(15)'.  Executing
the `EXPLAIN' statement again produces this result:

     table type   possible_keys   key     key_len ref         rows    Extra
     tt    ALL    AssignedPC,ClientID,ActualPC NULL NULL NULL 3872    where used
     do    ALL    PRIMARY         NULL    NULL    NULL        2135
           range checked for each record (key map: 1)
     et_1  ALL    PRIMARY         NULL    NULL    NULL        74
           range checked for each record (key map: 1)
     et    eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.ActualPC 1

This is not perfect, but is much better (the product of the `rows'
values is now less by a factor of 74). This version is executed in a
couple of seconds.

A second alteration can be made to eliminate the column length
mismatches for the `tt.AssignedPC = et_1.EMPLOYID' and `tt.ClientID =
do.CUSTNMBR' comparisons:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE tt MODIFY AssignedPC VARCHAR(15),
                           MODIFY ClientID   VARCHAR(15);

Now `EXPLAIN' produces the output shown below:

     table type   possible_keys   key     key_len ref            rows     Extra
     et    ALL    PRIMARY         NULL    NULL    NULL           74
     tt    ref    AssignedPC,ClientID,ActualPC ActualPC 15 et.EMPLOYID 52 where used
     et_1  eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.AssignedPC  1
     do    eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.ClientID    1

This is "almost" as good as it can get.

The remaining problem is that, by default, *MySQL* assumes that values
in the `tt.ActualPC' column are evenly distributed, and that isn't the
case for the `tt' table.  Fortunately, it is easy to tell *MySQL* about
this:

     shell> myisamchk --analyze PATH_TO_MYSQL_DATABASE/tt
     shell> mysqladmin refresh

Now the join is "perfect", and `EXPLAIN' produces this result:

     table type   possible_keys   key     key_len ref            rows    Extra
     tt    ALL    AssignedPC,ClientID,ActualPC NULL NULL NULL    3872    where used
     et    eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.ActualPC    1
     et_1  eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.AssignedPC  1
     do    eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.ClientID    1

Note that the `rows' column in the output from `EXPLAIN' is an
"educated guess" from the *MySQL* join optimizer;  To optimize a query,
you should check if the numbers are even close to the truth.  If not,
you may get better performance by using `STRAIGHT_JOIN' in your
`SELECT' statement and trying to list the tables in a different order in
the `FROM' clause.

`DESCRIBE' syntax (Get information about columns)
=================================================

     {DESCRIBE | DESC} tbl_name {col_name | wild}

`DESCRIBE' provides information about a table's columns.  `col_name'
may be a column name or a string containing the SQL `%' and `_'
wildcard characters.

If the column types are different than you expect them to be based on a
`CREATE TABLE' statement, note that MySQL sometimes changes column
types.  *Note Silent column changes::.

This statement is provided for Oracle compatibility.

The `SHOW' statement provides similar information.  *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

`LOCK TABLES/UNLOCK TABLES' syntax
==================================

     LOCK TABLES tbl_name [AS alias] {READ | [READ_LOCAL] | [LOW_PRIORITY] WRITE}
                 [, tbl_name {READ | [LOW_PRIORITY] WRITE} ...]
     ...
     UNLOCK TABLES

`LOCK TABLES' locks tables for the current thread.  `UNLOCK TABLES'
releases any locks held by the current thread.  All tables that are
locked by the current thread are automatically unlocked when the thread
issues another `LOCK TABLES', or when the connection to the server is
closed.

If a thread obtains a `READ' lock on a table, that thread (and all other
threads) can only read from the table. If a thread obtains a `WRITE'
lock on a table, then only the thread holding the lock can `READ' from
or `WRITE' to the table.  Other threads are blocked.

The difference between `READ_LOCAL' and `READ' is that `READ_LOCAL'
allows non conflicting `INSERT' statements to execute while the lock is
hold.  This can't however be used if you are going to manipulate the
database files outside *MySQL* while you hold the lock.

Each thread waits (without timing out) until it obtains all the locks
it has requested.

`WRITE' locks normally have higher priority than `READ' locks, to
ensure that updates are processed as soon as possible. This means that
if one thread obtains a `READ' lock and then another thread requests a
`WRITE' lock, subsequent `READ' lock requests will wait until the
`WRITE' thread has gotten the lock and released it.  You can use
`LOW_PRIORITY WRITE' locks to allow other threads to obtain `READ'
locks while the thread is waiting for the `WRITE' lock. You should only
use `LOW_PRIORITY WRITE' locks if you are sure that there will
eventually be a time when no threads will have a `READ' lock.

When you use `LOCK TABLES', you must lock all tables that you are going
to use and you must use the same alias as you are going to use in your
queries!  If you are using a table multiple times in a query (with
aliases), you must get a lock for each alias! This policy ensures that
table locking is deadlock free.

Note that you should *NOT* lock any tables that you are using with
`INSERT DELAYED'.  This is because that in this case the `INSERT' is
done by a separate thread.

Normally, you don't have to lock tables, as all single `UPDATE'
statements are atomic; no other thread can interfere with any other
currently executing SQL statement. There are a few cases when you would
like to lock tables anyway:

   * If you are going to run many operations on a bunch of tables, it's
     much faster to lock the tables you are going to use.  The downside
     is, of course, that no other thread can update a `READ'-locked
     table and no other thread can read a `WRITE'-locked table.

   * *MySQL* doesn't support a transaction environment, so you must use
     `LOCK TABLES' if you want to ensure that no other thread comes
     between a `SELECT' and an `UPDATE'. The example shown below
     requires `LOCK TABLES' in order to execute safely:

          mysql> LOCK TABLES trans READ, customer WRITE;
          mysql> select sum(value) from trans where customer_id= some_id;
          mysql> update customer set total_value=sum_from_previous_statement
                     where customer_id=some_id;
          mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

     Without `LOCK TABLES', there is a chance that another thread might
     insert a new row in the `trans' table between execution of the
     `SELECT' and `UPDATE' statements.

By using incremental updates (`UPDATE customer SET
value=value+new_value') or the `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function, you can
avoid using `LOCK TABLES' in many cases.

You can also solve some cases by using the user-level lock functions
`GET_LOCK()' and `RELEASE_LOCK()'.  These locks are saved in a hash
table in the server and implemented with `pthread_mutex_lock()' and
`pthread_mutex_unlock()' for high speed.  *Note Miscellaneous
functions::.

See *Note Internal locking::, for more information on locking policy.

`SET' syntax
============

     SET [OPTION] SQL_VALUE_OPTION= value, ...

`SET OPTION' sets various options that affect the operation of the
server or your client.  Any option you set remains in effect until the
current session ends, or until you set the option to a different value.

`CHARACTER SET character_set_name | DEFAULT'
     This maps all strings from and to the client with the given
     mapping.  Currently the only option for `character_set_name' is
     `cp1251_koi8', but you can easily add new mappings by editing the
     `sql/convert.cc' file in the *MySQL* source distribution.  The
     default mapping can be restored by using a `character_set_name'
     value of `DEFAULT'.

     Note that the syntax for setting the `CHARACTER SET' option differs
     from the syntax for setting the other options.

`PASSWORD = PASSWORD('some password')'
     Set the password for the current user. Any non-anonymous user can
     change his own password!

`PASSWORD FOR user = PASSWORD('some password')'
     Set the password for a specific user on the current server host.
     Only a user with access to the `mysql' database can do this.  The
     user should be given in `user@hostname' format, where `user' and
     `hostname' are exactly as they are listed in the `User' and `Host'
     columns of the `mysql.user' table entry.  For example, if you had
     an entry with `User' and `Host' fields of `'bob'' and
     `'%.loc.gov'', you would write:

          mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR bob@"%.loc.gov" = PASSWORD("newpass");
          
          or
          
          mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET password=PASSWORD("newpass") where user="bob' and host="%.loc.gov";

`SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1' (default) then one can find the last inserted row
     for a table with an auto_increment row with the following
     construct: `WHERE auto_increment_column IS NULL'.  This is used by
     some ODBC programs like Access.

`SQL_BIG_TABLES = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', all temporary tables are stored on disk rather than
     in memory.  This will be a little slower, but you will not get the
     error `The table tbl_name is full' for big `SELECT' operations that
     require a large temporary table.  The default value for a new
     connection is `0' (i.e., use in-memory temporary tables).

`SQL_BIG_SELECTS = 0 | 1'
     If set to `0', *MySQL* will abort if a `SELECT' is attempted that
     probably will take a very long time. This is useful when an
     inadvisable `WHERE' statement has been issued. A big query is
     defined as a `SELECT' that probably will have to examine more than
     `max_join_size' rows.  The default value for a new connection is
     `1' (which will allow all `SELECT' statements).

`SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', all `INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE' and and `LOCK
     TABLE WRITE' statements wait until there is no pending `SELECT' or
     `LOCK TABLE READ' on the affected table.

`SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE = value | DEFAULT'
     Don't allow `SELECT''s that will probably need to examine more than
     `value' row combinations.  By setting this value one can catch
     `SELECT''s where keys are not used properly and that would probably
     take a long time. Setting this to not default will reset the
     `SQL_BIG_SELECTS' flag.  If one sets the `SQL_BIG_SELECTS' flag
     again, the `SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE' variable will be ignored.  One can
     set a default value for this variable by starting `mysqld' with
     `-O max_join_size=#'.

`SQL_SAFE_MODE = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', *MySQL* will abort if a `UPDATE' or `DELETE' is
     attempted that doesn't use a key or `LIMIT' in the `WHERE' clause.
     This makes it possible to catch wrong updates when creating SQL
     commands by hand.

`SQL_SELECT_LIMIT = value | DEFAULT'
     The maximum number of records to return from `SELECT' statements.
     If a `SELECT' has a `LIMIT' clause, the `LIMIT' takes precedence
     over the value of `SQL_SELECT_LIMIT'.  The default value for a new
     connection is "unlimited".  If you have changed the limit, the
     default value can be restored by using a `SQL_SELECT_LIMIT' value
     of `DEFAULT'.

`SQL_LOG_OFF = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', no logging will be done to the standard log for this
     client, if the client has the *process* privilege.  This does not
     affect the update log!

`SQL_LOG_UPDATE = 0 | 1'
     If set to `0', no logging will be done to the update log for the
     client, if the client has the *process* privilege.  This does not
     affect the standard log!

`TIMESTAMP = timestamp_value | DEFAULT'
     Set the time for this client.  This is used to get the original
     timestamp if you use the update log to restore rows.

`LAST_INSERT_ID = #'
     Set the value to be returned from `LAST_INSERT_ID()'. This is
     stored in the update log when you use `LAST_INSERT_ID()' in a
     command that updates a table.

`INSERT_ID = #'
     Set the value to be used by the following `INSERT' command when
     inserting an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.  This is mainly used with the
     update log.

`GRANT' and `REVOKE' syntax
===========================

     GRANT priv_type [(column_list)] [, priv_type [(column_list)] ...]
         ON {tbl_name | * | *.* | db_name.*}
         TO user_name [IDENTIFIED BY 'password']
             [, user_name [IDENTIFIED BY 'password'] ...]
         [WITH GRANT OPTION]
     
     REVOKE priv_type [(column_list)] [, priv_type [(column_list)] ...]
         ON {tbl_name | * | *.* | db_name.*}
         FROM user_name [, user_name ...]

`GRANT' is implemented in *MySQL* 3.22.11 or later. For earlier *MySQL*
versions, the `GRANT' statement does nothing.

The `GRANT' and `REVOKE' commands allow system administrators to grant
and revoke rights to *MySQL* users at four privilege levels:

*Global level*
     Global privileges apply to all databases on a given server. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.user' table.

*Database level*
     Database privileges apply to all tables in a given database. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.db' and `mysql.host' tables.

*Table level*
     Table privileges apply to all columns in a given table. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.tables_priv' table.

*Column level*
     Column privileges apply to single columns in a given table. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.columns_priv' table.

For examples of how `GRANT' works, see *Note Adding users::.

For the `GRANT' and `REVOKE' statements, `priv_type' may be specified
as any of the following:

     ALL PRIVILEGES      FILE                RELOAD
     ALTER               INDEX               SELECT
     CREATE              INSERT              SHUTDOWN
     DELETE              PROCESS             UPDATE
     DROP                REFERENCES          USAGE

`ALL' is a synonym for `ALL PRIVILEGES'.  `REFERENCES' is not yet
implemented.  `USAGE' is currently a synonym for "no privileges".  It
can be used when you want to create a user that has no privileges.

To revoke the *grant* privilege from a user, use a `priv_type' value of
`GRANT OPTION':

     REVOKE GRANT OPTION ON ... FROM ...;

The only `priv_type' values you can specify for a table are `SELECT',
`INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE', `CREATE', `DROP', `GRANT', `INDEX' and
`ALTER'.

The only `priv_type' values you can specify for a column (that is, when
you use a `column_list' clause) are `SELECT', `INSERT' and `UPDATE'.

You can set global privileges by using `ON *.*' syntax.  You can set
database privileges by using `ON db_name.*' syntax. If you specify `ON
*' and you have a current database, you will set the privileges for
that database.  (*Warning:* If you specify `ON *' and you *don't* have
a current database, you will affect the global privileges!)

In order to accommodate granting rights to users from arbitrary hosts,
*MySQL* supports specifying the `user_name' value in the form
`user@host'.  If you want to specify a `user' string containing special
characters (such as `-'), or a `host' string containing special
characters or wildcard characters (such as `%'), you can quote the user
or host name (e.g., `'test-user'@'test-hostname'').

You can specify wildcards in the hostname.  For example,
`user@"%.loc.gov"' applies to `user' for any host in the `loc.gov'
domain, and `user@"144.155.166.%"' applies to `user' for any host in
the `144.155.166' class C subnet.

The simple form `user' is a synonym for `user@"%"'.  *Note:* If you
allow anonymous users to connect to the *MySQL* server (which is the
default), you should also add all local users as `user@localhost'
because otherwise the anonymous user entry for the local host in the
`mysql.user' table will be used when the user tries to log into the
*MySQL* server from the local machine!  Anonymous users are defined by
inserting entries with `User=''' into the `mysql.user' table. You can
verify if this applies to you by executing this query:

     mysql> SELECT Host,User FROM mysql.user WHERE User='';

For the moment, `GRANT' only supports host, table, database and column
names up to 60 characters long. A user name can be up to 16 characters.

The privileges for a table or column are formed from the logical OR of
the privileges at each of the four privilege levels.  For example, if
the `mysql.user' table specifies that a user has a global *select*
privilege, this can't be denied by an entry at the database, table or
column level.

The privileges for a column can be calculated as follows:

     global privileges
     OR (database privileges AND host privileges)
     OR table privileges
     OR column privileges

In most cases, you grant rights to a user at only one of the privilege
levels, so life isn't normally as complicated as above. :) The details
of the privilege-checking procedure are presented in *Note Privilege
system::.

If you grant privileges for a user/hostname combination that does not
exist in the `mysql.user' table, an entry is added and remains there
until deleted with a `DELETE' command.  In other words, `GRANT' may
create `user' table entries, but `REVOKE' will not remove them; you
must do that explicitly using `DELETE'.

In *MySQL* 3.22.12 or later, if a new user is created or if you have
global grant privileges, the user's password will be set to the
password specified by the `IDENTIFIED BY' clause, if one is given.  If
the user already had a password, it is replaced by the new one.

*Warning:* If you create a new user but do not specify an `IDENTIFIED
BY' clause, the user has no password.  This is insecure.

Passwords can also be set with the `SET PASSWORD' command.  *Note `SET
OPTION': SET OPTION.

If you grant privileges for a database, an entry in the `mysql.db'
table is created if needed. When all privileges for the database have
been removed with `REVOKE', this entry is deleted.

If a user doesn't have any privileges on a table, the table is not
displayed when the user requests a list of tables (e.g., with a `SHOW
TABLES' statement).

The `WITH GRANT OPTION' clause gives the user the ability to give to
other users any privileges the user has at the specified privilege
level.  You should be careful to whom you give the *grant* privilege,
as two users with different privileges may be able to join privileges!

You cannot grant another user a privilege you don't have yourself; the
*grant* privilege allows you to give away only those privileges you
possess.

Be aware that when you grant a user the *grant* privilege at a
particular privilege level, any privileges the user already possesses
(or is given in the future!) at that level are also grantable by that
user.  Suppose you grant a user the *insert* privilege on a database.
If you then grant the *select* privilege on the database and specify
`WITH GRANT OPTION', the user can give away not only the *select*
privilege, but also *insert*.  If you then grant the *update* privilege
to the user on the database, the user can give away the *insert*,
*select* and *update*.

You should not grant *alter* privileges to a normal user.  If you do
that, the user can try to subvert the privilege system by renaming
tables!

Note that if you are using table or column privileges for even one
user, the server examines table and column privileges for all users and
this will slow down *MySQL* a bit.

When `mysqld' starts, all privileges are read into memory.  Database,
table and column privileges take effect at once and user-level
privileges take effect the next time the user connects.  Modifications
to the grant tables that you perform using `GRANT' or `REVOKE' are
noticed by the server immediately.  If you modify the grant tables
manually (using `INSERT', `UPDATE', etc.), you should execute a `FLUSH
PRIVILEGES' statement or run `mysqladmin flush-privileges' to tell the
server to reload the grant tables.  *Note Privilege changes::.

The biggest differences between the ANSI SQL and *MySQL* versions of
`GRANT' are:

   * ANSI SQL doesn't have global or database-level privileges and ANSI
     SQL doesn't support all privilege types that *MySQL* supports.

   * When you drop a table in ANSI SQL, all privileges for the table
     are revoked.  If you revoke a privilege in ANSI SQL, all
     privileges that were granted based on this privilege are also
     revoked. In *MySQL*, privileges can be dropped only with explicit
     `REVOKE' commands or by manipulating the *MySQL* grant tables.

`CREATE INDEX' syntax
=====================

     CREATE [UNIQUE] INDEX index_name ON tbl_name (col_name[(length)],... )

The `CREATE INDEX' statement doesn't do anything in *MySQL* prior to
version 3.22.  In 3.22 or later, `CREATE INDEX' is mapped to an `ALTER
TABLE' statement to create indexes.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

Normally, you create all indexes on a table at the time the table itself
is created with `CREATE TABLE'.  *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.
`CREATE INDEX' allows you to add indexes to existing tables.

A column list of the form `(col1,col2,...)' creates a multiple-column
index.  Index values are formed by concatenating the values of the given
columns.

For `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns, indexes can be created that use only
part of a column, using `col_name(length)' syntax.  (On `BLOB' and
`TEXT' columns the length is required). The statement shown below
creates an index using the first 10 characters of the `name' column:

     mysql> CREATE INDEX part_of_name ON customer (name(10));

Since most names usually differ in the first 10 characters, this index
should not be much slower than an index created from the entire `name'
column.  Also, using partial columns for indexes can make the index
file much smaller, which could save a lot of disk space and might also
speed up `INSERT' operations!

Note that you can only add a index on a column that can have `NULL'
values or on a `BLOB'/`TEXT' column if you are useing *MySQL* version
3.23.2 or newer and are using the `MyISAM' table type.

For more information about how *MySQL* uses indexes, see *Note *MySQL*
indexes: MySQL indexes.

`DROP INDEX' syntax
===================

     DROP INDEX index_name ON tbl_name

`DROP INDEX' drops the index named `index_name' from the table
`tbl_name'.  `DROP INDEX' doesn't do anything in *MySQL* prior to
version 3.22.  In 3.22 or later, `DROP INDEX' is mapped to an `ALTER
TABLE' statement to drop the index.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

Comment syntax
==============

The *MySQL* server supports the `# to end of line', `-- to end of line'
and `/* in-line or multiple-line */' comment styles:

     mysql> select 1+1;     # This comment continues to the end of line
     mysql> select 1+1;     -- This comment continues to the end of line
     mysql> select 1 /* this is an in-line comment */ + 1;
     mysql> select 1+
     /*
     this is a
     multiple-line comment
     */
     1;

Note that the `--' comment style requires you to have at least one space
after the `--'!

Although the server understands the comment syntax just described,
there are some limitations on the way that the `mysql' client parses
`/* ... */' comments:

   * Single-quote and double-quote characters are taken to indicate the
     beginning of a quoted string, even within a comment.  If the quote
     is not matched by a second quote within the comment, the parser
     doesn't realize the comment has ended.  If you are running `mysql'
     interactively, you can tell that it has gotten confused like this
     because the prompt changes from `mysql>' to `'>' or `">'.

   * A semicolon is taken to indicate the end of the current SQL
     statement and anything following it to indicate the beginning of
     the next statement.

These limitations apply both when you run `mysql' interactively and
when you put commands in a file and tell `mysql' to read its input from
that file with `mysql < some-file'.

*MySQL* doesn't support the `--' ANSI SQL comment style.  *Note Missing
comments::.

`CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' syntax
======================================

     CREATE [AGGREGATE] FUNCTION function_name RETURNS {STRING|REAL|INTEGER}
            SONAME shared_library_name
     
     DROP FUNCTION function_name

A user-definable function (UDF) is a way to extend *MySQL* with a new
function that works like native (built in) *MySQL* functions such as
`ABS()' and `CONCAT()'.

`AGGREGATE' is a new option for *MySQL* 3.23.  An `AGGREGATE' function
works exactly like a native *MySQL* `GROUP' function like `SUM' or
`COUNT()'.

`CREATE FUNCTION' saves the function's name, type and shared library
name in the `mysql.func' system table.  You must have the *insert* and
*delete* privileges for the `mysql' database to create and drop
functions.

All active functions are reloaded each time the server starts, unless
you start `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables' option.  In this
case, UDF initialization is skipped and UDFs are unavailable.  (An
active function is one that has been loaded with `CREATE FUNCTION' and
not removed with `DROP FUNCTION'.)

For instructions on writing user-definable functions, see *Note Adding
functions::.  For the UDF mechanism to work, functions must be written
in C or C++, your operating system must support dynamic loading and you
must have compiled `mysqld' dynamically (not static).

Is MySQL picky about reserved words?
====================================

A common problem stems from trying to create a table with column names
that use the names of datatypes or functions built into *MySQL*, such as
`TIMESTAMP' or `GROUP'.  You're allowed to do it (for example, `ABS' is
an allowed column name), but whitespace is not allowed between a
function name and the `(' when using functions whose names are also
column names.

The following words are explicitly reserved in *MySQL*. Most of them
are forbidden by ANSI SQL92 as column and/or table names (for example,
`group').  A few are reserved because *MySQL* needs them and is
(currently) using a `yacc' parser:

`action'           `add'              `aggregate'        `all'              
`alter'            `after'            `and'              `as'               
`asc'              `avg'              `avg_row_length'   `auto_increment'   
`between'          `bigint'           `bit'              `binary'           
`blob'             `bool'             `both'             `by'               
`cascade'          `case'             `char'             `character'        
`change'           `check'            `checksum'         `column'           
`columns'          `comment'          `constraint'       `create'           
`cross'            `current_date'     `current_time'     `current_timestamp'
`data'             `database'         `databases'        `date'             
`datetime'         `day'              `day_hour'         `day_minute'       
`day_second'       `dayofmonth'       `dayofweek'        `dayofyear'        
`dec'              `decimal'          `default'          `delayed'          
`delay_key_write'  `delete'           `desc'             `describe'         
`distinct'         `distinctrow'      `double'           `drop'             
`end'              `else'             `escape'           `escaped'          
`enclosed'         `enum'             `explain'          `exists'           
`fields'           `file'             `first'            `float'            
`float4'           `float8'           `flush'            `foreign'          
`from'             `for'              `full'             `function'         
`global'           `grant'            `grants'           `group'            
`having'           `heap'             `high_priority'    `hour'             
`hour_minute'      `hour_second'      `hosts'            `identified'       
`ignore'           `in'               `index'            `infile'           
`inner'            `insert'           `insert_id'        `int'              
`integer'          `interval'         `int1'             `int2'             
`int3'             `int4'             `int8'             `into'             
`if'               `is'               `isam'             `join'             
`key'              `keys'             `kill'             `last_insert_id'   
`leading'          `left'             `length'           `like'             
`lines'            `limit'            `load'             `local'            
`lock'             `logs'             `long'             `longblob'         
`longtext'         `low_priority'     `max'              `max_rows'         
`match'            `mediumblob'       `mediumtext'       `mediumint'        
`middleint'        `min_rows'         `minute'           `minute_second'    
`modify'           `month'            `monthname'        `myisam'           
`natural'          `numeric'          `no'               `not'              
`null'             `on'               `optimize'         `option'           
`optionally'       `or'               `order'            `outer'            
`outfile'          `pack_keys'        `partial'          `password'         
`precision'        `primary'          `procedure'        `process'          
`processlist'      `privileges'       `read'             `real'             
`references'       `reload'           `regexp'           `rename'           
`replace'          `restrict'         `returns'          `revoke'           
`rlike'            `row'              `rows'             `second'           
`select'           `set'              `show'             `shutdown'         
`smallint'         `soname'           `sql_big_tables'   `sql_big_selects'  
`sql_low_priority_updates'`sql_log_off'      `sql_log_update'   `sql_select_limit' 
`sql_small_result' `sql_big_result'   `sql_warnings'     `straight_join'    
`starting'         `status'           `string'           `table'            
`tables'           `temporary'        `terminated'       `text'             
`then'             `time'             `timestamp'        `tinyblob'         
`tinytext'         `tinyint'          `trailing'         `to'               
`type'             `use'              `using'            `unique'           
`unlock'           `unsigned'         `update'           `usage'            
`values'           `varchar'          `variables'        `varying'          
`varbinary'        `with'             `write'            `when'             
`where'            `year'             `year_month'       `zerofill'         

The following symbols (from the table above) are disallowed by ANSI SQL
but allowed by *MySQL* as column/table names. This is because some of
these names are very natural names and a lot of people have already
used them.

   * `ACTION'

   * `BIT'

   * `DATE'

   * `ENUM'

   * `NO'

   * `TEXT'

   * `TIME'

   * `TIMESTAMP'

MySQL Tutorial
**************

This chapter provides a tutorial introduction to *MySQL* by showing how
to use the `mysql' client program to create and use a simple database.
`mysql' (sometimes referred to as the "terminal monitor" or just
"monitor") is an interactive program that allows you to connect to a
*MySQL* server, run queries and view the results.  `mysql' may also be
used in batch mode: you place your queries in a file beforehand, then
tell `mysql' to execute the contents of the file.  Both ways of using
`mysql' are covered here.

To see a list of options provided by `mysql', invoke it with the
`--help' option:

     shell> mysql --help

This chapter assumes that `mysql' is installed on your machine, and that
a *MySQL* server is available to which you can connect.  If this is not
true, contact your *MySQL* administrator.  (If *you* are the
administrator, you will need to consult other sections of this manual.)

The chapter describes the entire process of setting up and using a
database.  If you are interested only in accessing an already-existing
database, you may want to skip over the sections that describe how to
create the database and the tables it contains.

Since this chapter is tutorial in nature, many details are necessarily
left out.  Consult the relevant sections of the manual for more
information on the topics covered here.

Connecting to and disconnecting from the server
===============================================

To connect to the server, you'll usually need to provide a *MySQL* user
name when you invoke `mysql' and, most likely, a password.  If the
server runs on a machine other than the one where you log in, you'll
also need to specify a hostname.  Contact your administrator to find
out what connection parameters you should use to connect (i.e., what
host, user name and password to use).  Once you know the proper
parameters, you should be able to connect like this:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p
     Enter password: ********

The `********' represents your password; enter it when `mysql' displays
the `Enter password:' prompt.

If that works, you should see some introductory information followed by
a `mysql>' prompt:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p
     Enter password: ********
     Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
     Your MySQL connection id is 459 to server version: 3.22.20a-log
     
     Type 'help' for help.
     
     mysql>

The prompt tells you that `mysql' is ready for you to enter commands.

Some *MySQL* installations allow users to connect as the "anonymous"
(unnamed) user to the server running on the local host.  If this is the
case on your machine, you should be able to connect to that server by
invoking `mysql' without any options:

     shell> mysql

After you have connected successfully, you can disconnect any time by
typing `QUIT' at the `mysql>' prompt:

     mysql> QUIT
     Bye

You can also disconnect by typing control-D.

Most examples in the following sections assume you are connected to the
server.  They indicate this by the `mysql>' prompt.

Entering queries
================

Make sure you are connected to the server, as discussed in the previous
section.  Doing so will not in itself select any database to work with,
but that's okay.  At this point, it's more important to find out a
little about how to issue queries than to jump right in creating
tables, loading data into them and retrieving data from them.  This
section describes the basic principles of entering commands, using
several queries you can try out to familiarize yourself with how
`mysql' works.

Here's a simple command that asks the server to tell you its version
number and the current date.  Type it in as shown below following the
`mysql>' prompt and hit the RETURN key:

     mysql> SELECT VERSION(), CURRENT_DATE;
     +--------------+--------------+
     | version()    | CURRENT_DATE |
     +--------------+--------------+
     | 3.22.20a-log | 1999-03-19   |
     +--------------+--------------+
     1 row in set (0.01 sec)
     mysql>

This query illustrates several things about `mysql':

   * A command normally consists of a SQL statement followed by a
     semicolon.  (There are some exceptions where a semicolon is not
     needed.  `QUIT', mentioned earlier, is one of them.  We'll get to
     others later.)

   * When you issue a command, `mysql' sends it to the server for
     execution and displays the results, then prints another `mysql>'
     to indicate that it is ready for another command.

   * `mysql' displays query output as a table (rows and columns).  The
     first row contains labels for the columns.  The rows following are
     the query results.  Normally, column labels are the names of the
     columns you fetch from database tables.  If you're retrieving the
     value of an expression rather than a table column (as in the
     example just shown), `mysql' labels the column using the
     expression itself.

   * `mysql' shows how many rows were returned, and how long the query
     took to execute, which gives you a rough idea of server
     performance.  These values are imprecise because they represent
     wall clock time (not CPU or machine time), and because they are
     affected by factors such as server load and network latency.  (For
     brevity, the "rows in set" line is not shown in the remaining
     examples in this chapter.)

Keywords may be entered in any lettercase.  The following queries are
equivalent:

     mysql> SELECT VERSION(), CURRENT_DATE;
     mysql> select version(), current_date;
     mysql> SeLeCt vErSiOn(), current_DATE;

Here's another query.  It demonstrates that you can use `mysql' as a
simple calculator:

     mysql> SELECT SIN(PI()/4), (4+1)*5;
     +-------------+---------+
     | SIN(PI()/4) | (4+1)*5 |
     +-------------+---------+
     |    0.707107 |      25 |
     +-------------+---------+

The commands shown thus far have been relatively short, single-line
statements.  You can even enter multiple statements on a single line.
Just end each one with a semicolon:

     mysql> SELECT VERSION(); SELECT NOW();
     +--------------+
     | version()    |
     +--------------+
     | 3.22.20a-log |
     +--------------+
     
     +---------------------+
     | NOW()               |
     +---------------------+
     | 1999-03-19 00:15:33 |
     +---------------------+

A command need not be given all on a single line, so lengthy commands
that require several lines are not a problem.  `mysql' determines where
your statement ends by looking for the terminating semicolon, not by
looking for the end of the input line.  (In other words, `mysql'
accepts free-format input:  it collects input lines but does not
execute them until it sees the semicolon.)

Here's a simple multiple-line statement:

     mysql> SELECT
         -> USER()
         -> ,
         -> CURRENT_DATE;
     +--------------------+--------------+
     | USER()             | CURRENT_DATE |
     +--------------------+--------------+
     | joesmith@localhost | 1999-03-18   |
     +--------------------+--------------+

In this example, notice how the prompt changes from `mysql>' to `->'
after you enter the first line of a multiple-line query.  This is how
`mysql' indicates that it hasn't seen a complete statement and is
waiting for the rest.  The prompt is your friend, because it provides
valuable feedback.  If you use that feedback, you will always be aware
of what `mysql' is waiting for.

If you decide you don't want to execute a command that you are in the
process of entering, cancel it by typing `\c':

     mysql> SELECT
         -> USER()
         -> \c
     mysql>

Here, too, notice the prompt.  It switches back to `mysql>' after you
type `\c', providing feedback to indicate that `mysql' is ready for a
new command.

The following table shows each of the prompts you may see and
summarizes what they mean about the state that `mysql' is in:

*Prompt**Meaning*                                                         
`mysql>'Ready for new command                                             
`       Waiting for next line of multiple-line command                    
->'                                                                       
`       Waiting for next line, collecting a string that begins with a     
'>'     single quote (`'')                                                
`       Waiting for next line, collecting a string that begins with a     
">'     double quote (`"')                                                

Multiple-line statements commonly occur "by accident" when you intend to
issue a command on a single line, but forget the terminating semicolon.
In this case, `mysql' waits for more input:

     mysql> SELECT USER()
         ->

If this happens to you (you think you've entered a statement but the
only response is a `->' prompt), most likely `mysql' is waiting for the
semicolon.  If you don't notice what the prompt is telling you, you
might sit there for a while before realizing what you need to do.
Enter a semicolon to complete the statement, and `mysql' will execute
it:

     mysql> SELECT USER()
         -> ;
     +--------------------+
     | USER()             |
     +--------------------+
     | joesmith@localhost |
     +--------------------+

The `'>' and `">' prompts occur during string collection.  In *MySQL*,
you can write strings surrounded by either `'' or `"' characters (for
example, `'hello'' or `"goodbye"'), and `mysql' lets you enter strings
that span multiple lines.  When you see a `'>' or `">' prompt, it means
that you've entered a line containing a string that begins with a `''
or `"' quote character, but have not yet entered the matching quote
that terminates the string.  That's fine if you really are entering a
multiple-line string, but how likely is that?  Not very.  More often,
the `'>' and `">' prompts indicate that you've inadvertantly left out a
quote character.  For example:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE name = "Smith AND age < 30;
         ">

If you enter this `SELECT' statement, then hit RETURN and wait for the
result, nothing will happen.  Instead of wondering, "why does this
query take so long?," notice the clue provided by the `">' prompt.  It
tells you that `mysql' expects to see the rest of an unterminated
string.  (Do you see the error in the statement?  The string `"Smith' is
missing the second quote.)

At this point, what do you do?  The simplest thing is to cancel the
command.  However, you cannot just type `\c' in this case, because
`mysql' interprets it as part of the string that it is collecting!
Instead, enter the closing quote character (so `mysql' knows you've
finished the string), then type `\c':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE name = "Smith AND age < 30;
         "> "\c
     mysql>

The prompt changes back to `mysql>', indicating that `mysql' is ready
for a new command.

It's important to know what the `'>' and `">' prompts signify, because
if you mistakenly enter an unterminated string, any further lines you
type will appear to be ignored by `mysql' -- including a line
containing `QUIT'!  This can be quite confusing, especially if you
don't know that you need to supply the terminating quote before you can
cancel the current command.

Examples of common queries
==========================

Here follows examples of how to solve some common problems with *MySQL*.

Some of the examples use the table `shop' to hold the price of each
article (item number) for certain traders (dealers).  Supposing that
each trader has a single fixed price per article, then (`item',
`trader') is a primary key for the records.

You can create the example table as:

     CREATE TABLE shop (
      article INT(4) UNSIGNED ZEROFILL DEFAULT '0000' NOT NULL,
      dealer  CHAR(20)                 DEFAULT ''     NOT NULL,
      price   DOUBLE(16,2)             DEFAULT '0.00' NOT NULL,
      PRIMARY KEY(article, dealer));
     
     INSERT INTO shop VALUES
     (1,'A',3.45),(1,'B',3.99),(2,'A',10.99),(3,'B',1.45),(3,'C',1.69),
     (3,'D',1.25),(4,'D',19.95);

Okay, so the example data is:

     SELECT * FROM shop
     
     +---------+--------+-------+
     | article | dealer | price |
     +---------+--------+-------+
     |    0001 | A      |  3.45 |
     |    0001 | B      |  3.99 |
     |    0002 | A      | 10.99 |
     |    0003 | B      |  1.45 |
     |    0003 | C      |  1.69 |
     |    0003 | D      |  1.25 |
     |    0004 | D      | 19.95 |
     +---------+--------+-------+

The maximum value for column
----------------------------

"What's the highest item number?"

     SELECT MAX(article) AS article FROM shop
     
     +---------+
     | article |
     +---------+
     |       4 |
     +---------+

The row holding the maximum of a certain column
-----------------------------------------------

"Find number, dealer, and price of the most expensive article."

In ANSI SQL this is easily done with a sub-query:

     SELECT article, dealer, price
     FROM   shop
     WHERE  price=(SELECT MAX(price) FROM shop)

In *MySQL* (which does not yet have sub-selects), just do it in two
steps:

  1. Get the maximum price value from the table with a `SELECT'
     statement.

  2. Using this value compile the actual query:
          SELECT article, dealer, price
          FROM   shop
          WHERE  price=19.95

Another solution is to sort all rows descending by price and only get
the first row using the *MySQL* specific `LIMIT' clause:

     SELECT article, dealer, price
     FROM   shop
     ORDER BY price DESC
     LIMIT 1

*Note*:  If there are several most expensive articles (e.g. each 19.95)
the `LIMIT' solution shows only one of them!

Maximum of column: per group: only the values
---------------------------------------------

"What's the highest price per article?"

     SELECT article, MAX(price) AS price
     FROM   shop
     GROUP BY article
     
     +---------+-------+
     | article | price |
     +---------+-------+
     |    0001 |  3.99 |
     |    0002 | 10.99 |
     |    0003 |  1.69 |
     |    0004 | 19.95 |
     +---------+-------+

The rows holding the group-wise maximum of a certain field
----------------------------------------------------------

"For each article, find the dealer(s) with the most expensive price."

In ANSI SQL, I'd do it with a sub-query like this:

     SELECT article, dealer, price
     FROM   shop s1
     WHERE  price=(SELECT MAX(s2.price)
                   FROM shop s2
                   WHERE s1.article = s2.article)

In *MySQL* it's best do it in several steps:

  1. Get the list of (article,maxprice). *Note
     example-Maximum-column-group-row::.

  2. For each article get the corresponding rows which have the stored
     maximum price.

This can easily be done with a temporary table:

     CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp (
             article INT(4) UNSIGNED ZEROFILL DEFAULT '0000' NOT NULL,
             price   DOUBLE(16,2)             DEFAULT '0.00' NOT NULL);
     
     LOCK TABLES article read;
     
     INSERT INTO tmp SELECT article, MAX(price) FROM shop GROUP BY article;
     
     SELECT article, dealer, price FROM shop, tmp
     WHERE shop.article=tmp.article AND shop.price=tmp.price;
     
     UNLOCK TABLES;
     
     DROP TABLE tmp;

If you don't use a `TEMPORARY' table, you must also lock the 'tmp'
table.

"Can it be done with a single query?"

Yes, but only by using a quite inefficient trick that I call the
"MAX-CONCAT trick":

     SELECT article,
            SUBSTRING( MAX( CONCAT(LPAD(price,6,'0'),dealer) ), 7) AS dealer,
       0.00+LEFT(      MAX( CONCAT(LPAD(price,6,'0'),dealer) ), 6) AS price
     FROM   shop
     GROUP BY article;
     
     +---------+--------+-------+
     | article | dealer | price |
     +---------+--------+-------+
     |    0001 | B      |  3.99 |
     |    0002 | A      | 10.99 |
     |    0003 | C      |  1.69 |
     |    0004 | D      | 19.95 |
     +---------+--------+-------+

The last example can of course be made a bit more efficient by doing the
splitting of the concatenated column in the client.

Using foreign keys
------------------

You don't need foreign keys to join 2 tables.

The only thing *MySQL* doesn't do is `CHECK' to make sure that the keys
you use really exist in the table(s) you're referencing and it doesn't
automatically delete rows from table with a foreign key definition. If
you use your keys like normal, it'll work just fine!

     CREATE TABLE persons (
         id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
         name CHAR(60) NOT NULL,
         PRIMARY KEY (id)
     );
     
     CREATE TABLE shirts (
         id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
         style ENUM('t-shirt', 'polo', 'dress') NOT NULL,
         color ENUM('red', 'blue', 'orange', 'white', 'black') NOT NULL,
         owner SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL REFERENCES persons,
         PRIMARY KEY (id)
     );
     
     
     INSERT INTO persons VALUES (NULL, 'Antonio Paz');
     
     INSERT INTO shirts VALUES
     (NULL, 'polo', 'blue', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 'dress', 'white', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 't-shirt', 'blue', LAST_INSERT_ID());
     
     
     INSERT INTO persons VALUES (NULL, 'Lilliana Angelovska');
     
     INSERT INTO shirts VALUES
     (NULL, 'dress', 'orange', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 'polo', 'red', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 'dress', 'blue', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 't-shirt', 'white', LAST_INSERT_ID());
     
     
     SELECT * FROM persons;
     +----+---------------------+
     | id | name                |
     +----+---------------------+
     |  1 | Antonio Paz         |
     |  2 | Lilliana Angelovska |
     +----+---------------------+
     
     SELECT * FROM shirts;
     +----+---------+--------+-------+
     | id | style   | color  | owner |
     +----+---------+--------+-------+
     |  1 | polo    | blue   |     1 |
     |  2 | dress   | white  |     1 |
     |  3 | t-shirt | blue   |     1 |
     |  4 | dress   | orange |     2 |
     |  5 | polo    | red    |     2 |
     |  6 | dress   | blue   |     2 |
     |  7 | t-shirt | white  |     2 |
     +----+---------+--------+-------+
     
     
     SELECT s.* FROM persons p, shirts s
      WHERE p.name LIKE 'Lilliana%'
        AND s.owner = p.id
        AND s.color <> 'white';
     
     +----+-------+--------+-------+
     | id | style | color  | owner |
     +----+-------+--------+-------+
     |  4 | dress | orange |     2 |
     |  5 | polo  | red    |     2 |
     |  6 | dress | blue   |     2 |
     +----+-------+--------+-------+

Creating and using a database
=============================

Now that you know how to enter commands, it's time to access a database.

Suppose you have several pets in your home (your "menagerie") and you'd
like to keep track of various types of information about them.  You can
do so by creating tables to hold your data and loading them with the
desired information.  Then you can answer different sorts of questions
about your animals by retrieving data from the tables.  This section
shows how to do all that:

   * How to create a database

   * How to create a table

   * How to load data into the table

   * How to retrieve data from the table in various ways

   * How to use multiple tables

The menagerie database will be simple (deliberately), but it is not
difficult to think of real-world situations in which a similar type of
database might be used.  For example, a database like this could be
used by a farmer to keep track of livestock, or by a veterinarian to
keep track of patient records.

Use the `SHOW' statement to find out what databases currently exist on
the server:

     mysql> SHOW DATABASES;
     +----------+
     | Database |
     +----------+
     | mysql    |
     | test     |
     | tmp      |
     +----------+

The list of databases is probably different on your machine, but the
`mysql' and `test' databases are likely to be among them.  The `mysql'
database is required because it describes user access privileges.  The
`test' database is often provided as a workspace for users to try
things out.

If the `test' database exists, try to access it:

     mysql> USE test
     Database changed

Note that `USE', like `QUIT', does not require a semicolon.  (You can
terminate such statements with a semicolon if you like; it does no
harm.)  The `USE' statement is special in another way, too:  it must be
given on a single line.

You can use the `test' database (if you have access to it) for the
examples that follow, but anything you create in that database can be
removed by anyone else with access to it.  For this reason, you should
probably ask your *MySQL* administrator for permission to use a
database of your own.  Suppose you want to call yours `menagerie'.  The
administrator needs to execute a command like this:

     mysql> GRANT ALL ON menagerie.* TO your_mysql_name;

where `your_mysql_name' is the *MySQL* user name assigned to you.

Creating and selecting a database
---------------------------------

If the administrator creates your database for you when setting up your
permissions, you can begin using it.  Otherwise, you need to create it
yourself:

     mysql> CREATE DATABASE menagerie;

Under Unix, database names are case sensitive (unlike SQL keywords), so
you must always refer to your database as `menagerie', not as
`Menagerie', `MENAGERIE' or some other variant.  This is also true for
table names.  (Under Windows, this restriction does not apply, although
you must refer to databases and tables using the same lettercase
throughout a given query.)

Creating a database does not select it for use, you must do that
explicitly.  To make `menagerie' the current database, use this command:

     mysql> USE menagerie
     Database changed

Your database needs to be created only once, but you must select it for
use each time you begin a `mysql' session.  You can do this by issuing a
`USE' statement as shown above.  Alternatively, you can select the
database on the command line when you invoke `mysql'.  Just specify its
name after any connection parameters that you might need to provide.
For example:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p menagerie
     Enter password: ********

Note that `menagerie' is not your password on the command just shown.
If you want to supply your password on the command line after the `-p'
option, you must do so with no intervening space (e.g., as
`-pmypassword', not as `-p mypassword').  However, putting your
password on the command line is not recommended, because doing so
exposes it to snooping by other users logged in on your machine.

Creating a table
----------------

Creating the database is the easy part, but at this point it's empty, as
`SHOW TABLES' will tell you:

     mysql> SHOW TABLES;
     Empty set (0.00 sec)

The harder part is deciding what the structure of your database should
be: what tables you will need, and what columns will be in each of them.

You'll want a table that contains a record for each of your pets.  This
can be called the `pet' table, and it should contain, as a bare minimum,
each animal's name.  Since the name by itself is not very interesting,
the table should contain other information.  For example, if more than
one person in your family keeps pets, you might want to list each
animal's owner.  You might also want to record some basic descriptive
information such as species and sex.

How about age?  That might be of interest, but it's not a good thing to
store in a database.  Age changes as time passes, which means you'd
have to update your records often.  Instead, it's better to store a
fixed value such as date of birth.  Then, whenever you need age, you
can calculate it as the difference between the current date and the
birth date.  *MySQL* provides functions for doing date arithmetic, so
this is not difficult.  Storing birth date rather than age has other
advantages, too:

   * You can use the database for tasks such as generating reminders
     for upcoming pet birthdays.  (If you think this type of query is
     somewhat silly, note that it is the same question you might ask in
     the context of a business database to identify clients to whom
     you'll soon need to send out birthday greetings, for that
     computer-assisted personal touch.)

   * You can calculate age in relation to dates other than the current
     date.  For example, if you store death date in the database, you
     can easily calculate how old a pet was when it died.

You can probably think of other types of information that would be
useful in the `pet' table, but the ones identified so far are
sufficient for now: name, owner, species, sex, birth and death.

Use a `CREATE TABLE' statement to specify the layout of your table:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE pet (name VARCHAR(20), owner VARCHAR(20),
         -> species VARCHAR(20), sex CHAR(1), birth DATE, death DATE);

`VARCHAR' is a good choice for the `name', `owner' and `species'
columns since the column values will vary in length.  The lengths of
those columns need not all be the same, and need not be `20'.  You can
pick any length from `1' to `255', whatever seems most reasonable to
you.  (If you make a poor choice and it turns out later that you need a
longer field, *MySQL* provides an `ALTER TABLE' statement.)

Animal sex can be represented in a variety of ways, for example, `"m"'
and `"f"', or perhaps `"male"' and `"female"'.  It's simplest to use
the single characters `"m"' and `"f"'.

The use of the `DATE' data type for the `birth' and `death' columns is
a fairly obvious choice.

Now that you have created a table, `SHOW TABLES' should produce some
output:

     mysql> SHOW TABLES;
     +---------------------+
     | Tables in menagerie |
     +---------------------+
     | pet                 |
     +---------------------+

To verify that your table was created the way you expected, use a
`DESCRIBE' statement:

     mysql> DESCRIBE pet;
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | Field   | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | name    | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | owner   | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | species | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | sex     | char(1)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | birth   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | death   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

You can use `DESCRIBE' any time, for example, if you forget the names of
the columns in your table or what types they are.

Loading data into a table
-------------------------

After creating your table, you need to populate it.  The `LOAD DATA' and
`INSERT' statements are useful for this.

Suppose your pet records can be described as shown below.  (Observe
that *MySQL* expects dates in `YYYY-MM-DD' format; this may be
different than what you are used to.)

*name*       *owner*      *species*    *sex*        *birth*      *death*      
Fluffy       Harold       cat          f            1993-02-04                
Claws        Gwen         cat          m            1994-03-17                
Buffy        Harold       dog          f            1989-05-13                
Fang         Benny        dog          m            1990-08-27                
Bowser       Diane        dog          m            1998-08-31   1995-07-29   
Chirpy       Gwen         bird         f            1998-09-11                
Whistler     Gwen         bird                      1997-12-09                
Slim         Benny        snake        m            1996-04-29                

Since you are beginning with an empty table, an easy way to populate it
is to create a text file containing a row for each of your animals,
then load the contents of the file into the table with a single
statement.

You could create a text file `pet.txt' containing one record per line,
with values separated by tabs, and given in the order in which the
columns were listed in the `CREATE TABLE' statement.  For missing
values (such as unknown sexes, or death dates for animals that are
still living), you can use `NULL' values.  To represent these in your
text file, use `\N'.  For example, the record for Whistler the bird
would look like this (where the whitespace between values is a single
tab character):

`Whistler'  `Gwen'      `bird'      `\N'        `1997-12-09'       `\N'        

To load the text file `pet.txt' into the `pet' table, use this command:

     mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "pet.txt" INTO TABLE pet;

You can specify the column value separator and end of line marker
explicitly in the `LOAD DATA' statement if you wish, but the defaults
are tab and linefeed.  These are sufficient for the statement to read
the file `pet.txt' properly.

When you want to add new records one at a time, the `INSERT' statement
is useful.  In its simplest form, you supply values for each column, in
the order in which the columns were listed in the `CREATE TABLE'
statement.  Suppose Diane gets a new hamster named Puffball.  You could
add a new record using an `INSERT' statement like this:

     mysql> INSERT INTO pet
         -> VALUES ('Puffball','Diane','hamster','f','1999-03-30',NULL);

Note that string and date values are specified as quoted strings here.
Also, with `INSERT', you can insert `NULL' directly to represent a
missing value.  You do not use `\N' like you do with `LOAD DATA'.

From this example, you should be able to see that there would be a lot
more typing involved to load your records initially using several
`INSERT' statements rather than a single `LOAD DATA' statement.

Retrieving information from a table
-----------------------------------

The `SELECT' statement is used to pull information from a table.  The
general form of the statement is:

     SELECT what_to_select
     FROM which_table
     WHERE conditions_to_satisfy

`what_to_select' indicates what you want to see.  This can be a list of
columns, or `*' to to indicate "all columns." `which_table' indicates
the table from which you want to retrieve data.  The `WHERE' clause is
optional.  If it's present, `conditions_to_satisfy' specifies
conditions that rows must satisfy to qualify for retrieval.

Selecting all data
..................

The simplest form of `SELECT' retrieves everything from a table:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet;
     +----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name     | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Fluffy   | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL       |
     | Claws    | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
     | Buffy    | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
     | Fang     | Benny  | dog     | m    | 1990-08-27 | NULL       |
     | Bowser   | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1998-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     | Chirpy   | Gwen   | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL       |
     | Whistler | Gwen   | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
     | Slim     | Benny  | snake   | m    | 1996-04-29 | NULL       |
     | Puffball | Diane  | hamster | f    | 1999-03-30 | NULL       |
     +----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

This form of `SELECT' is useful if you want to review your entire table,
for instance, after you've just loaded it with your initial dataset.
As it happens, the output just shown reveals an error in your data
file:  Bowser appears to have been born after he died!  Consulting your
original pedigree papers, you find that the correct birth year is 1989,
not 1998.

There are are least a couple of ways to fix this:

   * Edit the file `pet.txt' to correct the error, then empty the table
     and reload it using `DELETE' and `LOAD DATA':

          mysql> DELETE FROM pet;
          mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "pet.txt" INTO TABLE pet;

     However, if you do this, you must also re-enter the record for
     Puffball.

   * Fix only the erroneous record with an `UPDATE' statement:

          mysql> UPDATE pet SET birth = "1989-08-31" WHERE name = "Bowser";

As shown above, it is easy to retrieve an entire table.  But typically
you don't want to do that, particularly when the table becomes large.
Instead, you're usually more interested in answering a particular
question, in which case you specify some constraints on the information
you want.  Let's look at some selection queries in terms of questions
about your pets that they answer.

Selecting particular rows
.........................

You can select only particular rows from your table.  For example, if
you want to verify the change that you made to Bowser's birth date,
select Bowser's record like this:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name = "Bowser";
     +--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name   | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Bowser | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     +--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

The output confirms that the year is correctly recorded now as 1989,
not 1998.

String comparisons are normally case-insensitive, so you can specify the
name as `"bowser"', `"BOWSER"', etc.  The query result will be the same.

You can specify conditions on any column, not just `name'.  For example,
if you want to know which animals were born after 1998, test the `birth'
column:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE birth >= "1998-1-1";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Chirpy   | Gwen  | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL  |
     | Puffball | Diane | hamster | f    | 1999-03-30 | NULL  |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+

You can combine conditions, for example, to locate female dogs:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE species = "dog" AND sex = "f";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

The preceding query uses the `AND' logical operator.  There is also an
`OR' operator:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE species = "snake" OR species = "bird";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Chirpy   | Gwen  | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL  |
     | Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL  |
     | Slim     | Benny | snake   | m    | 1996-04-29 | NULL  |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+

`AND' and `OR' may be intermixed.  If you do that, it's a good idea to
use parentheses to indicate how conditions should be grouped:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE (species = "cat" AND sex = "m")
         -> OR (species = "dog" AND sex = "f");
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

Selecting particular columns
............................

If you don't want to see entire rows from your table, just name the
columns in which you're interested, separated by commas.  For example,
if you want to know when your animals were born, select the `name' and
`birth' columns:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     +----------+------------+

To find out who owns pets, use this query:

     mysql> SELECT owner FROM pet;
     +--------+
     | owner  |
     +--------+
     | Harold |
     | Gwen   |
     | Harold |
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     | Gwen   |
     | Gwen   |
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     +--------+

However, notice that the query simply retrieves the `owner' field from
each record, and some of them appear more than once.  To minimize the
output, retrieve each unique output record just once by adding the
keyword `DISTINCT':

     mysql> SELECT DISTINCT owner FROM pet;
     +--------+
     | owner  |
     +--------+
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     | Gwen   |
     | Harold |
     +--------+

You can use a `WHERE' clause to combine row selection with column
selection.  For example, to get birth dates for dogs and cats only, use
this query:

     mysql> SELECT name, species, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE species = "dog" OR species = "cat";
     +--------+---------+------------+
     | name   | species | birth      |
     +--------+---------+------------+
     | Fluffy | cat     | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws  | cat     | 1994-03-17 |
     | Buffy  | dog     | 1989-05-13 |
     | Fang   | dog     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser | dog     | 1989-08-31 |
     +--------+---------+------------+

Sorting rows
............

You may have noticed in the preceding examples that the result rows are
displayed in no particular order.  However, it's often easier to examine
query output when the rows are sorted in some meaningful way.  To sort a
result, use an `ORDER BY' clause.

Here are animal birthdays, sorted by date:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet ORDER BY birth;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     +----------+------------+

To sort in reverse order, add the `DESC' (descending) keyword to the
name of the column you are sorting by:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet ORDER BY birth DESC;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     +----------+------------+

You can sort on multiple columns.  For example, to sort by type of
animal, then by birth date within animal type with youngest animals
first, use the following query:

     mysql> SELECT name, species, birth FROM pet ORDER BY species, birth DESC;
     +----------+---------+------------+
     | name     | species | birth      |
     +----------+---------+------------+
     | Chirpy   | bird    | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | bird    | 1997-12-09 |
     | Claws    | cat     | 1994-03-17 |
     | Fluffy   | cat     | 1993-02-04 |
     | Fang     | dog     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | dog     | 1989-08-31 |
     | Buffy    | dog     | 1989-05-13 |
     | Puffball | hamster | 1999-03-30 |
     | Slim     | snake   | 1996-04-29 |
     +----------+---------+------------+

Note that the `DESC' keyword applies only to the column name immediately
preceding it (`birth'); `species' values are still sorted in ascending
order.

Date calculations
.................

*MySQL* provides several functions that you can use to perform
calculations on dates, for example, to calculate ages or extract parts
of dates.

To determine how many years old each of your pets is, compute age as the
difference between the birth date and the current date.  Do this by
converting the two dates to days, take the difference, and divide by
365 (the number of days in a year):

     mysql> SELECT name, (TO_DAYS(NOW())-TO_DAYS(birth))/365 FROM pet;
     +----------+-------------------------------------+
     | name     | (TO_DAYS(NOW())-TO_DAYS(birth))/365 |
     +----------+-------------------------------------+
     | Fluffy   |                                6.15 |
     | Claws    |                                5.04 |
     | Buffy    |                                9.88 |
     | Fang     |                                8.59 |
     | Bowser   |                                9.58 |
     | Chirpy   |                                0.55 |
     | Whistler |                                1.30 |
     | Slim     |                                2.92 |
     | Puffball |                                0.00 |
     +----------+-------------------------------------+

Although the query works, there are some things about it that could be
improved.  First, the result could be scanned more easily if the rows
were presented in some order.  Second, the heading for the age column
isn't very meaningful.

The first problem can be handled by adding an `ORDER BY name' clause to
sort the output by name.  To deal with the column heading, provide a
name for the column so that a different label appears in the output
(this is called a column alias):

     mysql> SELECT name, (TO_DAYS(NOW())-TO_DAYS(birth))/365 AS age
         -> FROM pet ORDER BY name;
     +----------+------+
     | name     | age  |
     +----------+------+
     | Bowser   | 9.58 |
     | Buffy    | 9.88 |
     | Chirpy   | 0.55 |
     | Claws    | 5.04 |
     | Fang     | 8.59 |
     | Fluffy   | 6.15 |
     | Puffball | 0.00 |
     | Slim     | 2.92 |
     | Whistler | 1.30 |
     +----------+------+

To sort the output by `age' rather than `name', just use a different
`ORDER BY' clause:

     mysql>  SELECT name, (TO_DAYS(NOW())-TO_DAYS(birth))/365 AS age
         ->  FROM pet ORDER BY age;
     +----------+------+
     | name     | age  |
     +----------+------+
     | Puffball | 0.00 |
     | Chirpy   | 0.55 |
     | Whistler | 1.30 |
     | Slim     | 2.92 |
     | Claws    | 5.04 |
     | Fluffy   | 6.15 |
     | Fang     | 8.59 |
     | Bowser   | 9.58 |
     | Buffy    | 9.88 |
     +----------+------+

A similar query can be used to determine age at death for animals that
have died.  You determine which animals these are by checking whether
or not the `death' value is `NULL'.  Then, for those with non-`NULL'
values, compute the difference between the `death' and `birth' values:

     mysql>  SELECT name, birth, death, (TO_DAYS(death)-TO_DAYS(birth))/365 AS age
         ->  FROM pet WHERE death IS NOT NULL ORDER BY age;
     +--------+------------+------------+------+
     | name   | birth      | death      | age  |
     +--------+------------+------------+------+
     | Bowser | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 | 5.91 |
     +--------+------------+------------+------+

The query uses `death IS NOT NULL' rather than `death != NULL' because
`NULL' is a special value.  This is explained later.  *Note Working
with `NULL': Working with NULL.

What if you want to know which animals have birthdays next month?  For
this type of calculation, year and day are irrelevant, you simply want
to extract the month part of the `birth' column.  *MySQL* provides
several date-part extraction functions, such as `YEAR()', `MONTH()' and
`DAYOFMONTH()'.  `MONTH()' is the appropriate function here.  To see
how it works, run a simple query that displays the value of both
`birth' and `MONTH(birth)':

     mysql> SELECT name, birth, MONTH(birth) FROM pet;
     +----------+------------+--------------+
     | name     | birth      | MONTH(birth) |
     +----------+------------+--------------+
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |            2 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |            3 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |            5 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |            8 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |            8 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |            9 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |           12 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |            4 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |            3 |
     +----------+------------+--------------+

Finding animals with birthdays in the upcoming month is easy, too.
Suppose the current month is April.  Then the month value is `4' and
you look for animals born in May (month 5) like this:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet WHERE MONTH(birth) = 5;
     +-------+------------+
     | name  | birth      |
     +-------+------------+
     | Buffy | 1989-05-13 |
     +-------+------------+

There is a small complication if the current month is December, of
course.  You don't just add one to the month number (`12') and look for
animals born in month 13, because there is no such month.  Instead, you
look for animals born in January (month 1).

You can even write the query so that it works no matter what the current
month is.  That way you don't have to use a particular month number in
the query.  `DATE_ADD()' allows you to add a time interval to a given
date.  If you add a month to the value of `NOW()', then extract the
month part with `MONTH()', the result produces the month in which to
look for birthdays:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE MONTH(birth) = MONTH(DATE_ADD(NOW(), INTERVAL 1 MONTH));

A different way to accomplish the same task is to add `1' to get the
next month after the current one (after using the modulo function
(`MOD') to "wrap around" the month value to `0' if it is currently
`12'):

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE MONTH(birth) = MOD(MONTH(NOW()), 12) + 1;

Note that `MONTH' return a number between 1 and 12. And
`MOD(something,12)' returns a number between 0 and 11. So the addition
has to be after the `MOD()' oterwise we would go from November (11) to
January (1).

Working with `NULL' values
..........................

The `NULL' value can be surprising until you get used to it.
Conceptually, `NULL' means "missing value" or "unknown value" and it is
treated somewhat differently than other values.  To test for `NULL',
you cannot use the arithmetic comparison operators such as `=', `<' or
`!='.  To demonstrate this for yourself, try the following query:

     mysql> SELECT 1 = NULL, 1 != NULL, 1 < NULL, 1 > NULL;
     +----------+-----------+----------+----------+
     | 1 = NULL | 1 != NULL | 1 < NULL | 1 > NULL |
     +----------+-----------+----------+----------+
     |     NULL |      NULL |     NULL |     NULL |
     +----------+-----------+----------+----------+

Clearly you get no meaningful results from these comparisons.  Use the
`IS NULL' and `IS NOT NULL' operators instead:

     mysql> SELECT 1 IS NULL, 1 IS NOT NULL;
     +-----------+---------------+
     | 1 IS NULL | 1 IS NOT NULL |
     +-----------+---------------+
     |         0 |             1 |
     +-----------+---------------+

In *MySQL*, 0 means false and 1 means true.

This special treatment of `NULL' is why, in the previous section, it
was necessary to determine which animals are no longer alive using
`death IS NOT NULL' instead of `death != NULL'.

Pattern matching
................

*MySQL* provides standard SQL pattern matching as well as a form of
pattern matching based on extended regular expressions similar to those
used by Unix utilities such as `vi', `grep' and `sed'.

SQL pattern matching allows you to use `_' to match any single
character, and `%' to match an arbitrary number of characters (including
zero characters).  In MySQL, SQL patterns are case insensitive by
default.  Some examples are shown below.  Note that you do not use `='
or `!=' when you use SQL patterns; use the `LIKE' or `NOT LIKE'
comparison operators instead.

To find names beginning with `b':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "b%";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
     | Bowser | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

To find names ending with `fy':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "%fy";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Fluffy | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL  |
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

To find names containing a `w':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "%w%";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Claws    | Gwen  | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
     | Bowser   | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     | Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

To find names containing exactly five characters, use the `_' pattern
character:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "_____";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

The other type of pattern matching provided by *MySQL* uses extended
regular expressions.  When you test for a match for this type of
pattern, use the `REGEXP' and `NOT REGEXP' operators (or `RLIKE' and
`NOT RLIKE', which are synonyms).

Some characteristics of extended regular expressions are:

   * `.' matches any single character.

   * A character class `[...]' matches any character within the
     brackets.  For example, `[abc]' matches `a', `b' or `c'.  To name a
     range of characters, use a dash.  `[a-z]' matches any lowercase
     letter, whereas `[0-9]' matches any digit.

   * `*' matches zero or more instances of the thing preceding it.  For
     example, `x*' matches any number of `x' characters, `[0-9]*'
     matches any number of digits, and `.*' matches any number of
     anything.

   * Regular expressions are case sensitive, but you can use a
     character class to match both lettercases if you wish.  For
     example, `[aA]' matches lowercase or uppercase `a' and `[a-zA-Z]'
     matches any letter in either case.

   * The pattern matches if it occurs anywhere in the value being tested
     (SQL patterns match only if they match the entire value).

   * To anchor a pattern so that it must match the beginning or end of
     the value being tested, use `^' at the beginning or `$' at the end
     of the pattern.

To demonstrate how extended regular expressions work, the `LIKE' queries
shown above are rewritten below to use `REGEXP':

To find names beginning with `b', use `^' to match the beginning of the
name and `[bB]' to match either lowercase or uppercase `b':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^[bB]";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
     | Bowser | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

To find names ending with `fy', use `$' to match the end of the name:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "fy$";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Fluffy | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL  |
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

To find names containing a `w', use `[wW]' to match either lowercase or
uppercase `w':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "[wW]";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Claws    | Gwen  | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
     | Bowser   | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     | Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

Since a regular expression pattern matches if it occurs anywhere in the
value, it is not necessary in the previous query to put a wildcard on
either side of the pattern to get it to match the entire value like it
would be if you used an SQL pattern.

To find names containing exactly five characters, use `^' and `$' to
match the beginning and end of the name, and five instances of `.'  in
between:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^.....$";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

You could also write the previous query using the `{n}'
"repeat-`n'-times" operator:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^.{5}$";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

Counting rows
.............

Databases are often used to answer the question, "how often does a
certain type of data occur in a table?"  For example, you might want to
know how many pets you have, or how many pets each owner has, or you
might want to perform various kinds of censuses on your animals.

Counting the total number of animals you have is the same question as
"how many rows are in the `pet' table?," since there is one record per
pet.  The `COUNT()' function counts the number of non-`NULL' results, so
the query to count your animals looks like this:

     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM pet;
     +----------+
     | COUNT(*) |
     +----------+
     |        9 |
     +----------+

Earlier, you retrieved the names of the people who owned pets.  You can
use `COUNT()' if you want to find out how many pets each owner has:

     mysql> SELECT owner, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY owner;
     +--------+----------+
     | owner  | COUNT(*) |
     +--------+----------+
     | Benny  |        2 |
     | Diane  |        2 |
     | Gwen   |        3 |
     | Harold |        2 |
     +--------+----------+

Note the use of `GROUP BY' to group together all records for each
`owner'.  Without it, all you get is an error message:

     mysql> SELECT owner, COUNT(owner) FROM pet;
     ERROR 1140 at line 1: Mixing of GROUP columns (MIN(),MAX(),COUNT()...)
     with no GROUP columns is illegal if there is no GROUP BY clause

`COUNT()' and `GROUP BY' are useful for characterizing your data in
various ways.  The following examples show different ways to perform
animal census operations.

Number of animals per species:

     mysql> SELECT species, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species;
     +---------+----------+
     | species | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+----------+
     | bird    |        2 |
     | cat     |        2 |
     | dog     |        3 |
     | hamster |        1 |
     | snake   |        1 |
     +---------+----------+

Number of animals per sex:

     mysql> SELECT sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY sex;
     +------+----------+
     | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +------+----------+
     | NULL |        1 |
     | f    |        4 |
     | m    |        4 |
     +------+----------+

(In this output, `NULL' indicates "sex unknown.")

Number of animals per combination of species and sex:

     mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species, sex;
     +---------+------+----------+
     | species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+------+----------+
     | bird    | NULL |        1 |
     | bird    | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | m    |        1 |
     | dog     | f    |        1 |
     | dog     | m    |        2 |
     | hamster | f    |        1 |
     | snake   | m    |        1 |
     +---------+------+----------+

You need not retrieve an entire table when you use `COUNT()'.  For
example, the previous query, when performed just on dogs and cats,
looks like this:

     mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet
         -> WHERE species = "dog" OR species = "cat"
         -> GROUP BY species, sex;
     +---------+------+----------+
     | species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+------+----------+
     | cat     | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | m    |        1 |
     | dog     | f    |        1 |
     | dog     | m    |        2 |
     +---------+------+----------+

Or, if you wanted the number of animals per sex only for known-sex
animals:

     mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet
         -> WHERE sex IS NOT NULL
         -> GROUP BY species, sex;
     +---------+------+----------+
     | species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+------+----------+
     | bird    | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | m    |        1 |
     | dog     | f    |        1 |
     | dog     | m    |        2 |
     | hamster | f    |        1 |
     | snake   | m    |        1 |
     +---------+------+----------+

Using more than one table
-------------------------

The `pet' table keeps track of which pets you have.  If you want to
record other information about them, such as events in their lives like
visits to the vet or when litters are born, you need another table.
What should this table look like?

   * It needs to contain the pet name so you know which animal each
     event pertains to.

   * It needs a date so you know when the event occurred.

   * It needs a field to describe the event.

   * If you want to be able to categorize events, it would be useful to
     have an event type field.

Given these considerations, the `CREATE TABLE' statement for the
`event' table might look like this:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE event (name VARCHAR(20), date DATE,
         -> type VARCHAR(15), remark VARCHAR(255));

As with the `pet' table, it's easiest to load the initial records by
creating a tab-delimited text file containing the information:

Fluffy      1995-05-15  litter      4 kittens, 3 female, 1 male              
Buffy       1993-06-23  litter      5 puppies, 2 female, 3 male              
Buffy       1994-06-19  litter      3 puppies, 3 female                      
Chirpy      1999-03-21  vet         needed beak straightened                 
Slim        1997-08-03  vet         broken rib                               
Bowser      1991-10-12  kennel                                               
Fang        1991-10-12  kennel                                               
Fang        1998-08-28  birthday    Gave him a new chew toy                  
Claws       1998-03-17  birthday    Gave him a new flea collar               
Whistler    1998-12-09  birthday    First birthday                           

Load the records like this:

     mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "event.txt" INTO TABLE event;

Based on what you've learned from the queries you've run on the `pet'
table, you should be able to perform retrievals on the records in the
`event' table; the principles are the same.  But when is the `event'
table by itself insufficient to answer questions you might ask?

Suppose you want to find out the ages of each pet when they had their
litters.  The `event' table indicates when this occurred, but to
calculate age of the mother, you need her birth date.  Since that is
stored in the `pet' table, you need both tables for the query:

     mysql> SELECT pet.name, (TO_DAYS(date) - TO_DAYS(birth))/365 AS age, remark
         -> FROM pet, event
         -> WHERE pet.name = event.name AND type = "litter";
     +--------+------+-----------------------------+
     | name   | age  | remark                      |
     +--------+------+-----------------------------+
     | Fluffy | 2.27 | 4 kittens, 3 female, 1 male |
     | Buffy  | 4.12 | 5 puppies, 2 female, 3 male |
     | Buffy  | 5.10 | 3 puppies, 3 female         |
     +--------+------+-----------------------------+

There are several things to note about this query:

   * The `FROM' clause lists two tables since the query needs to pull
     information from both of them.

   * When combining (joining) information from multiple tables, you
     need to specify how records in one table can be matched to records
     in the other.  This is easy since they both have a `name' column.
     The query uses `WHERE' clause to match up records in the two
     tables based on the `name' values.

   * Since the `name' column occurs in both tables, you must be specific
     about which table you mean when referring to the column.  This is
     done by prepending the table name to the column name.

You need not have two different tables to perform a join.  Sometimes it
is useful to join a table to itself, if you want to compare records in
a table to other records in that same table.  For example, to find
breeding pairs among your pets, you can join the `pet' table with
itself to pair up males and females of like species:

     mysql> SELECT p1.name, p1.sex, p2.name, p2.sex, p1.species
         -> FROM pet AS p1, pet AS p2
         -> WHERE p1.species = p2.species AND p1.sex = "f" AND p2.sex = "m";
     +--------+------+--------+------+---------+
     | name   | sex  | name   | sex  | species |
     +--------+------+--------+------+---------+
     | Fluffy | f    | Claws  | m    | cat     |
     | Buffy  | f    | Fang   | m    | dog     |
     | Buffy  | f    | Bowser | m    | dog     |
     +--------+------+--------+------+---------+

In this query, we specify aliases for the table name in order to be able
to refer to the columns and keep straight which instance of the table
each column reference is associated with.

Getting information about databases and tables
==============================================

What if you forget the name of a database or table, or what the
structure of a given table is (e.g., what its columns are called)?
*MySQL* addresses this problem through several statements that provide
information about the databases and tables it supports.

You have already seen `SHOW DATABASES', which lists the databases
managed by the server.  To find out which database is currently
selected, use the `DATABASE()' function:

     mysql> SELECT DATABASE();
     +------------+
     | DATABASE() |
     +------------+
     | menagerie  |
     +------------+

If you haven't selected any database yet, the result is blank.

To find out what tables the current database contains (for example, when
you're not sure about the name of a table), use this command:

     mysql> SHOW TABLES;
     +---------------------+
     | Tables in menagerie |
     +---------------------+
     | event               |
     | pet                 |
     +---------------------+

If you want to find out about the structure of a table, the `DESCRIBE'
command is useful; it displays information about each of a table's
columns:

     mysql> DESCRIBE pet;
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | Field   | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | name    | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | owner   | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | species | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | sex     | char(1)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | birth   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | death   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

`Field' indicates the column name, `Type' is the data type for the
column, `Null' indicates whether or not the column can contain `NULL'
values, `Key' indicates whether or not the column is indexed and
`Default' specifies the column's default value.

If you have indexes on a table, `SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name' produces
information about them.

Using `mysql' in batch mode
===========================

In the previous sections, you used `mysql' interactively to enter
queries and view the results.  You can also run `mysql' in batch mode.
To do this, put the commands you want to run in a file, then tell
`mysql' to read its input from the file:

     shell> mysql < batch-file

If you need to specify connection parameters on the command line, the
command might look like this:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p < batch-file
     Enter password: ********

When you use `mysql' this way, you are creating a script file, then
executing the script.

Why use a script?  Here are a few reasons:

   * If you run a query repeatedly (say, every day or every week),
     making it a script allows you to avoid retyping it each time you
     execute it.

   * You can generate new queries from existing ones that are similar
     by copying and editing script files.

   * Batch mode can also be useful while you're developing a query,
     particularly for multiple-line commands or multiple-statement
     sequences of commands.  If you make a mistake, you don't have to
     retype everything.  Just edit your script to correct the error,
     then tell `mysql' to execute it again.

   * If you have a query that produces a lot of output, you can run the
     output through a pager rather than watching it scroll off the top
     of your screen:

          shell> mysql < batch-file | more

   * You can catch the output in a file for further processing:

          shell> mysql < batch-file > mysql.out

   * You can distribute your script to other people so they can run the
     commands, too.

   * Some situations do not allow for interactive use, for example,
     when you run a query from a `cron' job.  In this case, you must
     use batch mode.

The default output format is different (more concise) when you run
`mysql' in batch mode than when you use it interactively.  For example,
the output of `SELECT DISTINCT species FROM pet' looks like this when
run interactively:

     +---------+
     | species |
     +---------+
     | bird    |
     | cat     |
     | dog     |
     | hamster |
     | snake   |
     +---------+

But like this when run in batch mode:

     species
     bird
     cat
     dog
     hamster
     snake

If you want to get the interactive output format in batch mode, use
`mysql -t'.  To echo to the output the commands that are executed, use
`mysql -vvv'.

Queries from twin project
=========================

At Analytikerna and Lentus, we have been doing the systems and field
work for a big research project. This project is a collaboration
between the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska
Institutet Stockholm and the Section on Clinical Research in Aging and
Psychology at the University of Southern California.

The project involves a screening part where all twins in Sweden older
than 65 years are interviewed by telephone. Twins who meet certain
criteria are passed on to the next stage. In this latter stage, twins
who want to participate are visited by a doctor/nurse team. Some of the
examinations include physical and neuropsychological examination,
laboratory testing, neuroimaging, psychological status assessment, and
family history collection. In addition, data are collected on medical
and environmental risk factors.

More information about Twin studies can be found at:

     `http://www.imm.ki.se/TWIN/TWINUKW.HTM'

The latter part of the project is administered with a web interface
written using Perl and *MySQL*.

Each night all data from the interviews are moved into a *MySQL*
database.

Find all non-distributed twins
------------------------------

The following query is used to determine who goes into the second part
of the project:

     select
             concat(p1.id, p1.tvab) + 0 as tvid,
             concat(p1.christian_name, " ", p1.surname) as Name,
             p1.postal_code as Code,
             p1.city as City,
             pg.abrev as Area,
             if(td.participation = "Aborted", "A", " ") as A,
             p1.dead as dead1,
             l.event as event1,
             td.suspect as tsuspect1,
             id.suspect as isuspect1,
             td.severe as tsevere1,
             id.severe as isevere1,
             p2.dead as dead2,
             l2.event as event2,
             h2.nurse as nurse2,
             h2.doctor as doctor2,
             td2.suspect as tsuspect2,
             id2.suspect as isuspect2,
             td2.severe as tsevere2,
             id2.severe as isevere2,
             l.finish_date
     from
             twin_project as tp
             /* For Twin 1 */
             left join twin_data as td on tp.id = td.id and tp.tvab = td.tvab
             left join informant_data as id on tp.id = id.id and tp.tvab = id.tvab
             left join harmony as h on tp.id = h.id and tp.tvab = h.tvab
             left join lentus as l on tp.id = l.id and tp.tvab = l.tvab
             /* For Twin 2 */
             left join twin_data as td2 on p2.id = td2.id and p2.tvab = td2.tvab
             left join informant_data as id2 on p2.id = id2.id and p2.tvab = id2.tvab
             left join harmony as h2 on p2.id = h2.id and p2.tvab = h2.tvab
             left join lentus as l2 on p2.id = l2.id and p2.tvab = l2.tvab,
             person_data as p1,
             person_data as p2,
             postal_groups as pg
     where
             /* p1 gets main twin and p2 gets his/her twin. */
             /* ptvab is a field inverted from tvab */
             p1.id = tp.id and p1.tvab = tp.tvab and
             p2.id = p1.id and p2.ptvab = p1.tvab and
             /* Just the sceening survey */
             tp.survey_no = 5 and
             /* Skip if partner died before 65 but allow emigration (dead=9) */
             (p2.dead = 0 or p2.dead = 9 or
              (p2.dead = 1 and
               (p2.death_date = 0 or
                (((to_days(p2.death_date) - to_days(p2.birthday)) / 365)
                 >= 65))))
             and
             (
             /* Twin is suspect */
             (td.future_contact = 'Yes' and td.suspect = 2) or
             /* Twin is suspect - Informant is Blessed */
             (td.future_contact = 'Yes' and td.suspect = 1 and id.suspect = 1) or
             /* No twin - Informant is Blessed */
             (ISNULL(td.suspect) and id.suspect = 1 and id.future_contact = 'Yes') or
             /* Twin broken off - Informant is Blessed */
             (td.participation = 'Aborted'
              and id.suspect = 1 and id.future_contact = 'Yes') or
             /* Twin broken off - No inform - Have partner */
             (td.participation = 'Aborted' and ISNULL(id.suspect) and p2.dead = 0))
             and
             l.event = 'Finished'
             /* Get at area code */
             and substring(p1.postal_code, 1, 2) = pg.code
             /* Not already distributed */
             and (h.nurse is NULL or h.nurse=00 or h.doctor=00)
             /* Has not refused or been aborted */
             and not (h.status = 'Refused' or h.status = 'Aborted'
             or h.status = 'Died' or h.status = 'Other')
     order by
             tvid;

Some explanations:
`concat(p1.id, p1.tvab) + 0 as tvid'
     We want to sort on the concatenated `id' and `tvab' in numerical
     order. Adding `0' to the result causes *MySQL* to treat the result
     as a number.

column `id'
     This identifies a pair of twins. It is a key in all tables.

column `tvab'
     This identifies a twin in a pair. It has a value of `1' or `2'.

column `ptvab'
     This is an inverse of `tvab'. When `tvab' is `1' this is `2', and
     vice versa. It exists to save typing and to make it easier for
     *MySQL* to optimize the query.

This query demonstrates, among other things, how to do lookups on a
table from the same table with a join (`p1' and `p2'). In the example,
this is used to check whether a twin's partner died before the age of
65. If so, the row is not returned.

All of the above exist in all tables with twin-related information. We
have a key on both `id,tvab' (all tables) and `id,ptvab'
(`person_data') to make queries faster.

On our production machine (A 200MHz UltraSPARC), this query returns
about 150-200 rows and takes less than one second.

The current number of records in the tables used above: *Table*                *Rows*                               
`person_data'          71074                                
`lentus'               5291                                 
`twin_project'         5286                                 
`twin_data'            2012                                 
`informant_data'       663                                  
`harmony'              381                                  
`postal_groups'        100                                  



Show a table on twin pair status
--------------------------------

Each interview ends with a status code called `event'. The query shown
below is used to display a table over all twin pairs combined by event.
This indicates in how many pairs both twins are finished, in how many
pairs one twin is finished and the other refused, and so on.

     select
             t1.event,
             t2.event,
             count(*)
     from
             lentus as t1,
             lentus as t2,
             twin_project as tp
     where
             /* We are looking at one pair at a time */
             t1.id = tp.id
             and t1.tvab=tp.tvab
             and t1.id = t2.id
             /* Just the sceening survey */
             and tp.survey_no = 5
             /* This makes each pair only appear once */
             and t1.tvab='1' and t2.tvab='2'
     group by
             t1.event, t2.event;

MySQL server functions
**********************

What languages are supported by MySQL?
======================================

`mysqld' can issue error messages in the following languages: Czech,
Dutch, English (the default), Estonia, French, German, Hungarian,
Italian, Norwegian, Norwegian-ny, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and
Swedish.

To start `mysqld' with a particular language, use either the
`--language=lang' or `-L lang' options. For example:

     shell> mysqld --language=swedish

or:

     shell> mysqld --language=/usr/local/share/swedish

Note that all language names are specified in lowercase.

The language files are located (by default) in
`MYSQL_BASE_DIR/share/LANGUAGE/'.

To update the error message file, you should edit the `errmsg.txt' file
and execute the following command to generate the `errmsg.sys' file:

     shell> comp_err errmsg.txt errmsg.sys

If you upgrade to a newer version of *MySQL*, remember to repeat your
changes with the new `errmsg.txt' file.

The character set used for data and sorting
-------------------------------------------

By default, *MySQL* uses the ISO-8859-1 (Latin1) character set. This is
the character set used in the USA and western Europe.

The character set determines what characters are allowed in names and
how things are sorted by the `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' clauses of the
`SELECT' statement.

You can change the character set at compile time by using the
`--with-charset=charset' option to `configure'.  *Note Quick install::.

To add another character set to *MySQL*, use the following procedure:

Adding a new character set
--------------------------

  1. Choose a name for the character set, denoted `MYSET' below.

  2. Create the file `strings/ctype-MYSET.c' in the *MySQL* source
     distribution.

  3. Look at one of the existing `ctype-*.c' files to see what needs to
     be defined. Note that the arrays in your file must have names like
     `ctype_MYSET', `to_lower_MYSET' and so on.

     `to_lower[]' and `to_upper[]' are simple arrays that hold the
     lowercase and uppercase characters corresponding to each member of
     the character set.  For example:

          to_lower['A'] should contain 'a'
          to_upper['a'] should contain 'A'

     `sort_order[]' is a map indicating how characters should be
     ordered for comparison and sorting purposes.  For many character
     sets, this is the same as `to_upper[]' (which means sorting will
     be case insensitive).  *MySQL* will sort characters based on the
     value of `sort_order[character]'.

     `ctype[]' is an array of bit values, with one element for one
     character.  (Note that `to_lower[]', `to_upper[]' and
     `sort_order[]' are indexed by character value, but `ctype[]' is
     indexed by character value + 1.  This is an old legacy to be able
     to handle EOF.)  You can find the following bitmask definitions in
     `m_ctype.h':

          #define _U      01      /* Upper case */
          #define _L      02      /* Lower case */
          #define _N      04      /* Numeral (digit) */
          #define _S      010     /* Spacing character */
          #define _P      020     /* Punctuation */
          #define _C      040     /* Control character */
          #define _B      0100    /* Blank */
          #define _X      0200    /* heXadecimal digit */

     The `ctype[]' entry for each character should be the union of the
     applicable bitmask values that describe the character.  For
     example, `'A'' is an uppercase character (`_U') as well as a
     hexadecimal digit (`_X'), so `ctype['A'+1]' should contain the
     value:
          _U + _X = 01 + 0200 = 0201

  4. Add a unique number for your character set to
     `include/m_ctype.h.in'.

  5. Add the character set name to the `CHARSETS_AVAILABLE' list in
     `configure.in'.

  6. Reconfigure, recompile and test.

Multi-byte character support
----------------------------

If you are creating a multi-byte character set, you can use the `_MB'
macros.  In `include/m_ctype.h.in', add:

     #define MY_CHARSET_MYSET  X
     #if MY_CHARSET_CURRENT == MY_CHARSET_MYSET
     #define USE_MB
     #define USE_MB_IDENT
     #define ismbchar(p, end)  (...)
     #define ismbhead(c)       (...)
     #define mbcharlen(c)      (...)
     #define MBMAXLEN          N
     #endif

Where:

`MY_CHARSET_MYSET' A unique character set value.                          
`USE_MB'           This character set has multi-byte characters, handled  
                   by `ismbhead()' and `mbcharlen()'                      
`USE_MB_IDENT'     (optional) If defined, you can use table and column    
                   names that use multi-byte characters                   
`ismbchar(p, e)'   return 0 if `p' is not a multi-byte character string,  
                   or the size of the character (in bytes) if it is.  `p' 
                   and `e' point to the beginning and end of the string.  
                   Check from `(char*)p' to `(char*)e-1'.                 
`ismbhead(c)'      True if `c' is the first character of a multi-byte     
                   character string                                       
`mbcharlen(c)'     Size of a multi-byte character string if `c' is the    
                   first character of such a string                       
`MBMAXLEN'         Size in bytes of the largest character in the set      

The update log
==============

When started with the `--log-update=file_name' option, `mysqld' writes
a log file containing all SQL commands that update data. The file is
written in the data directory and has a name of `file_name.#', where
`#' is a number that is incremented each time you execute `mysqladmin
refresh' or `mysqladmin flush-logs', the `FLUSH LOGS' statement, or
restart the server.

If you use the `--log' or `-l' options, `mysqld' writes a general log
with a filename of `hostname.log', and restarts and refreshes do not
cause a new log file to be generated (although it is closed and
reopened). By default, the `mysql.server' script starts the *MySQL*
server with the `-l' option.  If you need better performance when you
start using *MySQL* in a production environment, you can remove the
`-l' option from `mysql.server'.

Update logging is smart since it logs only statements that really update
data. So an `UPDATE' or a `DELETE' with a `WHERE' that finds no rows is
not written to the log. It even skips `UPDATE' statements that set a
column to the value it already has.

If you want to update a database from update log files, you could do the
following (assuming your update logs have names of the form
`file_name.#'):

     shell> ls -1 -t -r file_name.[0-9]* | xargs cat | mysql

`ls' is used to get all the log files in the right order.

This can be useful if you have to revert to backup files after a crash
and you want to redo the updates that occurred between the time of the
backup and the crash.

You can also use the update logs when you have a mirrored database on
another host and you want to replicate the changes that have been made
to the master database.

How big MySQL tables can be
===========================

*MySQL* 3.22 has a 4G limit on table size. With the new MyISAM in
*MySQL* 3.23 the maximum table size is pushed up to 8 million terabytes
(2 ^ 63 bytes).

Note however that operating systems have their own file size limits.  On
Linux, the current limit is 2G; on Solaris 2.5.1, the limit is 4G; on
Solaris 2.6, the limit is 1000G.  This means that the table size for
*MySQL* is normally limited by the operating system.

By default, *MySQL* tables have a maximum size of about 4G.  You can
check the maximum table size for a table with the `SHOW TABLE STATUS'
command or with the `myisamchk -dv table_name'.  *Note SHOW::.

If you need bigger tables than 4G (and your operating system supports
this), you should set the `AVG_ROW_LENGTH' and `MAX_ROWS' parameter
when you create your table.  *Note CREATE TABLE::.  You can also set
these later with `ALTER TABLE'. *Note ALTER TABLE::.

If your big table is going to be read-only, you could use `myisampack'
to merge and compress many tables to one.  `myisampack' usually
compresses a table by at least 50%, so you can have, in effect, much
bigger tables.  *Note `myisampack': myisampack.

Another solution can be the included MERGE library, which allows you to
handle a collection of identical tables as one.  (Identical in this case
means that all tables are created with identical column information.)
Currently MERGE can only be used to scan a collection of tables because
it doesn't support indexes. We will add indexes to this in the near
future.

MySQL table types
=================

With MySQL you can currently (version 3.23.6) choose between three basic
table formats. When you create a new table, you can tell *MySQL* which
table type it should use for the table.  *MySQL* will always create a
`.frm' file to hold the table and column definitions.  Depending on the
table type the index and data will be stored in other files.

You can convert tables between different types with the `ALTER TABLE'
statement. *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

*`MyISAM'
     `MyISAM' is the default table type in *MySQL* 3.23. It's based on
     the `ISAM' code and has a lot of useful extensions.

     The index is stored in a file with the `.MYI' (MYindex) extension
     and the data is stored in file with the `.MYD' (MYData) extension.
     You can check/repair `MyISAM' tables with the `myisamchk' utility.
     *Note Crash recovery::.

     The following is new in `MyISAM':

        * One can `INSERT' new rows in a table without deleted rows, at
          the same times as other threads are reading from the table.

        * Supports for big files (63 bit) on filesystems/operating
          systems that support big files.

        * All data are stored with low byte first. This makes the data
          machine and OS independent. The only requirement is that the
          machine uses 2 complement signed integers (as every machine
          for the last 20 years has) and IEEE floating point format
          (also totally dominant among mainstream machines). The only
          area of machines that may not support binary compatibility
          are embedded systems (since they sometimes have peculiar
          processors).

        * All number keys are stored with high byte first to give
          better index compression.

        * Internal handling of one `AUTO_INCREMENT' column. `MyISAM'
          will automatically update this on `INSERT/UPDATE'. The
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' value can be reset with `myisamchk'. This
          will make `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns faster and old numbers
          will not be reused as with the old ISAM. Note that when a
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' is defined on the end of a multi-part-key
          the old behavior is still present.

        * `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns can be indexed.

        * `NULL' values are allowed in indexed columns.  This takes 0-1
          bytes/key.

        * Maximum key length is now 500 bytes by default. In cases of
          keys longer than 250 bytes, a bigger key block size than the
          default of 1024 bytes is used for this key.

        * Maximum number of keys/table enlarged to 32 as default. This
          can be enlarged to 64 without having to recompile `myisamchk'.

        * There is a flag in the `MyISAM' file that indicates whether
          or not the table was closed correctly.  This will soon be
          used for automatic repair in the *MySQL* server.

        * `myisamchk' will now mark tables as checked. `myisamchk
          --fast' will only check those tables that don't have this
          mark.

        * `myisamchk -a' stores statistics for key parts (and not only
          for whole keys as in `ISAM').

        * Dynamic size rows will now be much less fragmented when
          mixing deletes with updates and inserts.  This is done by
          automatically combining adjacent deleted blocks and by
          extending blocks if the next block is deleted.

        * `myisampack' can pack `BLOB' and `VARCHAR' columns.

     `MyISAM' also supports the following things, which *MySQL* will be
     able to use in the near future.

        * Support for a true `VARCHAR' type; A `VARCHAR' column starts
          with a length stored in 2 bytes.

        * Tables with `VARCHAR' may have fixed or dynamic record length.

        * `VARCHAR' and `CHAR' may be up to 64K.  All key segments have
          their own language definition. This will enable *MySQL* to
          have different language definitions per column.

        * A hashed computed index can be used for `UNIQUE'; This will
          allow you to have `UNIQUE' on any combination of columns in a
          table. (You can't search on a `UNIQUE' computed index,
          however.)

     You can also use the deprecated ISAM table type. This will
     disappear in rather soon since `MyISAM' is a better implementation
     of the same thing. ISAM uses a `B-tree' index. The index is stored
     in a file with the `.ISM' extension and the data is stored in file
     with the `.ISD' extension.  You can check/repair ISAM tables with
     the `isamchk' utility. *Note Crash recovery::. ISAM tables are not
     binary portable across OS/Platforms.

     `ISAM' has the following features/properties:

        * Compressed and fixed length keys

        * Fixed and dynamic record length

        * 16 keys with 16 key parts / key

        * Max key length 256 (default)

        * Data is stored in machine format;  Fast but is machine/OS
          dependent.

*`HEAP'
     `HEAP' tables use a hashed index and are stored in memory.  This
     makes them very fast, but if *MySQL* crashes you will lose all
     data stored in them.  `HEAP' is very usable as temporary tables!

          CREATE TABLE test TYPE=HEAP SELECT ip,SUM(downloads) as down
                  FROM log_table GROUP BY ip;
          SELECT COUNT(ip),AVG(down) FROM test;
          DROP TABLE test;

     Here are some things you should consider when you use `HEAP'
     tables:

        * You should always use specify `MAX_ROWS' in the `CREATE'
          statement to ensure that you accidently do not use all memory.

        * Indexes will only be used with `=' and `<=>' (but are VERY
          fast).

        * `HEAP' tables uses a fixed record length format.

        * `HEAP' doesn't support `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns.

        * `HEAP' doesn't support `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns.

        * `HEAP' doesn't support an index on a `NULL' column.

        * You can have non-unique keys in a `HEAP' table (not that
          normal with hashed tables).

        * `HEAP' tables are shared between all clients (just like any
          other table).

        * Data for `HEAP' tables are allocated in small blocks. The
          tables are 100% dynamic (on inserting). No overflow areas and
          no extra key space is needed.  Deleted rows are put in a
          linked list and will be reused when you insert new data into
          the table.

        * To free memory, you should execute `DELETE FROM heap_table' or
          `DROP TABLE heap_table'.

        * To ensure that you accidentally don't do anything stupid, you
          can't create `HEAP' tables bigger than `max_heap_table_size'.

Getting maximum performance from MySQL
**************************************

Optimization is a complicated task since it ultimately requires
understanding of the whole system. While it may be possible to do some
local optimizations with small knowledge of your system/application, the
more optimal you want your system to become the more you will have to
know about it.

So this chapter will try to explain and give some examples of different
ways to optimize MySQL. But remember that there are always some
(increasingly harder) ways to make the system even faster left to do.

Optimization overview
=====================

The most important part for getting a system fast is of course the basic
design. You also need to know that kinds of things your system will be
doing. That is your bottlenecks are.

The most common bottlenecks are.
   * Disk seeks It takes time for the disk to find a piece of data.
     With modern disk in 1999 the mean time for this is usually lower
     than 10ms. So we can in theory do about 1000 seeks a second. This
     time improves slowly with new disks and is very hard to optimize
     for a single table. The way to optimize this is to spread the data
     on more than one disk.

   * Disk reading/writing When the disk is at the correct position we
     need to read the data. With modern disks in 1999 one disks
     delivers something like 10-20Mb/s. This is easier to optimize than
     seeks since you can read in parallel from multiple disks.

   * CPU cycles When we have got the data into main memory (or if it
     already where there) we need to process it to get to our result.
     When we have small tables compared to the memory this is the most
     common limiting factor. But then with small tables speed is
     usually not the problem.

   * Memory bandwidth When the CPU needs more data than that fits in
     the cpu cache the main memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. This
     is a uncommoon bottleneck for most systems but one should be aware
     of it.

System/Compile time and startup parameter tuning
================================================

We start with the system level things sine some of these decisions have
to be made very early. In other cases a fast look at this part may
suffice since it not that important for the big gains. But it is always
nice to have a feeling about how much one gould gain by chancing things
at this level.

The default OS to use is really important!  To get the most use of
multiple CPU machines one should use Solaris (because the threads works
really nice) or Linux (because the 2.2 kernel has really good SMP
support). Also on 32bit machines Linux has a 2G file size limit by
default. Hopefully this will be fixed soon when new filesystems is
released (XFS).

Since we have not run production MySQL on that many platforms we advice
you to test your intended platform before choosing it if possible.

Other tips:
   * If you have enough ram, you could remove all swap devices. Some
     operating systems will use a SWAP device in some contexts even if
     you have free memory.

   * Use the `--skip-locking' *MySQL* option to avoid external locking.
     Note that this will not impact *MySQL* functionality as long that
     only run one server. Just remember to take down the server (or
     lock relevant parts) before you run `myisamchk'. On some system
     this switch is mandatory since the external locking does not work
     in any case.

     The `--skip-locking' option is on by default when compiling with
     MIT-pthreads, because `flock()' isn't fully supported by
     MIT-pthreads on all platforms.

     The only case when you can't use `--skip-locking' is if you run
     multiple *MySQL* SERVERS (not clients) on the same data. Or run
     `myisamchk' on the table without first flushing and locking the
     `mysqld' server tables first.

     You can still use `LOCK TABLES' / `UNLOCK TABLES' even if you are
     using `--skip-locking'

How compiling and linking affects the speed of MySQL
----------------------------------------------------

Most of the following tests are done on Linux and with the *MySQL*
benchmarks, but they should give some indication for other operating
systems and workloads.

You get the fastest executable when you link with `-static'. Using Unix
sockets rather than TCP/IP to connect to a database also gives better
performance.

On Linux, you will get the fastest code when compiling with `pgcc' and
`-O6'. To compile `sql_yacc.cc' with these options, you need about 200M
memory because `gcc/pgcc' needs a lot of memory to make all functions
inline. You should also set `CXX=gcc' when configuring *MySQL* to avoid
inclusion of the `libstdc++' library (it is not needed).

By just using a better compiler and/or better compiler options you can
get a 10-30 % speed increase in your application.  This is particularly
important if you compile the SQL server yourselves!

On Intel you should for example use pgcc or the Cygnus CodeFusion
compiler to get maximum speed. We have tested the new Fujitsu compiler
but it is not yet bug free enough to compile MySQL with optimizations
on.

Here is a list of some mesurements that we have done:
   * If you use `pgcc' and compile everything with `-O6', the `mysqld'
     server is 11% faster than with `gcc' versions older than `gcc'
     2.95.2.

   * If you link dynamically (without `-static'), the result is 13%
     slower.  Note that you still can use a dynamic linked MySQL
     library. It is only the server that is critical for performance.

   * If you connect using TCP/IP rather than Unix sockets, the result
     is 7.5% slower.

   * On a Sun SPARCstation 10, `gcc' 2.7.3 is 13% faster than Sun Pro
     C++ 4.2.

   * On Solaris 2.5.1, MIT-pthreads is 8-12% slower than Solaris native
     threads on a single processor. With more load/cpus the difference
     should get bigger.

The *MySQL*-Linux distribution provided by TcX is compiled with `pgcc'
and linked statically.

Disk issues
-----------

   * As mentioned before disks seeks are a big performance bottleneck.
     This problems gets more and more apparent when the data starts to
     grow so large that effective caching becomes impossible. For large
     databases, where you access data more or less random, you can
     count on that you will need at least one disk seek to read and a
     couple of disk seeks to write things. To minimize this problem use
     disks with low seek times.

   * To increase the number of available disk spindles (and thereby
     reduce the seek overhead) it is possible to either symlink files
     to different disks or stripe the disks.
    *Using symbolic links*
          This means that you symlink the index or/and data file(s)
          from the normal data directory to another disk (that may also
          be striped). This makes both the seek and read times better
          (if the disk are not used for other things). *Note Symbolic
          links::.

    *Striping*
          Striping means that you have many disks and put the first
          block on the first disk, the second block on the second disk,
          and the Nth on the (Nth mod number_of_disks) disk, and so on.
          This means if your normal data size is less than the stripe
          size (or perfectly aligned) you will get much better
          performance. Note that striping if very dependent on the OS
          and stripe-size. So benchmark your application with different
          stripe-sizes. *Note Benchmarks::.

          Note that the speed difference for striping is *very*
          dependent on the parameters. Depending on how you set the
          striping parameters and number of disks you may get
          difference in orders of magnitude. Note that you have to
          choose to optimize for random or sequential access.

   * For reliability you may want to use RAID 0+1 (striping +
     mirroring), but in this case you will need 2*N drives to hold N
     drives of data. This is probably the best option if you have the
     money for it!  You may however also have to invest in some volume
     management software to handle it efficiently.

   * A good option is to have semi-important data (that can be
     re-generated) on RAID 0 disk while store really important data
     (like host information and logs) on a RAID 0+1 or RAID N disks.
     RAID N can be a problem if you have many writes because of the
     time to update the parity bits.

   * You may also set the parameters for the file system that the
     database uses. One easy change is to mount the file system with
     the noatime option. That makes it skip the updating of the last
     access time in the inode and by this will avoid some disk seeks.

Using symbolic links for databases and tables
.............................................

You can move tables and databases from the database directory to other
locations and replace them with symbolic links to the new locations.
You might want to do this, for example, to move a database to a file
system with more free space.

If *MySQL* notices that a table is a symbolically-linked, it will
resolve the symlink and use the table it points to instead. This works
on all systems that support the `realpath()' call (at least Linux and
Solaris support `realpath()')!  On systems that don't support
`realpath()', you should not access the table through the real path and
through the symlink at the same time!  If you do, the table will be
inconsistent after any update.

*MySQL* doesn't support linking of databases by default.  Things will
work fine as long as you don't make a symbolic link between databases.
Suppose you have a database `db1' under the *MySQL* data directory, and
then make a symlink `db2' that points to `db1':

     shell> cd /path/to/datadir
     shell> ln -s db1 db2

Now, for any table `tbl_a' in `db1', there also appears to be a table
`tbl_a' in `db2'.  If one thread updates `db1.tbl_a' and another thread
updates `db2.tbl_a', there will be problems.

If you really need this, you must change the following code in
`mysys/mf_format.c':

     if (!lstat(to,&stat_buff))  /* Check if it's a symbolic link */
         if (S_ISLNK(stat_buff.st_mode) && realpath(to,buff))

Change the code to this:

     if (realpath(to,buff))

Tuning server parameters
------------------------

You can get the default buffer sizes used by the `mysqld' server with
this command:

     shell> mysqld --help

This command produces a list of all `mysqld' options and configurable
variables. The output includes the default values and looks something
like this:

     Possible variables for option --set-variable (-O) are:
     back_log              current value: 5
     connect_timeout       current value: 5
     delayed_insert_timeout  current value: 300
     delayed_insert_limit  current value: 100
     delayed_queue_size    current value: 1000
     flush_time            current value: 0
     interactive_timeout   current value: 28800
     join_buffer_size      current value: 131072
     key_buffer_size       current value: 1048540
     lower_case_table_names  current value: 0
     long_query_time       current value: 10
     max_allowed_packet    current value: 1048576
     max_connections       current value: 100
     max_connect_errors    current value: 10
     max_delayed_threads   current value: 20
     max_heap_table_size   current value: 16777216
     max_join_size         current value: 4294967295
     max_sort_length       current value: 1024
     max_tmp_tables        current value: 32
     max_write_lock_count  current value: 4294967295
     net_buffer_length     current value: 16384
     query_buffer_size     current value: 0
     record_buffer         current value: 131072
     sort_buffer           current value: 2097116
     table_cache           current value: 64
     thread_concurrency    current value: 10
     tmp_table_size        current value: 1048576
     thread_stack          current value: 131072
     wait_timeout          current value: 28800

If there is a `mysqld' server currently running, you can see what
values it actually is using for the variables by executing this command:

     shell> mysqladmin variables

Each option is described below. Values for buffer sizes, lengths and
stack sizes are given in bytes.  You can specify values with a suffix
of `K' or `M' to indicate kilobytes or megabytes. For example, `16M'
indicates 16 megabytes.  Case of suffix letters does not matter; `16M'
and `16m' are equivalent.

You can also see some statistics from a running server by the command
`SHOW STATUS'. *Note SHOW::.

``ansi_mode'.'
     Is `ON' if `mysqld' was started with `--ansi'.  *Note Ansi mode::.

``back_log''
     The number of outstanding connection requests *MySQL* can have.
     This comes into play when the main *MySQL* thread gets *VERY* many
     connection requests in a very short time. It then takes some time
     (although very little) for the main thread to check the connection
     and start a new thread. The `back_log' value indicates how many
     requests can be stacked during this short time before *MySQL*
     momentarily stops answering new requests. You need to increase
     this only if you expect a large number of connections in a short
     period of time.

     In other words, this value is the size of the listen queue for
     incoming TCP/IP connections.  Your operating system has its own
     limit on the size of this queue.  The manual page for the Unix
     `listen(2)' system call should have more details.  Check your OS
     documentation for the maximum value for this variable.  Attempting
     to set `back_log' higher than your operating system limit will be
     ineffective.

``concurrent_inserts''
     If `ON' (the default), `MySQL' will allow you to use `INSERT' on
     `MyISAM' tables at the same time as you run `SELECT' queries on
     them.  You can turn this option off by starting mysqld with
     `--safe' or `--skip-new'.

``connect_timeout''
     The number of seconds the `mysqld' server is waiting for a connect
     packet before responding with `Bad handshake'.

``delayed_insert_timeout''
     How long a `INSERT DELAYED' thread should wait for `INSERT'
     statements before terminating.

``delayed_insert_limit''
     After inserting `delayed_insert_limit' rows, the `INSERT DELAYED'
     handler will check if there are any `SELECT' statements pending.
     If so, it allows these to execute before continuing.

``delay_key_write''
     If enabled (is on by default), MySQL will honor the
     `delay_key_write' option `CREATE TABLE'.  This means that the key
     buffer for tables with this option will not get flushed on every
     index update, but only when a table is closed.  This will speed up
     writes on keys a lot but you should add automatic checking of all
     tables with `myisamchk --fast --force' if you use this.  Note that
     if you start `mysqld' with the `--delay-key-write-for-all-tables'
     option this means that all tables will be treated as if they where
     created with the `delay_key_write' option.  You can clear this flag
     by starting `mysqld' with `--skip-new' or `--safe-mode'.

``delayed_queue_size''
     How big a queue (in rows) should be allocated for handling `INSERT
     DELAYED'.  If the queue becomes full, any client that does `INSERT
     DELAYED' will wait until there is room in the queue again.

``flush_time''
     If this is set to a non-zero value, then every `flush_time'
     seconds all tables will be closed (to free up resources and sync
     things to disk).

``init_file''
     The name of the file specified with the `--init-file' option when
     you start the server.  This is a file of SQL statements you want
     the server to execute when it starts.

``interactive_timeout''
     The number of seconds the server waits for activity on a
     interactive connection before closing it.  An interactive client
     is defined as a client that uses the `CLIENT_INTERACTIVE' option to
     `mysql_real_connect()'.  See also `wait_timeout'.

``join_buffer_size''
     The size of the buffer that is used for full joins (joins that do
     not use indexes).  The buffer is allocated one time for each full
     join between two tables. Increase this value to get a faster full
     join when adding indexes is not possible. (Normally the best way
     to get fast joins is to add indexes.)

``key_buffer_size''
     Index blocks are buffered and are shared by all threads.
     `key_buffer_size' is the size of the buffer used for index blocks.

     Increase this get better index handling (for all reads and multiple
     writes) to as much as you can afford.  If you make this too big the
     system will starte to page and go REAL slow. Remember that since
     *MySQL* does not cache data read that you will have to leave some
     room for the OS filesystem cache.

     To get even more speed when writing many rows at the same time use
     `LOCK TABLES'.  *Note `LOCK TABLES': LOCK TABLES.

``long_query_time''
     If a query takes longer than this (in seconds), the `Slow_queries'
     counter will be incremented.

``max_allowed_packet''
     The maximum size of one packet. The message buffer is initialized
     to `net_buffer_length' bytes, but can grow up to
     `max_allowed_packet' bytes when needed.  This value by default is
     small to catch big (possibly wrong) packets.  You must increase
     this value if you are using big `BLOB' columns. It should be as
     big as the biggest `BLOB' you want to use.

``max_connections''
     The number of simultaneous clients allowed. Increasing this value
     increases the number of file descriptors that `mysqld' requires.
     See below for comments on file descriptor limits. *Note Too many
     connections::.

``max_connect_errors''
     If there is more than this number of interrupted connections from
     a host this host will be blocked for further connections.  You can
     unblock a host with the command `FLUSH HOSTS'.

``max_delayed_threads''
     Don't start more than this number of threads to handle `INSERT
     DELAYED' statements.  If you try to insert data in a new table
     after all `INSERT DELAYED' threads are in use, the row will be
     inserted as if the `DELAYED' attribute wasn't specified.

``max_join_size''
     Joins that are probably going to read more than `max_join_size'
     records return an error. Set this value if your users tend to
     perform joins without a `WHERE' clause that take a long time and
     return millions of rows.

``max_sort_length''
     The number of bytes to use when sorting `BLOB' or `TEXT' values
     (only the first `max_sort_length' bytes of each value are used;
     the rest are ignored).

``max_tmp_tables''
     (This option doesn't yet do anything).  Maximum number of
     temporary tables a client can keep open at the same time.

``net_buffer_length''
     The communication buffer is reset to this size between queries.
     This should not normally be changed, but if you have very little
     memory, you can set it to the expected size of a query.  (That is,
     the expected length of SQL statements sent by clients.  If
     statements exceed this length, the buffer is automatically
     enlarged, up to `max_allowed_packet' bytes.)

``net_retry_count''
     If a read on a communication port is interrupted, retry this many
     times before giving up.  This value should be quite high on
     `FreeBSD' as internal interrupts is sent to all threads.

``record_buffer''
     Each thread that does a sequential scan allocates a buffer of this
     size for each table it scans. If you do many sequential scans, you
     may want to increase this value.

``skip_show_databases''
     This prevents people from doing `SHOW DATABASES', if they don't
     have the `PROCESS_PRIV' privilege. This can improve security if
     you're concerned about people being able to see what databases and
     tables other users have.

``sort_buffer''
     Each thread that needs to do a sort allocates a buffer of this
     size. Increase this value for faster `ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY'
     operations.  *Note Temporary files::.

``table_cache''
     The number of open tables for all threads. Increasing this value
     increases the number of file descriptors that `mysqld' requires.
     *MySQL* needs two file descriptors for each unique open table.
     See below for comments on file descriptor limits.  For information
     about how the table cache works, see *Note Table cache::.

``tmp_table_size''
     If a temporary table exceeds this size, *MySQL* generates an error
     of the form `The table tbl_name is full'. Increase the value of
     `tmp_table_size' if you do many advanced `GROUP BY' queries.

``thread_concurrency''
     On Solaris, `mysqld' will call `thr_setconcurrency()' with this
     value.  `thr_setconcurrency()' permits the application to give the
     threads system a hint, for the desired number of threads that
     should be run at the same time.

``thread_stack''
     The stack size for each thread.  Many of the limits detected by the
     `crash-me' test are dependent on this value. The default is large
     enough for normal operation.  *Note Benchmarks::.

``wait_timeout''
     The number of seconds the server waits for activity on a
     connection before closing it. See also `interactive_timeout'.

*MySQL* uses algorithms that are very scalable, so you can usually run
with very little memory or give *MySQL* more memory to get better
performance.

If you have much memory and many tables and want maximum performance
with a moderate number of clients, you should use something like this:

     shell> safe_mysqld -O key_buffer=16M -O table_cache=128 \
                -O sort_buffer=4M -O record_buffer=1M &

If you have little memory and lots of connections, use something like
this:

     shell> safe_mysqld -O key_buffer=512k -O sort_buffer=100k \
                -O record_buffer=100k &

or even:

     shell> safe_mysqld -O key_buffer=512k -O sort_buffer=16k \
                -O table_cache=32 -O record_buffer=8k -O net_buffer=1K &

If there are very many connections, "swapping problems" may occur unless
`mysqld' has been configured to use very little memory for each
connection. `mysqld' performs better if you have enough memory for all
connections, of course.

Note that if you change an option to `mysqld', it remains in effect only
for that instance of the server.

To see the effects of a parameter change, do something like this:

     shell> mysqld -O key_buffer=32m --help

Make sure that the `--help' option is last; otherwise, the effect of any
options listed after it on the command line will not be reflected in the
output.

How MySQL opens and closes tables
---------------------------------

`table_cache', `max_connections' and `max_tmp_tables' affect the
maximum number of files the server keeps open.  If you increase one or
both of these values, you may run up against a limit imposed by your
operating system on the per-process number of open file descriptors.
However, you can increase the limit on many systems.  Consult your OS
documentation to find out how to do this, because the method for
changing the limit varies widely from system to system.

`table_cache' is related to `max_connections'.  For example, for 200
open connections, you should have a table cache of at least `200 * n',
where `n' is the maximum number of tables in a join.

The cache of open tables can grow to a maximum of `table_cache'
(default 64; this can be changed with with the `-O table_cache=#'
option to `mysqld').  A table is never closed, except when the cache is
full and another thread tries to open a table or if you use `mysqladmin
refresh' or `mysqladmin flush-tables'.

When the table cache fills up, the server uses the following procedure
to locate a cache entry to use:

   * Tables that are not currently in use are released, in
     least-recently-used order.

   * If the cache is full and no tables can be released, but a new
     table needs to be opened, the cache is temporarily extended as
     necessary.

   * If the cache is in a temporarily-extended state and a table goes
     from in-use to not-in-use state, it is closed and released from
     the cache.

A table is opened for each concurrent access. This means that if you
have two threads accessing the same table or access the table twice in
the same query (with `AS') the table needs to be opened twice.  The
first open of any table takes two file descriptors; each additional use
of the table takes only one file descriptor.  The extra descriptor for
the first open is used for the index file; this descriptor is shared
among all threads.

Drawbacks of creating large numbers of tables in the same database
------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have many files in a directory, open, close and create
operations will be slow.  If you execute `SELECT' statements on many
different tables, there will be a little overhead when the table cache
is full, because for every table that has to be opened, another must be
closed. You can reduce this overhead by making the table cache larger.

Why so many open tables?
------------------------

When you run `mysqladmin status', you'll see something like this:

     Uptime: 426 Running threads: 1 Questions: 11082 Reloads: 1 Open tables: 12

This can be somewhat perplexing if you only have 6 tables.

*MySQL* is multithreaded, so it may have many queries on the same table
simultaneously. To minimize the problem with two threads having
different states on the same file, the table is opened independently by
each concurrent thread. This takes some memory and one extra file
descriptor for the data file. The index file descriptor is shared
between all threads.

How MySQL uses memory
---------------------

The list below indicates some of the ways that the `mysqld' server uses
memory.  Where applicable, the name of the server variable relevant to
the memory use is given.

   * The key buffer (variable `key_buffer_size') is shared by all
     threads; Other buffers used by the server are allocated as needed.
     *Note Server parameters::.

   * Each connection uses some thread specific space; A stack (default
     64K, variable `thread_stack') a connection buffer (variable
     `net_buffer_length'), and a result buffer (variable
     `net_buffer_length'). The connection buffer and result buffer are
     dynamically enlarged up to `max_allowed_packet' when needed.  When
     a query is running a copy of the current query string is also
     allocated.

   * All threads share the same base memory.

   * Nothing is memory-mapped yet (except compressed tables, but that's
     another story). This is because the 32-bit memory space of 4GB is
     not large enough for most large tables. When systems with a 64-bit
     address-space become more common we may add general support for
     memory-mapping.

   * Each request doing a sequential scan over a table allocates a read
     buffer (variable `record_buffer').

   * All joins are done in one pass and most joins can be done without
     even using a temporary table. Most temporary tables are
     memory-based (HEAP) tables.  Temporary tables with a big record
     length (calculated as the sum of all column lengths) or that
     contain `BLOB' columns are stored on disk.

     One problem in *MySQL* versions before 3.23.2 is that if a HEAP
     table exceeds the size of `tmp_table_size', you get the error `The
     table tbl_name is full'. In newer versions this is handled by
     automatically changing the in-memory (HEAP) table to a disk-based
     (MyISAM) table as necessary. To work around this problem, you can
     increase the temporary table size by setting the `tmp_table_size'
     option to `mysqld', or by setting the SQL option `SQL_BIG_TABLES'
     in the client program.  *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION. In *MySQL*
     3.20, the maximum size of the temporary table was
     `record_buffer*16', so if you are using this version, you have to
     increase the value of `record_buffer'. You can also start `mysqld'
     with the `--big-tables' option to always store temporary tables on
     disk, however, this will affect the speed of many complicated
     queries.

   * Most requests doing a sort allocate a sort buffer and one or two
     temporary files. *Note Temporary files::.

   * Almost all parsing and calculating is done in a local memory
     store. No memory overhead is needed for small items and the normal
     slow memory allocation and freeing is avoided. Memory is allocated
     only for unexpectedly large strings (this is done with `malloc()'
     and `free()').

   * Each index file is opened once and the data file is opened once
     for each concurrently-running thread. For each concurrent thread,
     a table structure, column structures for each column, and a buffer
     of size `3 * n' is allocated (where `n' is the maximum row length,
     not counting `BLOB' columns). A `BLOB' uses 5 to 8 bytes plus the
     length of the `BLOB' data.

   * For each table having `BLOB' columns, a buffer is enlarged
     dynamically to read in larger `BLOB' values. If you scan a table,
     a buffer as large as the largest `BLOB' value is allocated.

   * Table handlers for all in-use tables are saved in a cache and
     managed as a FIFO. Normally the cache has 64 entries. If a table
     has been used by two running threads at the same time, the cache
     contains two entries for the table.  *Note Table cache::.

   * A `mysqladmin flush-tables' command closes all tables that are not
     in use and marks all in-use tables to be closed when the currently
     executing thread finishes. This will effectively free most in-use
     memory.

`ps' and other system status programs may report that `mysqld' uses a
lot of memory. This may be caused by thread-stacks on different memory
addresses. For example, the Solaris version of `ps' counts the unused
memory between stacks as used memory. You can verify this by checking
available swap with `swap -s'. We have tested `mysqld' with commercial
memory-leakage detectors, so there should be no memory leaks.

How MySQL locks tables
----------------------

All locking in *MySQL* is deadlock-free.  This is managed by always
requesting all needed locks at once at the beginning of a query and
always locking the tables in the same order.

The locking method *MySQL* uses for `WRITE' locks works as follows:

   * If there are no locks on the table, put a write lock on it.

   * Otherwise, put the lock request in the write lock queue.

The locking method *MySQL* uses for `READ' locks works as follows:

   * If there are no write locks on the table, put a read lock on it.

   * Otherwise, put the lock request in the read lock queue.

When a lock is released, the lock is made available to the threads in
the write lock queue, then to the threads in the read lock queue.

This means that if you have many updates on a table, `SELECT'
statements will wait until there are no more updates.

To work around this for the case where you want to do many `INSERT' and
`SELECT' operations on a table, you can insert rows in a temporary
table and update the real table with the records from the temporary
table once in a while.

This can be done with the following code:
     mysql> LOCK TABLES real_table WRITE, insert_table WRITE;
     mysql> insert into real_table select * from insert_table;
     mysql> delete from insert_table;
     mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

You can use the `LOW_PRIORITY' options with `INSERT' if you want to
prioritize retrieval in some specific cases.  *Note `INSERT': INSERT.

You could also change the locking code in `mysys/thr_lock.c' to use a
single queue.  In this case, write locks and read locks would have the
same priority, which might help some applications.

Table locking issues
--------------------

The table locking code in *MySQL* is deadlock free.

*MySQL* uses table locking (instead of row locking or column locking)
to achieve a very high lock speed.  For large tables, table locking is
for most applications MUCH better than row locking, but there are of
course some pitfalls.

In *MySQL* 3.23.7 and above, you can insert rows into `MyISAM' tables
at the same time as other threads are reading from the table.  Note
that currently this only works if there are no deleted rows in the
table.

Table locking enables many threads to read from a table at the same
time, but if a thread wants to write to a table, it must first get
exclusive access.  During the update all others threads that want to
access this particular table will wait until the update is ready.

As updates of databases normally are considered to be more important
than `SELECT', all statements that update a table have higher priority
than statements that retrieve information from a table. This should
ensure that updates are not 'starved' because one issues a lot of heavy
queries against a specific table.

Starting from *MySQL 3.23.7* one can use the `max_write_lock_count'
variable to force *MySQL* to issue a `SELECT' after a specific number
of inserts on a table.

One main problem with this is the following:

   * A client issues a `SELECT' that takes a long time to run.

   * Another client then issues an `UPDATE' on a used table;  This
     client will wait until the `SELECT' is finished

   * Another client issues another `SELECT' statement on the same
     table;  As `UPDATE' has higher priority than `SELECT', this
     `SELECT' will wait for the `UPDATE' to finish.  It will also wait
     for the first `SELECT' to finish!

Some possible solutions to this problem are:

   * Try to get the `SELECT' statements to run faster;  You may have to
     create some summary tables to do this.

   * Start `mysqld' with `--low-priority-updates'.  This will give all
     statements that update (modify) a table lower priority than a
     `SELECT' statement. In this case the last `SELECT' statement in
     the previous scenario would execute before the `INSERT' statement.

   * You can give a specific `INSERT',`UPDATE' or `DELETE' statement
     lower priority with the `LOW_PRIORITY' attribute.

   * Start `mysqld' with a low value for *max_write_lock_count* to give
     `READ' locks after a certain number of `WRITE' locks.

   * You can specify that all updates from a specific thread should be
     done with low priority by using the SQL command: `SET
     SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=1'.  *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

   * You can specify that a specific `SELECT' is very important with the
     `HIGH_PRIORITY' attribute. *Note `SELECT': SELECT.

   * If you have problems with `INSERT' combined with `SELECT', switch
     to use the new `MyISAM' tables as these supports concurrent
     `SELECT's and `INSERT's.

   * If you mainly mix `INSERT' and `SELECT' statements, the `DELAYED'
     attribute to `INSERT' will probably solve your problems.  *Note
     `INSERT': INSERT.

   * If you have problems with `SELECT' and `DELETE', the `LIMIT'
     option to `DELETE' may help. *Note `DELETE': DELETE.

Get your data as small as possible
==================================

One of the most basic optimization is to get your data (and indexes) to
take as little space on the disk (and in memory) as possible. This can
give huge improvements since disk reads are faster and normally less
main memory will also be used. Indexing also takes less resources if
done on smaller columns.

You can get better performance on a table and minimize storage space
using the techniques listed below:

   * Use the most efficient (smallest) types possible. *MySQL* has a
     many specialized types that save disk space and memory.

   * Use the smaller integer types if possible to get smaller tables.
     For example, `MEDIUMINT' is often better than `INT'.

   * Declare columns to be `NOT NULL' if possible. It makes everything
     faster and you save one bit per column. Note that if you really
     need `NULL' in your application you should definitely use it. Just
     avoid haveing it on all columns by default.

   * If you don't have any variable-length columns (`VARCHAR', `TEXT'
     or `BLOB' columns), a fixed-size record format is used. This is
     faster but unfortunately may waste some space.  *Note Choosing
     table type::.

   * Each table should have as short as possible primary index. This
     makes identification of one row easy and efficient.

   * For each table you have to decide which storage/index method to
     use. *Note Table types::. See also *Note Choosing table type::.

   * Only create the indexes that you really need. Indexes are good for
     retrieval but bad when you need to store things fast. If you mostly
     access a table by searching on a combination of columns, make an
     index on them. The first index part should be the most used
     column. If you are ALWAYS using many columns you should use the
     column with more duplicates first to get better compression of the
     index.

   * If its very likely that an index has unique prefix on the first
     number of characters, it's better that only index this prefix.
     *MySQL* supports an index on a part of a character column. Shorter
     indexes is faster not only because they take less disk space but
     also because they will give you more hits in the index cache and
     thus fewer disk seeks. *Note Server parameters::.

   * In some circumstances it can be beneficial to split a table that is
     scanned very often into two. Especially if it is a dynamic format
     table and it is possible to a smaller static format table that can
     be used to find the relevant rows then scanning.

MySQL index use
===============

Indexes are used to find find a row with a specific calue on one column
fast. Without a index MySQL has to start with the first record and then
read through the whole table until it find the relevent rows. The bigger
the table the more this costs. If the table has a index for the colums
in question MySQL can get fast a possition to seek to in the middle of
the data file without having to look at all data. If a table have 1000
rows this is at least 100 times faster than reading sequentially. Note
that is you need to access almost all 1000 rows it is faster to read
sequentially since we when avoid disk seeks.

All MySQL indexes (`PRIMARY', `UNIQUE' and `INDEX') are stored in
B-trees. Strings are automatically prefix- and end-space compressed.
*Note `CREATE INDEX': CREATE INDEX.

Indexes are used to:
   * Quickly find the rows that match a `WHERE' clause.

   * Retrieve rows from other tables when performing joins.

   * Find the `MAX()' or `MIN()' value for a specific indexed column.

   * Sort or group a table if the sorting or grouping is done on a
     leftmost prefix of a usable key (e.g., `ORDER BY
     key_part_1,key_part_2 '). The key is read in reverse order if all
     key parts are followed by `DESC'.

   * In some cases a querey can be optimized to retrieve values without
     consulting the data file. If all used columns for some table are
     numeric and form a leftmost prefix for some key, the values may be
     retrieved from the index tree for greater speed.

Suppose you issue the following `SELECT' statement:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col1=val1 AND col2=val2;

If a multiple-column index exists on `col1' and `col2', the appropriate
rows can be fetched directly. If separate single-column indexes exist
on `col1' and `col2', the optimizer tries to find the most restrictive
index by deciding which index will find fewer rows and using that index
to fetch the rows.

If the table has a multiple-column index, any leftmost prefix of the
index can be used by the optimizer to find rows. For example, if you
have a three-column index on `(col1,col2,col3)', you have indexed
search capabilities on `(col1)', `(col1,col2)' and `(col1,col2,col3)'.

*MySQL* can't use a partial index if the columns don't form a leftmost
prefix of the index.  Suppose you have the `SELECT' statements shown
below:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col1=val1;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col2=val2;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col2=val2 AND col3=val3;

If an index exists on `(col1,col2,col3)', only the first query shown
above uses the index. The second and third queries do involve indexed
columns, but `(col2)' and `(col2,col3)' are not leftmost prefixes of
`(col1,col2,col3)'.

*MySQL* also uses indexes for `LIKE' comparisons if the argument to
`LIKE' is a constant string that doesn't start with a wildcard
character.  For example, the following `SELECT' statements use indexes:

     mysql> select * from tbl_name where key_col LIKE "Patrick%";
     mysql> select * from tbl_name where key_col LIKE "Pat%_ck%";

In the first statement, only rows with `"Patrick" <= key_col <
"Patricl"' are considered.  In the second statement, only rows with
`"Pat" <= key_col < "Pau"' are considered.

The following `SELECT' statements will not use indexes:
     mysql> select * from tbl_name where key_col LIKE "%Patrick%";
     mysql> select * from tbl_name where key_col LIKE other_col;

In the first statement, the `LIKE' value begins with a wildcard
character.  In the second statement, the `LIKE' value is not a constant.

Searching using `column_name IS NULL' will use indexes if column_name
is a index.

*MySQL* normally uses the index that finds least number of rows. An
index is used for columns that you compare with the following operators:
`=', `>', `>=', `<', `<=', `BETWEEN' and a `LIKE' with a non-wildcard
prefix like `'something%''.

Any index that doesn't span all `AND' levels in the `WHERE' clause is
not used to optimize the query. In other words:  To be able to use an
index, a prefix of the index must be used in every `AND' group.

The following `WHERE' clauses use indexes:
     ... WHERE index_part1=1 AND index_part2=2 AND other_column=3
     ... WHERE index=1 OR A=10 AND index=2      /* index = 1 OR index = 2 */
     ... WHERE index_part1='hello' AND index_part_3=5
               /* optimized like "index_part1='hello'" */
     ... WHERE index1=1 and index2=2 or index1=3 and index3=3;
               /* Can use index on index1 but not on index2 or index 3 */

These `WHERE' clauses do *NOT* use indexes:
     ... WHERE index_part2=1 AND index_part3=2  /* index_part_1 is not used */
     ... WHERE index=1 OR A=10                  /* Index is not used in both AND parts */
     ... WHERE index_part1=1 OR index_part2=10  /* No index spans all rows */

Speed of queries that access or update data
===========================================

First, one thing that affects all queries: The more complex permission
system setup you have, the more overhead you get.

If you do not have any `GRANT' statements done MySQL will optimize the
permission checking somewhat. So if you have a very high volume it may
be worth the time to avoid grants. Otherwise more permission check
results in a larger overhead.

If your problem is with some explicit *MySQL* function, you can always
time this in the *MySQL* client:

     mysql> select benchmark(1000000,1+1);
     +------------------------+
     | benchmark(1000000,1+1) |
     +------------------------+
     |                      0 |
     +------------------------+
     1 row in set (0.32 sec)

The above shows that *MySQL* can execute 1,000,000 `+' expressions in
0.32 seconds on a `PentiumII 400MHz'.

All *MySQL* functions should be very optimized, but there may be some
exceptions and the `benchmark(loop_count,expression)' is a great tool
to find if this is a problem with your query.

Estimating query performance
----------------------------

In most cases you can estimate the performance by counting disk seeks.
For small tables you can usually find the row in 1 disk seek (as the
index is probably cached).  For bigger tables, you can estimate that,
(using B++ tree indexes), you will need: `log(row_count) /
log(index_block_length / 3 * 2 / (index_length + data_pointer_length)) +
1' seeks to find a row.

In *MySQL* an index block is usually 1024 bytes and the data pointer is
usually 4 bytes, which gives for a 500,000 row table with a index
length of 3 (medium integer) gives you:
`log(500,000)/log(1024/3*2/(3+4)) + 1' = 4 seeks.

As the above index would require about 500,000 * 7 * 3/2 = 5.2M,
(assuming that the index buffers are filled to 2/3 (which is typical)
you will probably have much of the index in memory and you will probably
only need 1-2 calls to read data from the OS to find the row.

For writes you will however need 4 seek requests (as above) to find
where to place the new index and normally 2 seeks to update the index
and write the row.

Note that the above doesn't mean that your application will slowly
degenerate by N log N!  As long as everything is cached by the OS or SQL
server things will only go marginally slower while the table gets
bigger. After the data gets too big to be cached, things will start to
go much slower until your applications is only bound by disk-seeks
(which increase by N log N). To avoid this increase the index cache as
the data grows. *Note Server parameters::.

Speed of `SELECT' queries
-------------------------

In general, when you want to make a slow `SELECT ... WHERE' faster, the
first thing to check is whether or not you can add an index. *Note
MySQL indexes::. All references between different tables should usually
be done with indexes. You can use the `EXPLAIN' command to determine
which indexes are used for a `SELECT'.  *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

Some general tips:

   * To help *MySQL* optimize queries better, run `myisamchk --analyze'
     on a table after it has been loaded with relevant data. This
     updates a value for each index that indicates the average number
     of rows that have the same value.  (For unique indexes, this is
     always 1, of course.)

   * To sort an index and data according to an index, use `myisamchk
     --sort-index --sort-records=1' (if you want to sort on index 1).
     If you have a unique index from which you want to read all records
     in order according to that index, this is a good way to make that
     faster.  Note however that this sorting isn't written optimally
     and will take a long time for a large table!

How MySQL optimizes `WHERE' clauses
-----------------------------------

The where optimizes are put in the `SELECT' part here since they are
mostly used there. But the same optimizations are used for there in
`DELETE' and `UPDATE' statements.

Also note that this section is incomplete. *MySQL* does many
optimizations and we have not had time to document them all.

Some of the optimizations performed by *MySQL* are listed below:

   * Removal of unnecessary parentheses:
             ((a AND b) AND c OR (((a AND b) AND (c AND d))))
          -> (a AND b AND c) OR (a AND b AND c AND d)

   * Constant folding:
             (a<b AND b=c) AND a=5
          -> b>5 AND b=c AND a=5

   * Constant condition removal (needed because of constant folding):
             (B>=5 AND B=5) OR (B=6 AND 5=5) OR (B=7 AND 5=6)
          -> B=5 OR B=6

   * Constant expressions used by indexes are evaluated only once.

   * `COUNT(*)' on a single table without a `WHERE' is retrieved
     directly from the table information.  This is also done for any
     `NOT NULL' expression when used with only one table.

   * Early detection of invalid constant expressions. *MySQL* quickly
     detects that some `SELECT' statements are impossible and returns
     no rows.

   * `HAVING' is merged with `WHERE' if you don't use `GROUP BY' or
     group functions (`COUNT()', `MIN()'...)

   * For each sub join, a simpler `WHERE' is constructed to get a fast
     `WHERE' evaluation for each sub join and also to skip records as
     soon as possible.

   * All constant tables are read first, before any other tables in the
     query.  A constant table is:
        - An empty table or a table with 1 row.

        - A table that is used with a `WHERE' clause on a `UNIQUE'
          index, or a `PRIMARY KEY', where all index parts are used
          with constant expressions and the index parts are defined as
          `NOT NULL'.  All the following tables are used as constant
     tables:
          mysql> SELECT * FROM t WHERE primary_key=1;
          mysql> SELECT * FROM t1,t2
                     WHERE t1.primary_key=1 AND t2.primary_key=t1.id;

   * The best join combination to join the tables is found by trying all
     possibilities :(. If all columns in `ORDER BY' and in `GROUP BY'
     come from the same table, then this table is preferred first when
     joining.

   * If there is an `ORDER BY' clause and a different `GROUP BY' clause,
     or if the `ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY' contains columns from tables
     other than the first table in the join queue, a temporary table is
     created.

   * If you use `SQL_SMALL_RESULT', *MySQL* will use an in-memory
     temporary table.

   * As `DISTINCT' is converted to a `GROUP BY' on all columns,
     `DISTINCT' combined with `ORDER BY' will in many cases also need a
     temporary table.

   * Each table index is queried and the best index that spans fewer
     than 30% of the rows is used. If no such index can be found, a
     quick table scan is used.

   * In some cases, *MySQL* can read rows from the index without even
     consulting the data file.  If all columns used from the index are
     numeric, then only the index tree is used to resolve the query.

   * Before each record is output, those that do not match the `HAVING'
     clause are skipped.

Some examples of queries that are very fast:

     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tbl_name;
     mysql> SELECT MIN(key_part1),MAX(key_part1) FROM tbl_name;
     mysql> SELECT MAX(key_part2) FROM tbl_name
                WHERE key_part_1=constant;
     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name
                ORDER BY key_part1,key_part2,... LIMIT 10;
     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name
                ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC,... LIMIT 10;

The following queries are resolved using only the index tree (assuming
the indexed columns are numeric):

     mysql> SELECT key_part1,key_part2 FROM tbl_name WHERE key_part1=val;
     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tbl_name
                WHERE key_part1=val1 AND key_part2=val2;
     mysql> SELECT key_part2 FROM tbl_name GROUP BY key_part1;

The following queries use indexing to retrieve the rows in sorted order
without a separate sorting pass:

     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name ORDER BY key_part1,key_part2,...
     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC,...

How MySQL optimizes `LEFT JOIN'
-------------------------------

`A LEFT JOIN B' is in *MySQL* implemented as follows

   * The table `B' is set to be dependent on table `A' and all tables
     that `A' is dependent on.

   * The table `A' is set to be dependent on all tables (except `B')
     that are used in the `LEFT JOIN' condition.

   * All `LEFT JOIN' conditions are moved to the `WHERE' clause.

   * All standard join optimizations are done, with the exception that
     a table is always read after all tables it is dependent on.  If
     there is a circular dependence then *MySQL* will issue an error.

   * All standard `WHERE' optimzations are done.

   * If there is a row in `A' that matches the `WHERE' clause, but there
     wasn't any row in `B' that matched the `LEFT JOIN' condition, then
     an extra `B' row is generated with all columns set to `NULL'.

   * If you use `LEFT JOIN' to find rows that doesn't exist in some
     table and you have the following test: `column_name IS NULL' in the
     `WHERE' part, where column_name is a column that is declared as
     `NOT NULL', then `MySQL' will stop searching after more rows (for
     a particular key combination) after it has found one row that
     matches the `LEFT JOIN' condition.

The table read order forced by `LEFT JOIN' and `STRAIGHT JOIN' will help
the join optimiser (which calculates in which order tables should be
joined) to do its work much quickly as there is fewer table
permutations to check.

Note that the above means that if you do a query of type:

     SELECT * FROM a,b LEFT JOIN c ON (c.key=a.key) LEFT JOIN d (d.key=a.key) WHERE b.key=d.key

Then *MySQL* will do a full scan on `b' as the `LEFT JOIN' will force
it to be read before `d'.

The fix in this case is to change the query to:

     SELECT * FROM b,a LEFT JOIN c ON (c.key=a.key) LEFT JOIN d (d.key=a.key) WHERE b.key=d.key

How MySQL optimizes `LIMIT'
---------------------------

In some cases *MySQL* will handle the query differently when you are
using `LIMIT #' and not using `HAVING':

   * If you are selecting only a few rows with `LIMIT', *MySQL* will
     use indexes in some cases when it normally would prefer to do a
     full table scan.

   * If you use `LIMIT #' with `ORDER BY', *MySQL* will end the sorting
     as soon as it has found the first `#' lines instead of sorting the
     whole table.

   * When combining `LIMIT #' with `DISTINCT', *MySQL* will stop as
     soon as it finds `#' unique rows.

   * In some cases a `GROUP BY' can be resolved by reading the key in
     order (or do a sort on the key) and then calculate summaries until
     the key value changes.  In this case `LIMIT #' will not calculate
     any unnecessary `GROUP''s.

   * As soon as *MySQL* has sent the first `#' rows to the client, it
     will abort the query.

   * `LIMIT 0' will always quickly return an empty set.  This is useful
     to check the query and to get the column types of the result
     columns.

   * The size of temporary tables uses the `LIMIT #' to calculate how
     much space is needed to resolve the query.

Speed of `INSERT' queries
-------------------------

The time to insert a record consists approximately of:

   * Connect:                 (3)

   * Sending query to server: (2)

   * Parsing query:           (2)

   * Inserting record:        (1 x size of record)

   * Inserting indexes:       (1 x number of indexes)

   * Close:                   (1)

Where the numbers are somewhat proportional to the overall time. This
does not take into consideration the initial overhead to open tables
(which is done once for each concurrently-running query).

The size of the table slows down the insertion of indexes by N log N
(B-trees).

Some ways to speed up inserts:

   * If you are inserting many rows from the same client at the same
     time use multiple value lists `INSERT' statements. This is much
     faster (many times in some cases) than using separate `INSERT'
     statements.

   * If you are inserting a lot of rows from different clients, you can
     get higher speed by using the `INSERT DELAYED' statement. *Note
     `INSERT': INSERT.

   * Note that with `MyISAM' you can insert rows at the same time
     `SELECT's are running if there are no deleted rows in the tables.

   * When loading a table from a text file, use `LOAD DATA INFILE'. This
     is usually 20 times faster than using a lot of `INSERT' statements.
     *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

   * It is possible with some extra work to make `LOAD DATA INFILE' run
     even faster when the table has many indexes. Use the following
     procedure:

       1. Optionally create the table with `CREATE TABLE'. For example
          using `mysql' or Perl-DBI.

       2. Execute a `FLUSH TABLES' statement or the shell command
          `mysqladmin flush-tables'.

       3. Use `myisamchk --keys-used=0 -rq /path/to/db/tbl_name'. This
          will remove all usage of all indexes from the table.

       4. Insert data into the table with `LOAD DATA INFILE'. This will
          not update any indexes and will therefore be very fast.

       5. If you have `myisampack' and want to compress the table, run
          `myisampack' on it. *Note Compressed format::.

       6. Recreate the indexes with `myisamchk -r -q
          /path/to/db/tbl_name'. This will create the index tree in
          memory before writing it to disk, which is much faster since
          it avoid lots of disk seeks. The resulting index tree is also
          perfectly balanced.

       7. Execute a `FLUSH TABLES' statement or the shell command
          `mysqladmin flush-tables'.

     This procedure will be built into `LOAD DATA INFILE' in some future
     version of MySQL.

   * You can speed up insertions by locking your tables:

          mysql> LOCK TABLES a WRITE;
          mysql> INSERT INTO a VALUES (1,23),(2,34),(4,33);
          mysql> INSERT INTO a VALUES (8,26),(6,29);
          mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

     The main speed difference is that the index buffer is flushed to
     disk only once, after all `INSERT' statements have completed.
     Normally there would be as many index buffer flushes as there are
     different `INSERT' statements. Locking is not needed if you can
     insert all rows with a single statement.

     Locking will also lower the total time of multi-connection tests,
     but the maximum wait time for some threads will go up (because
     they wait for locks).  For example:

          thread 1 does 1000 inserts
          thread 2, 3, and 4 does 1 insert
          thread 5 does 1000 inserts

     If you don't use locking, 2, 3 and 4 will finish before 1 and 5.
     If you use locking, 2, 3 and 4 probably will not finish before 1
     or 5, but the total time should be about 40% faster.

     As `INSERT', `UPDATE' and `DELETE' operations are very fast in
     *MySQL*, you will obtain better overall performance by adding
     locks around everything that does more than about 5 inserts or
     updates in a row.  If you do very many inserts in a row, you could
     do a `LOCK TABLES' followed by a `UNLOCK TABLES' once in a while
     (about each 1000 rows) to allow other threads access to the table.
     This would still result in a nice performance gain.

     Of course, `LOAD DATA INFILE' is much faster still for loading
     data.

To get some more speed for both `LOAD DATA INFILE' and `INSERT',
enlarge the key buffer. *Note Server parameters::.

Speed of `UPDATE' queries
-------------------------

Update queries are optimized as a `SELECT' query with the additional
overhead of a write. The speed of the write is dependent on the size of
the data that are being updated and the number of indexes that are
updated.  Indexes that are not changed will not be updated.

Also another way to get fast updates is to delay updates and then do
many updates in a row later. Doing many updates in a row is much quicker
than doing one at a time if you lock the table.

Not that with dynamic record format updating a record with to a longer
total length may split the record. So if you do this often it is very
important to `OPTIMIZE TABLE' sometimes. *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE':
OPTIMIZE TABLE.

Speed of `DELETE' queries
-------------------------

The time to delete a record is exactly proportional to the number of
indexes. To delete records more quickly, you can increase the size of
the index cache. *Note Server parameters::.

Its also much faster to remove all rows than to remove a big part of the
rows from a table.

Choosing a table type
=====================

With MySQL you can currently (version 3.23.5) choose between four usable
table formats from a speed point of view.

*MyISAM Static*
     This format is the simplest and most secure format. It is also the
     fastest of the on disk formats. The speed comes from the easy way
     data can be found on disk. When looking up something with a index
     and static format it very simple, just multiply the row number
     with the row length.

     Also when scanning a table it is very easy to read a constant
     number of records with each disk read.

     The security comes from if your computer crashes when writing to a
     static MyISAM file, `myisamchk' can easily figure out where each
     row starts and ends. So it can usually reclaim all records except
     the partially written one. Not that in MySQL all indexes can
     always be reconstructed.

*MyISAM Dynamic*
     This format is a litte more complex since each row has to have a
     header that says how long it is. One record can also end up at
     more that one location when it is made longer at a update.

     You can use `OPTIMIZE table' or `myisamchk' to defragment a table.
     If you have static data that you acess/change a lot in the same
     table as some `VARCHAR' or `BLOB' columns, it might be a good idea
     to move the dynamic columns to other tables just to avoid
     fragmentation.

*MyISAM compressed*
     This is a read only type that is generated with the optional
     `myisampack' tool.

*In memory (HEAP)*
     This table format is extremely useful for small/medium sized lookup
     tables. It is possible to copy/create a frequently used lookup
     table (in joins) to a (maybe temporary) HEAP table to speed up
     many joins.

     Suppose we want to do the following join many times with the same
     data.
          SELECT tab1.a, tab3.a FROM tab1, tab2, tab3
                  WHERE tab1.a = tab2.a and tab2.a = tab3.a and tab2.c != 0;

     To speed this up we could create a temporary table with the join
     of tab2 and tab3 since that are looked up using the same column
     (tab1.a). Here is the command to create that table and the
     resulting select.
          CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE test TYPE=HEAP
                  SELECT
                          tab2.a as a2, tab3.a as a3
                  FROM
                          tab2, tab3
                  WHERE
                          tab2.a = tab3.a and c = 0;
          SELECT tab1.a, test.a3 from tab1, test where tab1.a = test.a2;
          SELECT tab1.b, test.a3 from tab1, test where tab1.a = test.a2 and something;

Static (Fixed-length) table characteristics
-------------------------------------------

   * This is the default format. It's used when the table contains no
     `VARCHAR', `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns.

   * All `CHAR', `NUMERIC' and `DECIMAL' columns are space-padded to
     the column width.

   * Very quick.

   * Easy to cache.

   * Easy to reconstruct after a crash, because records are located in
     fixed positions.

   * Doesn't have to be reorganized (with `myisamchk') unless a huge
     number of records are deleted and you want to return free disk
     space to the operating system.

   * Usually requires more disk space than dynamic tables.

Dynamic table characteristics
-----------------------------

   * This format is used if the table contains any `VARCHAR', `BLOB' or
     `TEXT' columns.

   * All string columns are dynamic (except those with a length less
     than 4).

   * Each record is preceded by a bitmap indicating which columns are
     empty (`''') for string columns, or zero for numeric columns (this
     isn't the same as columns containing `NULL' values).  If a string
     column has a length of zero after removal of trailing spaces, or a
     numeric column has a value of zero, it is marked in the bit map
     and not saved to disk.  Non-empty strings are saved as a length
     byte plus the string contents.

   * Usually takes much less disk space than fixed-length tables.

   * Each record uses only as much space as is required. If a record
     becomes larger, it is split into as many pieces as required.  This
     results in record fragmentation.

   * If you update a row with information that extends the row length,
     the row will be fragmented.  In this case, you may have to run
     `myisamchk -r' from time to time to get better performance.  Use
     `myisamchk -ei tbl_name' for some statistics.

   * Not as easy to reconstruct after a crash, because a record may be
     fragmented into many pieces and a link (fragment) may be missing.

   * The expected row length for dynamic sized records is:

          3
          + (number of columns + 7) / 8
          + (number of char columns)
          + packed size of numeric columns
          + length of strings
          + (number of NULL columns + 7) / 8

     There is a penalty of 6 bytes for each link. A dynamic record is
     linked whenever an update causes an enlargement of the record.
     Each new link will be at least 20 bytes, so the next enlargement
     will probably go in the same link.  If not, there will be another
     link. You may check how many links there are with `myisamchk -ed'.
     All links may be removed with `myisamchk -r'.

Compressed table characteristics
--------------------------------

   * A read-only table made with the `myisampack' utility. All customers
     with extended *MySQL* email support are entitled to a copy of
     `myisampack' for their internal usage.

   * The uncompress code exists in all *MySQL* distributions so that
     even customers who don't have `myisampack' can read tables that
     were compressed with `myisampack'

   * Takes very little disk space. Minimises disk usage.

   * Each record is compressed separately (very little access
     overhead).  The header for a record is fixed (1-3 bytes) depending
     on the biggest record in the table.  Each column is compressed
     differently. Some of the compression types are:
        - There is usually a different Huffman table for each column.

        - Suffix space compression.

        - Prefix space compression.

        - Numbers with value `0' are stored using 1 bit.

        - If values in an integer column have a small range, the column
          is stored using the smallest possible type. For example, a
          `BIGINT' column (8 bytes) may be stored as a `TINYINT' column
          (1 byte) if all values are in the range `0' to `255'.

        - If a column has only a small set of possible values, the
          column type is converted to `ENUM'.

        - A column may use a combination of the above compressions.

   * Can handle fixed or dynamic length records, but not `BLOB' or
     `TEXT' columns.

   * Can be uncompressed with `myisamchk'.

*MySQL* can support different index types, but the normal type is ISAM.
This is a B-tree index and you can roughly calculate the size for the
index file as `(key_length+4)*0.67', summed over all keys.  (This is for
the worst case when all keys are inserted in sorted order.)

String indexes are space compressed. If the first index part is a
string, it will also be prefix compressed.  Space compression makes the
index file smaller if the string column has a lot of trailing space or
is a `VARCHAR' column that is not always used to the full length.
Prefix compression helps if there are many strings with an identical
prefix.

In memory table characteristics
-------------------------------

HEAP tables only exists in memory so they are lost if `mysqld' is taken
down or crashes. But since they are *very* fast they are usefull as
anyway.

The *MySQL* internal HEAP tables uses 100% dynamic hashing without
overflow areas and don't have problems with delete.

You can only access things by equality using a index (usually by the
`=' operator) whith a heap table.

The downside with HEAPS are:
  1. You need enough extra memory for all HEAP tables that you want to
     use at the same time.

  2. You can't search on a part of a index.

  3. You can't search for the next entry in order (that is to use the
     index to do a `ORDER BY').

  4. *MySQL* also cannot find out how approximately many rows there are
     between two values. This is used by the optimizer to chose which
     index to use. But on the other hand no disk seeks are even needed.

Other optimization tips
=======================

Unsorted tips for faster systems:

   * Use persistent connections to the database to avoid the connection
     over head.

   * Always check that all your queries really uses the indexes you
     have created in the tables. In *MySQL* you can do this with the
     `EXPLAIN' command. *Note Explain: (manual)EXPLAIN.

   * Try to avoid complex `SELECT' queries on tables that are updated a
     lot. This is to avoid problems with table locking.

   * The new `MyISAM' tables can insert rows in a table without deleted
     rows at the same time another table is reading from it.  If this
     is important for you, you should consider methods where you don't
     have to delete rows or run `OPTIMIZE TABLE' after you have deleted
     a lot of rows.

   * In some cases it may make sense to introduce a column that is
     'hashed' based on information from other columns. If this column
     is short and reasonable unique it may be much faster than a big
     index on many columns. In *MySQL* its very easy to use this extra
     column: `SELECT * from table where hash='calculated hash on col1
     and col2' and col_1='constant' and col_2='constant' and ..'

   * For tables that changes a lot you should try to avoid all `VARCHAR'
     or `BLOB' columns. You will get dynamic row length as soon as you
     are using a single `VARCHAR' or `BLOB' columns. *Note Table
     types::.

   * It's not normally useful to split a table into different tables
     just because the rows gets 'big'. To access a row, the biggest
     performance hit is the disk seek to find the first byte of the
     row. After finding the data most new disks can read the whole row
     fast enough for most applications. The only cases it really
     matters to split up a table is if its a dynamic row size table
     (see above) that you can change to a fixed row size. Or if you
     very often need to scan the table and don't need most of the
     columns. *Note Table types::.

   * If you very often need to calculate things based on information
     from a lot of rows (like counts of things) it's probably much
     better to introduce a new table and update the counter in real
     time. An update of type `UPDATE table set count=count+1 where
     index_column=constant' is very fast!

     This is really important when you use databases like *MySQL* that
     only has table locking (multiple readers / single writers). This
     will also give better performance with most databases as the row
     locking manager in this case will have less to do.

   * If you need to collect statistics from big log tables use summary
     tables instead of scanning the whole table. Maintaing the summarys
     should be much faster than trying to do statistics 'live'. It's
     much faster to re-generate new summary tables from the logs when
     things changes (depending on business decisions) than to have to
     change the running application!

   * If possible one should classify reports as 'live' or 'statistical',
     where data needed for statistical reports are only generated based
     on summary tables that are generated from the actual data.

   * Take advantage of the fact that columns have default values. Insert
     values explicitly only when the value to be inserted differs from
     the default. This reduces the parsing that MySQL need to do and
     improves the insert speed.

   * In some cases its convenient to pack and store data into a blob In
     this case you have to add some extra code in your appliction to
     pack/unpack things in the blob but this may save a lot of accesses
     at some stage.  This is practical when you have data that doesn't
     conform to a static table structure.

   * Normally you should try to keep all data non-redundant (what is
     called 3rd normal form in database theory), but you should not be
     afraid of duplicating things or creating summary tables if you
     need these to gain more speed.

   * Stored procedures or UDF (user defined functions) may be a good
     way to get more performance.  In this case you should however
     always have a way to do this some other (slower) way if you use
     some database that doesn't support this.

   * You can always gain something by caching queries/answers in your
     application and try to do many inserts/updates at the same time.
     If your database supports lock tables (like *MySQL* and Oracle),
     this should help to ensure that the index cache is only flushed
     once after all updates.

   * Use `INSERT /*! DELAYED */' when you do not need to now when your
     data is written. This speeds things up since many records can be
     written with a single disk write.

   * Use `INSERT /*! LOW_PRIORITY */' when you want your selects are
     more important.

   * Use `SELECT /*! HIGH_PRIORITY */' to get selects that jumps the
     queue. That is the select is done even if there is somebody
     waiting to do a write.

   * Use the multi-line `INSERT' statement to store many rows with one
     SQL command (many SQL servers supports this)

   * Use `LOAD DATA INFILE' to load bigger amounts of data. This if
     faster than normal inserts and will be even faster when `myisamchk'
     is integrated in `mysqld'.

   * Use `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns to make unique values.

   * Use `OPTIMIZE TABLE' once in a while to avoid fragmentation when
     using dynamic table format.*Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE': OPTIMIZE TABLE.

   * Use `HEAP' tables to get more speed when possibe. *Note Table
     types::.

   * When using a normal Web server setup, images should be stored as
     files. That is store only a file reference in the database.  The
     main reason for this is that a normal web server is much better at
     caching files than database contents. So it it's much easier to
     get a fast system if you are using files.

   * Use in memory tables for not critical data that are accessed often
     (like information about the last shown banner for users that
     doesn't have cookies)

   * Columns with identical information in different tables should be
     declared identical and have identical names. Before version 3.23
     you got slow joins otherwise.

     Try to keep the names simple (use `name' instead of
     `customer_name' in the customer table). To make your names portable
     to other SQL servers you should keep them shorter than 18
     characters.

   * If you need REALLY high speed you should take a look at the low
     level interfaces for data storage that the different SQL servers
     support!  For example by accessing the *MySQL* `MyISAM' directly
     you could get a speed increase of 2-5 times compared to using the
     SQL interface.  The be able to do this the data must however be on
     the same server as the application and usually it should only be
     accessed by on processes (because external file locking is real
     slow).  One could eliminate the above problems by introducing low
     level `MyISAM' commands in the *MySQL* server (this could be one
     easy way to get more performance if needed).  By carefully
     designing the database interface it should be quite easy to
     support this types of optimisations.

   * In many cases it's faster to access data from a database (using a
     live connection) than accessing a text file, just because the
     database is likely to be more compact than the text file (if you
     are using numerical data) and this will involve fewer disk
     accesses.  You will also save code because you don't have to parse
     your text files to find line and column boundaries.

   * You can also use replication to speed things up. *Note
     Replication::.

   * Declaring a table with `DELAY_KEY_WRITE=1' will make the updating
     of indexes faster as these are not logged to disk until the file
     is closed.  The downside is that you should run `myisamchk' on
     these tables before you start `mysqld' to ensure that they are ok
     if something killed `mysqld' in the middle.  As the key
     information can always be generated from the data you should not
     lose anything by using `DELAY_KEY_WRITE'.

Using your own benchmarks
=========================

You should definitely benchmark your application and database to find
out where is the bottlenecks.  By fixing it (or by replacing the
bottleneck with a 'dummy module') you can then easily identify the next
bottleneck (and so on).  Even if the overall performance for your
application is 'good enough' you should at least make a 'plan', for each
bottleneck, how to solve it if you someday 'really need it fix it'.

For some example portable becnchmark programs look at the MySQL
benchmark suite. *Note MySQL Benchmarks::. You can take any program this
suite and modify it for your needs. By doing this, you can try different
solutions to your problem and test which is really the fastest solution
for you.

It is very common that some problems only occur then the system is very
heavily loaded. And we have had many customer who contacts us then they
have a (tested) system in production and have have got load problems. In
every on these cases so far it has been problems with basic design
(table scans are NOT good at high load) or OS/Library issues. Most of
this would be a *LOT* easier to fix if the system where not already in
production.

To avoid probles like this you should put some effort into benchmarking
your whole appliction under the worst possible load!

Design choices
==============

MySQL keeps row data and index data in separate files. Many (almost all)
other databases mix row and index data in the same file. We belive that
the MySQL choice is better for a very wide range of modern systems.

Another way to store the row data is to keep the information for each
column in a separate area (examples are SDBM and Focus). This will get a
performance hit for every query that access more than one column. Since
this degenerates so quickly when more that when one columns are accessed
we believe that this model is not good for general purpose databases.

The more common case is there the index and data are stored together
(like in Oracle/Sybase at all). In this case you will find the row
information at the leaf page of the index. The good thing with this
layout is that it in many cases (depends on how well the index is
cached) saves a disk read.  The bad things with this layout is:

*
     Table scanning is much slower since you have to read through the
     indexes to get at the data.

*
     You loose a lot of space as you must duplicate indexes from the
     nodes (as you can't store the row in the nodes)

*
     Deletes will degenerate the table over times (as indexes in nodes
     are usually not updated on delete).

*
     You can't use only the index table to retrieve data for a query.

*
     The index data is harder to cache.

MySQL design limitations/tradeoffs
==================================

Since MySQL uses extremely fast table locking (multiple readers / single
writers) the biggest remaining problem is a mix of a steady stream of
inserts and slow selects on the same table.

We belive that for a huge number of systems the extremely fast
performance in other cases make this choice a win. This case is usually
also possible to solve by having multiple copies of the table. But it
takes more effort and hardware.

We are also working on some extension to solve this problem for some
common application niches.

Portability
===========

Since all SQL servers implement different parts of SQL it takes work to
write portable SQL applications. For very simple selects/inserts it is
very easy but the more you need the harder it gets. And if you want a
application that is fast with many databases it becomes even harder!

To make a complex application portable you need to choose a number of
SQL server that it should work with.

When you can use the *MySQL* crash-me program/web-page
`http://www.mysql.com/crash-me-choose.htmy' to find functions, types
and limits you can use with a selection of database servers. Crash-me
now test a long way from everything possible but it still is
v´comprehensive with about 450 things tested.

For example, you shouldn't have longer column names than 18 characters
if you want to be able to use Informix or DB2.

Both the *MySQL* benchmarks and Crash-me programs are very database
independent.  By taking a look of how we have handled this, you can get
a feeling of what you have to do to write your application database
independent.  The benchmark themselves can be found in the `sql-bench'
directory in the *MySQL* source distribution. They are written in Perl
with DBI database interface (which solves the access part of the
problem.

See `http://www.mysql.com/benchmark.html' the results from this
benchmark.

As you can see in these results all databases has some weak points. That
is they have different design compromises that lead to different
behavior.

If you strive for database independence you need to get a good feeling
of each SQL servers bottlenecks. *MySQL* is VERY fast in retrieving and
updating things, but will have a problem in mixing slow readers/writers
on the same table. Oracle on the other hand has a big problem when you
try to access rows that you have recently updated (until they are
flushed to disk). Transaction databases in general are not very good in
generating summary tables from log tables as in this case row locking
is almost useless.

To get your application 'really database independent' you need to define
a easy extendable interface through which you manipulate your data. As
C++ is available on most systems, it makes sense to use a C++ classes
interface to the databases.

If you use some specific feature for some database (like the `REPLACE'
command in *MySQL*), you should code a method for the other SQL servers
to implement the same feature (but slower).  With *MySQL* you can use
the `/*!  */' syntax to add *MySQL* specific keywords to a query.  The
code inside `/**/' will be treated as a comment (ignored) by most other
SQL servers.

If REAL high performance is more important than exactness, like in some
web applications. A possibility is to create a application layer that
caches all results to give you even higher performance. By just letting
old results 'expire' after a while you can keep the cache reasonable
fresh.  This is quite nice in case of extremely high load, in which case
you can dynamicly increase the cache to be bigger and set the expire
timeout higher until things gets back to normal.

In this case the table creating information should contain information
of the initial size of the cache and how often the table should normally
be refreshed.

What have we used MySQL for?
============================

During MySQL initial development the features of MySQL where made to fit
our largest customer. They handle data warehousing for a couple of the
biggest retailers in Sweden.

We get from all stores weekly summaries of all bonus card transactions
and we are expected to provide useful information for the store owners
to help them find how their advertisements campaigns are affecting their
customers.

The data is quite huge (about 7 million summary transactions per month)
and we have data for 4-10 years that we need to present to the users.
We got weekly requests from the customers that they want to get
'instant' access to new reports from this data.

We solved this by storing all information per month in compressed
'transaction' tables. We have a set of simple macros/script that
generate summary tables grouped by different criterias (product group,
customer id, store ...) from the transaction tables.  The reports are
web pages that are dynamicly generated by a small perl script that
parses a web pages, executes the SQL statements in it and inserts the
results. Now we would have used PHP or mod_perl instead but they where
not available at that time.

For graphical data we wrote a simple tool in `C' that can produce gifs
based on the result of a SQL query (with some processing of the
result). This is also dynamicly executed from the perl script that
parses the `HTML' files.

In most cases a new report can simple by done by copying a existing
script and modifying the SQL query in it.  In some cases we will need to
add more fields to an existing summary table or generate a new one, but
this is also quite simply as we keep all transactions tables on disk.
(Currently we have at least 50G of transactions tables and 200G of other
customer data).

We also let our customers access the summary tables directly with ODBC
so that the advanced users can themselves experiment with the data.

We haven't had any problems handling this with quite modest Sun Ultra
sparcstation (2x200 Mz). We recently upgrade one of our servers to a 2
CPU 400 Mz Ultra sparc and we are now planing to start handling
transactions on the product level, which would mean a 10 fold increase
of data. We think we can keep up with this by just adding more disk to
our systems.

We are also experimenting with Intel-Linux to be able to get more cpu
power cheaper. Now that we have the binary portable database format (new
in 3.32) we will start to use this for some parts of the application.

Our initial feelings are that Linux will perform much better on low to
medium load but Solaris will perform better when you start to get a a
high load because of extrema disk IO, but we don't yet have anything
conclusive about this. After some discussion with a Linux Kernel
developer this might be a side effect of Linux giving so much resources
to the batch job that the interactive performance gets very low. This
make the machine feel very slow and unresponsive while big batches are
going. Hopefully this will be better handled in future Linux Kernels.

The MySQL benchmark suite
*************************

This should contain a technical description of the *MySQL* benchmark
suite (and `crash-me') but that description is not written yet.
Currently, you should look at the code and results in the `sql-bench'
directory in the distribution (and of course on the web page at
`http://www.mysql.com/crash-me-choose.htmy' and (normally found in the
`sql-bench' directory in the MySQL distribution)).

It is meant to be a benchmark that will tell any user what things a
given SQL implementation performs well or poorly at.

Note that this benchmark is single threaded so it measures the minimum
time for the operations.

For example (run on the same NT 4.0 machine):

*Seconds*                                   *Seconds*                     
mysql                                       367            249            
mysql_odbc                                  464                           
db2_odbc                                    1206                          
informix_odbc                               121126                        
ms-sql_odbc                                 1634                          
oracle_odbc                                 20800                         
solid_odbc                                  877                           
sybase_odbc                                 17614                         
*Reading 2000000 rows by index*


*Seconds*                                   *Seconds*                     
mysql                                       381            206            
mysql_odbc                                  619                           
db2_odbc                                    3460                          
informix_odbc                               2692                          
ms-sql_odbc                                 4012                          
oracle_odbc                                 11291                         
solid_odbc                                  1801                          
sybase_odbc                                 4802                          
*Inserting (350768) rows*


In the above test *MySQL* was run with a 8M index cache.

Note that Oracle is not included since they asked to be removed. All
Oracle benchmarks has to be passed by Oracle! We believe that makes
Oracle benchmarks *VERY* biased since the above bechmarks are supposed
to show that a standard installation can do for a single client.

`crash-me' tries to determine what features a database supports and
what its capabilities and limitations are by actually running queries.
For example, it determines:

   * What column types are supported

   * How many indexes are supported

   * What functions are supported

   * How big a query can be

   * How big a `VARCHAR' column can be

MySQL Utilites
**************

Overview of the different MySQL programs
========================================

All *MySQL* clients that communicate with the server using the
`mysqlclient' library use the following environment variables:

*Name*             *Description*                                          
`MYSQL_UNIX_PORT'  The default socket; used for connections to            
                   `localhost'                                            
`MYSQL_TCP_PORT'   The default TCP/IP port                                
`MYSQL_PWD'        The default password                                   
`MYSQL_DEBUG'      Debug-trace options when debugging                     
`TMPDIR'           The directory where temporary tables/files are created 

Use of `MYSQL_PWD' is insecure.  *Note Connecting::.

The `mysql' client uses the file named in the `MYSQL_HISTFILE'
environment variable to save the command line history. The default
value for the history file is `$HOME/.mysql_history', where `$HOME' is
the value of the `HOME' environment variable.

All *MySQL* programs take many different options. However, every
*MySQL* program provides a `--help' option that you can use to get a
full description of the program's different options. For example, try
`mysql --help'.

You can override default options for all standard client programs with
an option file. *Note Option files::.

The list below briefly describes the *MySQL* programs:

`myisamchk'
     Utility to describe, check, optimize and repair *MySQL* tables.
     Because `myisamchk' has many functions, it is described in its own
     chapter. *Note Maintenance::.

`make_binary_release'
     Makes a binary release of a compiled *MySQL*. This could be sent
     by FTP to `/pub/mysql/Incoming' on `ftp.tcx.se' for the
     convenience of other *MySQL* users.

`msql2mysql'
     A shell script that converts `mSQL' programs to *MySQL*. It doesn't
     handle all cases, but it gives a good start when converting.

`mysqlaccess'
     A script that checks the access privileges for a host, user and
     database combination.

`mysqladmin'
     Utility for performing administrative operations, such as creating
     or dropping databases, reloading the grant tables, flushing tables
     to disk and reopening log files.  `mysqladmin' can also be used to
     retrieve version, process and status information from the server.
     *Note `mysqladmin': mysqladmin.

`mysqlbug'
     The *MySQL* bug report script.  This script should always be used
     when filing a bug report to the *MySQL* list.

`mysqld'
     The SQL daemon. This should always be running.

`mysqldump'
     Dumps a *MySQL* database into a file as SQL statements or as
     tab-separated text files. Enhanced freeware originally by Igor
     Romanenko.  *Note `mysqldump': mysqldump.

`mysqlimport'
     Imports text files into their respective tables using `LOAD DATA
     INFILE'. *Note `mysqlimport': mysqlimport.

`mysqlshow'
     Displays information about databases, tables, columns and indexes.

`mysql_install_db'
     Creates the *MySQL* grant tables with default privileges. This is
     usually executed only once, when first installing *MySQL* on a
     system.

`replace'
     A utility program that is used by `msql2mysql', but that has more
     general applicability as well.  `replace' changes strings in place
     in files or on the standard input. Uses a finite state machine to
     match longer strings first. Can be used to swap strings. For
     example, this command swaps `a' and `b' in the given files:

          shell> replace a b b a -- file1 file2 ...

`safe_mysqld'
     A script that starts the `mysqld' daemon with some safety
     features, such as restarting the server when an error occurs and
     logging runtime information to a log file.

The command line tool
=====================

`mysql' is a simple SQL shell (with GNU `readline' capabilities).  It
supports interactive and non-interactive use. When used interactively,
query results are presented in an ASCII-table format. When used
non-interactively (e.g., as a filter), the result is presented in
tab-separated format.  (The output format can be changed using
command-line options.)  You can run scripts simply like this:

     shell> mysql database < script.sql > output.tab

If you have problems due to insufficient memory in the client, use the
`--quick' option!  This forces `mysql' to use `mysql_use_result()'
rather than `mysql_store_result()' to retrieve the result set.

Using `mysql' is very easy;  Just start it as follows `mysql database'
or `mysql --user=user_name --password=your_password database'. Type a
SQL statment, end it with ';', '\g' or '\G' and press return/enter.

`mysql' supports the following options:

`-?, --help'
     Display this help and exit

`-A, --no-auto-rehash'
     No automatic rehashing. One has to use 'rehash' to get table and
     field completion. This gives a quicker start of mysql.

`-B, --batch'
     Print results with a tab as separator, each row on a new line.
     Doesn't use history file

`-C, --compress'
     Use compression in server/client protocol.

`-#, --debug[=...]'
     Debug log. Default is 'd:t:o,/tmp/mysql.trace'

`-D, --database=..'
     Database to use;  This is mainly useful in the `my.cnf' file.

`-e, --execute=...'
     Execute command and quit.(Output like with -batch)

`-E, --vertical'
     Print the output of a query (rows) vertically. Without this option
     you can also force this output by ending your statements with `\G'.

`-f, --force'
     Continue even if we get an sql error.

`-i, --ignore-space'
     Ignore space after function names

`-h, --host=...'
     Connect to the given host

`-H, --html'
     Produce HTML output

`-L, --skip-line-numbers'
     Don't write line number for errors. Useful when one want's to
     compare result files that includes error messages.

`-n, --unbuffered'
     Flush buffer after each query

`-N, --skip-column-names'
     Don't write column names in results

`-O, --set-variable var=option'
     Give a variable an value. `--help' lists variables

`-o, --one-database'
     Only update the default database. This is useful for skipping
     updates to other database in the update log.

`'

`-p[password], --password[=...]'
     Password to use when connecting to server. If password is not
     given on the command line it's asked from the tty.  Note that if
     you use the short form `-p' you can't have a space between the
     option and the password.

`-P  --port=...'
     TCP/IP port number to use for connection.

`-q, --quick'
     Don't cache result, print it row by row. This may slow down the
     server if the output is suspended. Doesn't use history file

`-r, --raw'
     Write column values without escape conversion. Used with `--batch'

`-s, --silent'
     Be more silent.

`-S  --socket=...'
     Socket file to use for connection

`-t  --table'
     Output in table format. This is default in not batch mode.

`-T, --debug-info'
     Print some debug info at exit

`-u, --user=#'
     User for login if not current user

`-U, --safe-updates[=#], --i-am-a-dummy[=#]'
     Only allow `UPDATE' and `DELETE' that uses keys. See below for
     more information about this option.  You can reset this option if
     you have it in your `my.cnf' file by using `--safe-updates=0'.

`-v, --verbose'
     More verbose output (-v -v -v gives the table output format)

`-V, --version'
     Output version information and exit

`-w, --wait'
     Wait and retry if connection is down instead of aborting.

If you type 'help' on the command line, `mysql' will print out the
commands that it supports:

     mysql> help
     
     MySQL commands:
     help    (\h)    Display this text
     ?       (\h)    Synonym for `help'
     clear   (\c)    Clear command
     connect (\r)    Reconnect to the server. Optional arguments are db and host
     edit    (\e)    Edit command with $EDITOR
     exit    (\q)    Exit mysql. Same as quit
     go      (\g)    Send command to mysql server
     ego     (\G)    Send command to mysql server; Display result vertically
     print   (\p)    Print current command
     quit    (\q)    Quit mysql
     rehash  (\#)    Rebuild completion hash
     source  (\.)    Execute a SQL script file. Takes a file name as an argument
     status  (\s)    Get status information from the server
     use     (\u)    Use another database. Takes database name as argument

The `status' command gives you some information about the connection
and the server you are using. If you are running in the
`--safe-updates' mode, `status' will also print the values for the
`mysql' variables that affects your queries.

A useful startup option for beginners (introduced in MySQL 3.23.11) is
`--safe-mode' (or `--i-am-a-dummy' for users that has at some time done
a `DELETE FROM table_name' but forgot the `WHERE' clause.  When using
this option, `mysql' sends the following command to the *MySQL* server
when opening the connection:

     SET SQL_SAFE_UPDATES=1,SQL_SELECT_LIMIT=#select_limit#,
         SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE=#max_join_size#"

where `#select_limit#' and `#max_join_size#' are variables that can be
set from the `mysql' command line. *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

The effect of the above is:

   bullet You are not allowed to do an `UPDATE' or `DELETE' statements
     if you don't have a key constraint in the `WHERE' part. One can
     however force an `UPDATE/DELETE' by using `LIMIT':
          UPDATE table_name SET not_key_column=# WHERE not_key_column=# LIMIT 1;

   bullet All big results are automaticly limited to `#select_limit#'
     rows.

   bullet `SELECT''s that will probably need to examine more than
     `#max_join_size' row combinations will be aborted.

Administering a MySQL server
============================

Utility for performing administrative operations. The syntax is:

     shell> mysqladmin [OPTIONS] command [command-option] command ...

You can get a list of the options your version of `mysqladmin' supports
by executing `mysqladmin --help'.

The current `mysqladmin' supports the following commands:

create databasename    Create a new database.                             
drop databasename      Delete a database and all its tables.              
extended-status        Gives an extended status message from the server.  
flush-hosts            Flush all cached hosts.                            
flush-logs             Flush all logs.                                    
flush-tables           Flush all tables.                                  
flush-privileges       Reload grant tables (same as reload)               
kill id,id,...         Kill mysql threads.                                
password               new-password Change old password to new-password   
ping                   Check if mysqld is alive                           
processlist            Show list of active threads in server              
reload                 Reload grant tables                                
refresh                Flush all tables and close and open logfiles       
shutdown               Take server down                                   
status                 Gives a short status message from the server       
variables              Prints variables available                         
version                Get version info from server                       

All commands can be shortened to their unique prefix.  For example:

     shell> mysqladmin proc stat
     +----+-------+-----------+----+-------------+------+-------+------+
     | Id | User  | Host      | db | Command     | Time | State | Info |
     +----+-------+-----------+----+-------------+------+-------+------+
     | 6  | monty | localhost |    | Processlist | 0    |       |      |
     +----+-------+-----------+----+-------------+------+-------+------+
     Uptime: 10077  Threads: 1  Questions: 9  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 6  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 2  Memory in use: 1092K  Max memory used: 1116K

The `mysqladmin status' command result has the following columns:

Uptime                 Number of seconds the *MySQL* server have been up  
Threads                Number of active threads (clients)                 
Questions              Number of questions from clients since `mysqld'    
                       was started                                        
Slow queries           Queries that has taken more than                   
                       `long_query_time' seconds                          
Opens                  How many tables `mysqld' has opened.               
Flush tables           Number of `flush ...', `refresh' and `reload'      
                       commands.                                          
Open tables            Number of tables that are open now                 
Memory in use          Memory allocated directly by the mysqld code       
                       (only available when *MySQL* is compiled with      
                       -with-debug)                                       
Max memory used        Maximum memory allocated directly by the mysqld    
                       code (only available when *MySQL* is compiled      
                       with -with-debug)                                  

Dumping the structure and data from MySQL databases and tables
==============================================================

Utility to dump a database or a collection of database for backup or
for transferring the data to another SQL server.  The dump will contain
SQL statements to create the table and/or populate the table.

     shell> mysqldump [OPTIONS] database [tables]

If you don't give any tables, the whole database will be dumped.

You can get a list of the options your version of `mysqldump' supports
by executing `mysqldump --help'.

Note that if you run `mysqldump' without `--quick' or `--opt',
`mysqldump' will load the whole result set into memory before dumping
the result.  This will probably be a problem if you are dumping a big
database.

`mysqldump' supports the following options:

`--add-locks'
     Add `LOCK TABLES' before and `UNLOCK TABLE' after each table dump.
     (To get faster inserts into *MySQL*).

`--add-drop-table'
     Add a `drop table' before each create statement.

`--allow-keywords'
     Allow creation of column names that are keywords.  This works by
     prefixing each column name with the table name.

`-c, --complete-insert'
     Use complete insert statements (with column names).

`-C, --compress'
     Compress all information between the client and the server if both
     support compression.

`--delayed'
     Insert rows with the `INSERT DELAYED' command.

`-e, --extended-insert'
     Use the new multiline `INSERT' syntax. (Gives more compact and
     faster inserts statements)

`-#, --debug[=option_string]'
     Trace usage of the program (for debugging).

`--help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`--fields-terminated-by=...'
`--fields-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-optionally-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-escaped-by=...'
`--fields-terminated-by=...'
     These options are used with the `-T' option and have the same
     meaning as the corresponding clauses for `LOAD DATA INFILE'.
     *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

`-F, --flush-logs'
     Flush logs file in the *MySQL* server before starting the dump.

`-f, --force,'
     Continue even if we get an SQL error during a table dump.

`-h, --host=..'
     Dump data from the *MySQL* server on the named host. The default
     host is `localhost'.

`-l, --lock-tables.'
     Lock all tables for starting the dump.

`-t, --no-create-info'
     Don't write table creation info (The `CREATE TABLE' statment)

`-d, --no-data'
     Don't write any row information for the table.  This is very
     useful if you just want to get a dump of the structure for a table!

`--opt'
     Same as `--quick --add-drop-table --add-locks --extended-insert
     --lock-tables'.  Should give you the fastest possible dump for
     reading into a *MySQL* server.

`-pyour_pass, --password[=your_pass]'
     The password to use when connecting to the server. If you specify
     no `=your_pass' part, `mysqldump' solicits the password from the
     terminal.

`-P port_num, --port=port_num'
     The TCP/IP port number to use for connecting to a host.  (This is
     used for connections to hosts other than `localhost', for which
     Unix sockets are used.)

`-q, --quick'
     Don't buffer query, dump directly to stdout;  Uses
     `mysql_use_result()' to do this.

`-S /path/to/socket, --socket=/path/to/socket'
     The socket file to use when connecting to `localhost' (which is the
     default host).

`-T, --tab=path-to-some-directory'
     Creates a `table_name.sql' file, that conntains the SQL CREATE
     commands, and a `table_name.txt' file, that contains the data, for
     each give table.  *NOTE*: This only works if `mysqldump' is run on
     the same machine as the `mysqld' daemon.  The format of the `.txt'
     file is made according to the `--fields-xxx' and `--lines--xxx'
     options.

`-u user_name, --user=user_name'
     The *MySQL* user name to use when connecting to the server. The
     default value is your Unix login name.

`-O var=option, --set-variable var=option'
     Set the value of a variable.  The possible variables are listed
     below.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Print out more information what the program does.

`-V, --version'
     Print version information and exit.

`-w, --where='where-condition''
     Dump only selected records; Note that QUOTES are mandatory!

          "--where=user='jimf'" "-wuserid>1" "-wuserid<1"

The most normal use of `mysqldump' is probably for making a backup of
whole database:

     mysqldump --opt database > backup-file.sql

But it's also very useful to populate another *MySQL* server with
information from a database:

     mysqldump --opt database | mysql ---host=remote-host -C database

Importing data from text files
==============================

`mysqlimport' provides a command line interface to the `LOAD DATA
INFILE' SQL statement.  Most options to `mysqlimport' correspond
directly to the same options to `LOAD DATA INFILE'.  *Note `LOAD DATA':
LOAD DATA.

`mysqlimport' is invoked like this:

     shell> mysqlimport [options] database textfile1 [textfile2....]

For each text file named on the command line, `mysqlimport' strips any
extension from the filename and uses the result to determine which
table to import the file's contents into.  For example, files named
`patient.txt', `patient.text' and `patient' would all be imported into
a table named `patient'.

`mysqlimport' supports the following options:

`-C, --compress'
     Compress all information between the client and the server if both
     support compression.

`-#, --debug[=option_string]'
     Trace usage of the program (for debugging).

`-d, --delete'
     Empty the table before importing the text file.

`--fields-terminated-by=...'
`--fields-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-optionally-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-escaped-by=...'
`--fields-terminated-by=...'
     These options have the same meaning as the corresponding clauses
     for `LOAD DATA INFILE'. *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

`-f, --force'
     Ignore errors.  For example, if a table for a text file doesn't
     exist, continue processing any remaining files.  Without `--force',
     `mysqlimport' exits if a table doesn't exist.

`--help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`-h host_name, --host=host_name'
     Import data to the *MySQL* server on the named host. The default
     host is `localhost'.

`-i, --ignore'
     See the description for the `--replace' option.

`-l, --lock-tables'
     Lock *ALL* tables for writing before processing any text files.
     This ensures that all tables are synchronized on the server.

`-L, --local'
     Read input files from the client.  By default, text files are
     assumed to be on the server if you connect to `localhost' (which
     is the default host).

`-pyour_pass, --password[=your_pass]'
     The password to use when connecting to the server. If you specify
     no `=your_pass' part, `mysqlimport' solicits the password from the
     terminal.

`-P port_num, --port=port_num'
     The TCP/IP port number to use for connecting to a host.  (This is
     used for connections to hosts other than `localhost', for which
     Unix sockets are used.)

`-r, --replace'
     The `--replace' and `--ignore' options control handling of input
     records that duplicate existing records on unique key values.  If
     you specify `--replace', new rows replace existing rows that have
     the same unique key value. If you specify `--ignore', input rows
     that duplicate an existing row on a unique key value are skipped.
     If you don't specify either option, an error occurs when a
     duplicate key value is found, and the rest of the text file is
     ignored.

`-s, --silent'
     Silent mode.  Write output only when errors occur.

`-S /path/to/socket, --socket=/path/to/socket'
     The socket file to use when connecting to `localhost' (which is the
     default host).

`-u user_name, --user=user_name'
     The *MySQL* user name to use when connecting to the server. The
     default value is your Unix login name.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Print out more information what the program does.

`-V, --version'
     Print version information and exit.

Here follows a sample run of using `mysqlimport':

     $ mysql --version
     mysql  Ver 9.33 Distrib 3.22.25, for pc-linux-gnu (i686)
     $ uname -a
     Linux xxx.com 2.2.5-15 #1 Mon Apr 19 22:21:09 EDT 1999 i586 unknown
     $ mysql -e 'CREATE TABLE imptest(id INT, n VARCHAR(30))' test
     $ ed
     a
     100     Max Sydow
     101     Count Dracula
     .
     w imptest.txt
     32
     q
     $ od -c imptest.txt
     0000000   1   0   0  \t   M   a   x       S   y   d   o   w  \n   1   0
     0000020   1  \t   C   o   u   n   t       D   r   a   c   u   l   a  \n
     0000040
     $ mysqlimport --local test imptest.txt
     test.imptest: Records: 2  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0
     $ mysql -e 'SELECT * FROM imptest' test
     +------+---------------+
     | id   | n             |
     +------+---------------+
     |  100 | Max Sydow     |
     |  101 | Count Dracula |
     +------+---------------+

Showing databases, tables and columns
=====================================

`mysqlshow' can be used to quickly look at which databases exists and
their tables and the tables columns.

In the `mysql' prompt you can get the same information with the `SHOW'
commands.  *Note SHOW::.

`mysqlshow' is invoked like this:

     shell> mysqlshow [OPTIONS] [database [table [column]]]

   * If no database is given then all matching databases are shown.

   * If no table is given then all matching tables in database are shown

   * If no column is given then all matching columns and columntypes in
     table are shown

Note that in newer *MySQL* versions you only see those
database/tables/columns on which you have some privilege.

If last argument contains a shell or SQL wildcard (`*', `?', `%' or
`_') then only what's matched by the wildcard is shown.  This may cause
some confusion when you try to display the columns for a table with a
`_' as in this case `mysqlshow' only shows you the table names that
matches the pattern.  This is easily fixed by adding an extra `%' last
on the command line (as a separate argument).

The MySQL compressed read-only table generator
==============================================

`myisampack' is used to compress MyISAM tables and `pack_isam' is used
to compress ISAM tables. Since ISAM tables are deprecated we will only
discuss `myisampack' here.

`myisampack' are an extra utility that you get when you order one
*MySQL* or *MySQL* support. Since these are distributed only in binary
form, they are available only on some platforms.

In the following we only talk about `myisampack', but everything holds
also for `pack_isam'.

`myisampack' works by compressing each column in the table separately.
The information needed to decompress columns is read into memory when
the table is opened. This results in much better performance when
accessing individual records, since you only have to uncompress exactly
one record, not a much larger disk block like when using Stacker on
MS-DOS.  Usually, `myisampack' packs the data file 40%-70%.

*MySQL* uses memory mapping (`mmap()') on compressed tables and falls
back to normal read/write file usage if `mmap()' doesn't work.

There are currently two limitations with `myisampack':
   * After packing, the table is read only.

   * `myisampack' can also pack `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns. The older
     `pack_isam' could not do this.

Fixing these limitations is on our TODO list but with low priority.

`myisampack' is invoked like this:

     shell> myisampack [options] filename ...

Each filename should be the name of an index (`.MYI') file.  If you are
not in the database directory, you should specify the pathname to the
file.  It is permissible to omit the `.MYI' extension.

`myisampack' supports the following options:

`-b, --backup'
     Make a backup of the table as `tbl_name.OLD'.

`-#, --debug=debug_options'
     Output debug log. The `debug_options' string often is
     `'d:t:o,filename''.

`-f, --force'
     Force packing of the table even if it becomes bigger or if the
     temporary file exists.  (`myisampack' creates a temporary file
     named `tbl_name.TMD' while it compresses the table.  If you kill
     `myisampack', the `.TMD' file may not be deleted.  Normally,
     `myisampack' exits with an error if it finds that `tbl_name.TMD'
     exists.  With `--force', `myisampack' packs the table anyway.

`-?, --help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`-j big_tbl_name, --join=big_tbl_name'
     Join all tables named on the command line into a single table
     `big_tbl_name'.  All tables that are to be combined MUST be
     identical (same column names and types, same indexes, etc.)

`-p #, --packlength=#'
     Specify the record length storage size, in bytes.  The value
     should be 1, 2 or 3.  (`myisampack' stores all rows with length
     pointers of 1, 2 or 3 bytes.  In most normal cases, `myisampack'
     can determine the right length value before it begins packing the
     file, but it may notice during the packing process that it could
     have used a shorter length. In this case, `myisampack' will print
     a note that the next time you pack the same file, you could use a
     shorter record length.)

`-s, --silent'
     Silent mode.  Write output only when errors occur.

`-t, --test'
     Don't pack table, only test packing it.

`-T dir_name, --tmp_dir=dir_name'
     Use the named directory as the location in which to write the
     temporary table.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Write info about progress and packing result.

`-V, --version'
     Display version information and exit.

`-w, --wait'
     Wait and retry if table is in use.  If the `mysqld' server was
     invoked with the `--skip-locking' option, it is not a good idea to
     invoke `myisampack' if the table might be updated during the
     packing process.

The sequence of commands shown below illustrates a typical table
compression session:

     shell> ls -l station.*
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my         994128 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYD
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my          53248 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYI
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my           5767 Apr 17 19:00 station.frm
     
     shell> myisamchk -dvv station
     
     MyISAM file:     station
     Isam-version:  2
     Creation time: 1996-03-13 10:08:58
     Recover time:  1997-02-02  3:06:43
     Data records:              1192  Deleted blocks:              0
     Datafile: Parts:           1192  Deleted data:                0
     Datafile pointer (bytes):     2  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     2
     Max datafile length:   54657023  Max keyfile length:   33554431
     Recordlength:               834
     Record format: Fixed length
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type                       Root  Blocksize    Rec/key
     1   2     4   unique  unsigned long              1024       1024          1
     2   32    30  multip. text                      10240       1024          1
     
     Field Start Length Type
     1     1     1
     2     2     4
     3     6     4
     4     10    1
     5     11    20
     6     31    1
     7     32    30
     8     62    35
     9     97    35
     10    132   35
     11    167   4
     12    171   16
     13    187   35
     14    222   4
     15    226   16
     16    242   20
     17    262   20
     18    282   20
     19    302   30
     20    332   4
     21    336   4
     22    340   1
     23    341   8
     24    349   8
     25    357   8
     26    365   2
     27    367   2
     28    369   4
     29    373   4
     30    377   1
     31    378   2
     32    380   8
     33    388   4
     34    392   4
     35    396   4
     36    400   4
     37    404   1
     38    405   4
     39    409   4
     40    413   4
     41    417   4
     42    421   4
     43    425   4
     44    429   20
     45    449   30
     46    479   1
     47    480   1
     48    481   79
     49    560   79
     50    639   79
     51    718   79
     52    797   8
     53    805   1
     54    806   1
     55    807   20
     56    827   4
     57    831   4
     
     shell> myisampack station.MYI
     Compressing station.MYI: (1192 records)
     - Calculating statistics
     
     normal:     20  empty-space:      16  empty-zero:        12  empty-fill:  11
     pre-space:   0  end-space:        12  table-lookups:      5  zero:         7
     Original trees:  57  After join: 17
     - Compressing file
     87.14%
     
     shell> ls -l station.*
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my         127874 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYD
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my          55296 Apr 17 19:04 station.MYI
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my           5767 Apr 17 19:00 station.frm
     
     shell> myisamchk -dvv station
     
     MyISAM file:     station
     Isam-version:  2
     Creation time: 1996-03-13 10:08:58
     Recover time:  1997-04-17 19:04:26
     Data records:              1192  Deleted blocks:              0
     Datafile: Parts:           1192  Deleted data:                0
     Datafilepointer (bytes):      3  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     1
     Max datafile length:   16777215  Max keyfile length:     131071
     Recordlength:               834
     Record format: Compressed
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type                       Root  Blocksize    Rec/key
     1   2     4   unique  unsigned long             10240       1024          1
     2   32    30  multip. text                      54272       1024          1
     
     Field Start Length Type                         Huff tree  Bits
     1     1     1      constant                             1     0
     2     2     4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
     3     6     4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     4     10    1                                           3     9
     5     11    20     table-lookup                         4     0
     6     31    1                                           3     9
     7     32    30     no endspace, not_always              5     9
     8     62    35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
     9     97    35     no empty                             7     9
     10    132   35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
     11    167   4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
     12    171   16     no endspace, not_always, no empty    5     9
     13    187   35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
     14    222   4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
     15    226   16     no endspace, not_always, no empty    5     9
     16    242   20     no endspace, not_always              8     9
     17    262   20     no endspace, no empty                8     9
     18    282   20     no endspace, no empty                5     9
     19    302   30     no endspace, no empty                6     9
     20    332   4      always zero                          2     9
     21    336   4      always zero                          2     9
     22    340   1                                           3     9
     23    341   8      table-lookup                         9     0
     24    349   8      table-lookup                        10     0
     25    357   8      always zero                          2     9
     26    365   2                                           2     9
     27    367   2      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     28    369   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     29    373   4      table-lookup                        11     0
     30    377   1                                           3     9
     31    378   2      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     32    380   8      no zeros                             2     9
     33    388   4      always zero                          2     9
     34    392   4      table-lookup                        12     0
     35    396   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)               13     9
     36    400   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     37    404   1                                           2     9
     38    405   4      no zeros                             2     9
     39    409   4      always zero                          2     9
     40    413   4      no zeros                             2     9
     41    417   4      always zero                          2     9
     42    421   4      no zeros                             2     9
     43    425   4      always zero                          2     9
     44    429   20     no empty                             3     9
     45    449   30     no empty                             3     9
     46    479   1                                          14     4
     47    480   1                                          14     4
     48    481   79     no endspace, no empty               15     9
     49    560   79     no empty                             2     9
     50    639   79     no empty                             2     9
     51    718   79     no endspace                         16     9
     52    797   8      no empty                             2     9
     53    805   1                                          17     1
     54    806   1                                           3     9
     55    807   20     no empty                             3     9
     56    827   4      no zeros, zerofill(2)                2     9
     57    831   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9

The information printed by `myisampack' is described below:

`normal'
     The number of columns for which no extra packing is used.

`empty-space'
     The number of columns containing values that are only spaces;
     these will occupy 1 bit.

`empty-zero'
     The number of columns containing values that are only binary 0's;
     these will occupy 1 bit.

`empty-fill'
     The number of integer columns that don't occupy the full byte
     range of their type; these are changed to a smaller type (for
     example, an `INTEGER' column may be changed to `MEDIUMINT').

`pre-space'
     The number of decimal columns that are stored with leading space.
     In this case, each value will contain a count for the number of
     leading spaces.

`end-space'
     The number of columns that have a lot of trailing space.  In this
     case, each value will contain a count for the number of trailing
     spaces.

`table-lookup'
     The column had only a small number of different values, and that
     were converted to an `ENUM' before Huffman compression.

`zero'
     The number of columns for which all values are zero.

`Original trees'
     The initial number of Huffman trees.

`After join'
     The number of distinct Huffman trees left after joining trees to
     save some header space.

After a table has been compressed, `myisamchk -dvv' prints additional
information about each field:

`Type'
     The field type may contain the following descriptors:

    `constant'
          All rows have the same value.

    `no endspace'
          Don't store endspace.

    `no endspace, not_always'
          Don't store endspace and don't do end space compression for
          all values.

    `no endspace, no empty'
          Don't store endspace. Don't store empty values.

    `table-lookup'
          The column was converted to an `ENUM'.

    `zerofill(n)'
          The most significant `n' bytes in the value are always 0 and
          are not stored.

    `no zeros'
          Don't store zeros.

    `always zero'
          0 values are stored in 1 bit.

`Huff tree'
     The Huffman tree associated with the field

`Bits'
     The number of bits used in the Huffman tree.

After you have run `pack_isam'/`myisampack' you must run
`isamchk'/`myisamchk' to recreate the index.  At this time you can also
sort the index blocks and create statistics that is needed for the
*MySQL* optimizer to work more efficiently.

     myisamchk -rq --analyze --sort-index table_name.MYI
     isamchk   -rq --analyze --sort-index table_name.ISM

After you have installed the packed table into the *MySQL* database
directory you should do `mysqladmin flush-tables' to force `mysqld' to
start using the new table.

Maintaining a MySQL installation
********************************

Using `myisamchk' for table maintenance and crash recovery
==========================================================

To check/repair MyISAM tables (`.MYI' and `.MYD') you should use the
`myisamchk' utility. To check/repair ISAM tables (`.ISM' and `.ISD')
you should use the `isamchk' utility. *Note Table types::.

In the following text we will talk about `myisamchk' but everything
also applies to the old `isamchk'.

You can use the `myisamchk' utility to get information about your
database tables, check and repair them or optimize them.  The following
sections describe how to invoke `myisamchk' (including a description of
its options), how to set up a table maintenance schedule, and how to use
`myisamchk' to perform its various functions.

You can in most cases also use the command `OPTIMIZE TABLES' to
optimize and repair tables, but this is not as fast or reliable (in case
of real fatal errors) as `myisamchk'.  On the other hand, `OPTIMIZE
TABLE' is easier to use and you don't have to worry about flushing
tables.  *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE': OPTIMIZE TABLE.

`myisamchk' invocation syntax
-----------------------------

`myisamchk' is invoked like this:

     shell> myisamchk [options] tbl_name

The `options' specify what you want `myisamchk' to do.  They are
described below.  (You can also get a list of options by invoking
`myisamchk --help'.)  With no options, `myisamchk' simply checks your
table.  To get more information or to tell `myisamchk' to take
corrective action, specify options as described below and in the
following sections.

`tbl_name' is the database table you want to check.  If you run
`myisamchk' somewhere other than in the database directory, you must
specify the path to the file, since `myisamchk' has no idea where your
database is located.  Actually, `myisamchk' doesn't care whether or not
the files you are working on are located in a database directory; you
can copy the files that correspond to a database table into another
location and perform recovery operations on them there.

You can name several tables on the `myisamchk' command line if you
wish.  You can also specify a name as an index file name (with the
`.MYI' suffix), which allows you to specify all tables in a directory
by using the pattern `*.MYI'.  For example, if you are in a database
directory, you can check all the tables in the directory like this:

     shell> myisamchk *.MYI

If you are not in the database directory, you can check all the tables
there by specifying the path to the directory:

     shell> myisamchk /path/to/database_dir/*.MYI

You can even check all tables in all databases by specifying a wildcard
with the path to the *MySQL* data directory:

     shell> myisamchk /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI

`myisamchk' supports the following options:

`-a, --analyze'
     Analyze the distribution of keys. This improves join performance by
     enabling the join optimizer to better choose in which order it
     should join the tables and which keys it should use.

`-#, --debug=debug_options'
     Output debug log. The `debug_options' string often is
     `'d:t:o,filename''.

`-d, --description'
     Prints some information about the table.

`-e, --extend-check'
     Check the table VERY thoroughly.  This is necessary only in
     extreme cases.  Normally, `myisamchk' should find all errors even
     without this option.

`-f, --force'
     Overwrite old temporary files.  If you use `-f' when checking
     tables (running `myisamchk' without `-r'), `myisamchk' will
     automatically restart with `-r' on any table for which an error
     occurs during checking.

`--help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`-i, --information'
     Print informational statistics about the table that is checked.

`-k #, --keys-used=#'
     Used with `-r'. Tell the ISAM table handler to update only the
     first `#' indexes.  Higher-numbered indexes are deactivated.  This
     can be used to get faster inserts!  Deactivated indexes can be
     reactivated by using `myisamchk -r'.

`-l, --no-symlinks'
     Do not follow symbolic links when repairing. Normally `myisamchk'
     repairs the table a symlink points at.

`-q, --quick'
     Used with `-r' to get a faster repair. Normally, the original data
     file isn't touched; you can specify a second `-q' to force the
     original data file to be used.

`-r, --recover'
     Recovery mode.  Can fix almost anything except unique keys that
     aren't unique.

`-o, --safe-recover'
     Recovery mode.  Uses an old recovery method; this is slower than
     `-r', but can handle a couple of cases that `-r' cannot handle.

`-O var=option, --set-variable var=option'
     Set the value of a variable.  The possible variables are listed
     below.

`-s, --silent'
     Silent mode.  Write output only when errors occur.  You can use
     `-s' twice (`-ss') to make `myisamchk' very silent.

`-S, --sort-index'
     Sort the index tree blocks in high-low order.  This will optimize
     seeks and will make table scanning by key faster.

`-R index_num, --sort-records=index_num'
     Sorts records according to an index.  This makes your data much
     more localized and may speed up ranged `SELECT' and `ORDER BY'
     operations on this index. (It may be VERY slow to do a sort the
     first time!)  To find out a table's index numbers, use `SHOW
     INDEX', which shows a table's indexes in the same order that
     `myisamchk' sees them.  Indexes are numbered beginning with 1.

`-u, --unpack'
     Unpack a table that was packed with `myisampack'.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Print more information. This can be used with `-d'
     and `-e'. Use `-v' multiple times (`-vv', `-vvv') for more
     verbosity!

`-V, --version'
     Print the `myisamchk' version and exit.

`-w, --wait'
     Wait if the table is locked.

Possible variables for the `--set-variable' (`-O') option are:

     key_buffer_size       current value: 16776192
     read_buffer_size      current value: 262136
     write_buffer_size     current value: 262136
     sort_buffer_size      current value: 2097144
     sort_key_blocks       current value: 16
     decode_bits           current value: 9

`myisamchk' memory usage
------------------------

Memory allocation is important when you run `myisamchk'.  `myisamchk'
uses no more memory than you specify with the `-O' options.  If you are
going to use `myisamchk' on very large files, you should first decide
how much memory you want it to use.  The default is to use only about
3M to fix things.  By using larger values, you can get `myisamchk' to
operate faster.  For example, if you have more than 32M RAM, you could
use options such as these (in addition to any other options you might
specify):

     shell> myisamchk -O sort=16M -O key=16M -O read=1M -O write=1M ...

Using `-O sort=16M' should probably be enough for most cases.

Be aware that `myisamchk' uses temporary files in `TMPDIR'. If `TMPDIR'
points to a memory file system, you may easily get out of memory
errors. If this happens, set `TMPDIR' to point at some directory with
more space and restart `myisamchk'

Setting up a table maintenance regimen
======================================

It is a good idea to perform table checks on a regular basis rather than
waiting for problems to occur.  For maintenance purposes, you can use
`myisamchk -s' to check tables.  The `-s' option causes `myisamchk' to
run in silent mode, printing messages only when errors occur.

It's a good idea to check tables when the server starts up.  For
example, whenever the machine has done a reboot in the middle of an
update, you usually need to check all the tables that could have been
affected. (This is an "expected crashed table".) You could add a test to
`safe_mysqld' that runs `myisamchk' to check all tables that have been
modified during the last 24 hours if there is an old `.pid' (process
ID) file left after a reboot.  (The `.pid' file is created by `mysqld'
when it starts up and removed when it terminates normally.  The
presence of a `.pid' file at system startup time indicates that
`mysqld' terminated abnormally.)

An even better test would be to check any table whose last-modified time
is more recent than that of the `.pid' file.

You should also check your tables regularly during normal system
operation.  At TcX, we run a `cron' job to check all our important
tables once a week, using a line like this in a `crontab' file:

     35 0 * * 0 /path/to/myisamchk -s /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI

This prints out information about crashed tables so we can examine and
repair them when needed.

As we haven't had any unexpectedly crashed tables (tables that become
corrupted for reasons other than hardware trouble) for a couple of
years now (this is really true), once a week is more than enough for us.

We recommend that to start with, you execute `myisamchk -s' each night
on all tables that have been updated during the last 24 hours, until
you come to trust *MySQL* as much as we do.

Getting information about a table
=================================

To get a description of a table or statistics about it, use the
commands shown below. We explain some of the information in more detail
later.

`myisamchk -d tbl_name'
     Runs `myisamchk' in "describe mode" to produce a description of
     your table. If you start the *MySQL* server using the
     `--skip-locking' option, `myisamchk' may report an error for a
     table that is updated while it runs.  However, since `myisamchk'
     doesn't change the table in describe mode, there isn't any risk of
     destroying data.

`myisamchk -d -v tbl_name'
     To produce more information about what `myisamchk' is doing, add
     `-v' to tell it to run in verbose mode.

`myisamchk -eis tbl_name'
     Shows only the most important information from a table. It is slow
     since it must read the whole table.

`myisamchk -eiv tbl_name'
     This is like `-eis', but tells you what is being done.

Example of `myisamchk -d' output:
     MyISAM file:     company.MYI
     Record format:       Fixed length
     Data records:           1403698  Deleted blocks:         0
     Recordlength:               226
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type
     1   2     8   unique  double
     2   15    10  multip. text packed stripped
     3   219   8   multip. double
     4   63    10  multip. text packed stripped
     5   167   2   multip. unsigned short
     6   177   4   multip. unsigned long
     7   155   4   multip. text
     8   138   4   multip. unsigned long
     9   177   4   multip. unsigned long
         193   1           text

Example of `myisamchk -d -v' output:
     MyISAM file:         company
     Record format:       Fixed length
     File-version:        1
     Creation time:       1999-10-30 12:12:51
     Recover time:        1999-10-31 19:13:01
     Status:              checked
     Data records:           1403698  Deleted blocks:              0
     Datafile parts:         1403698  Deleted data:                0
     Datafilepointer (bytes):      3  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     3
     Max datafile length: 3791650815  Max keyfile length: 4294967294
     Recordlength:               226
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type                  Rec/key     Root Blocksize
     1   2     8   unique  double                      1 15845376      1024
     2   15    10  multip. text packed stripped        2 25062400      1024
     3   219   8   multip. double                     73 40907776      1024
     4   63    10  multip. text packed stripped        5 48097280      1024
     5   167   2   multip. unsigned short           4840 55200768      1024
     6   177   4   multip. unsigned long            1346 65145856      1024
     7   155   4   multip. text                     4995 75090944      1024
     8   138   4   multip. unsigned long              87 85036032      1024
     9   177   4   multip. unsigned long             178 96481280      1024
         193   1           text

Example of `myisamchk -eis' output:
     Checking MyISAM file: company
     Key:  1:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Key:  2:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:   50%  Max levels:  4
     Key:  3:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Key:  4:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:   60%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  5:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  6:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  7:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  8:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  9:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Total:    Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:   17%
     
     Records:          1403698    M.recordlength:     226   Packed:             0%
     Recordspace used:     100%   Empty space:          0%  Blocks/Record:   1.00
     Record blocks:    1403698    Delete blocks:        0
     Recorddata:     317235748    Deleted data:         0
     Lost space:             0    Linkdata:             0
     
     User time 1626.51, System time 232.36
     Maximum resident set size 0, Integral resident set size 0
     Non physical pagefaults 0, Physical pagefaults 627, Swaps 0
     Blocks in 0 out 0, Messages in 0 out 0, Signals 0
     Voluntary context switches 639, Involuntary context switches 28966

Example of `myisamchk -eiv' output:
     Checking MyISAM file: company
     Data records: 1403698   Deleted blocks:       0
     - check file-size
     - check delete-chain
     block_size 1024:
     index  1:
     index  2:
     index  3:
     index  4:
     index  5:
     index  6:
     index  7:
     index  8:
     index  9:
     No recordlinks
     - check index reference
     - check data record references index: 1
     Key:  1:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     - check data record references index: 2
     Key:  2:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:   50%  Max levels:  4
     - check data record references index: 3
     Key:  3:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     - check data record references index: 4
     Key:  4:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:   60%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 5
     Key:  5:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 6
     Key:  6:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 7
     Key:  7:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 8
     Key:  8:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 9
     Key:  9:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Total:    Keyblocks used:   9%  Packed:   17%
     
     - check records and index references
     [LOTS OF ROW NUMBERS DELETED]
     
     Records:          1403698    M.recordlength:     226   Packed:             0%
     Recordspace used:     100%   Empty space:          0%  Blocks/Record:   1.00
     Record blocks:    1403698    Delete blocks:        0
     Recorddata:     317235748    Deleted data:         0
     Lost space:             0    Linkdata:             0
     
     User time 1639.63, System time 251.61
     Maximum resident set size 0, Integral resident set size 0
     Non physical pagefaults 0, Physical pagefaults 10580, Swaps 0
     Blocks in 4 out 0, Messages in 0 out 0, Signals 0
     Voluntary context switches 10604, Involuntary context switches 122798

Here are the sizes of the data and index files for the table used in the
preceding examples:

     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    tcx     317235748 Jan 12 17:30 company.MYD
     -rw-rw-r--   1 davida   tcx      96482304 Jan 12 18:35 company.MYM

Explanations for the types of information `myisamchk' produces are
given below.  The "keyfile" is the index file.  "Record" and "row" are
synonymous.

`ISAM file'
     Name of the ISAM (index) file.

`Isam-version'
     Version of ISAM format. Currently always 2.

`Creation time'
     When the data file was created.

`Recover time'
     When the index/data file was last reconstructed.

`Data records'
     How many records are in the table.

`Deleted blocks'
     How many deleted blocks still have reserved space.  You can
     optimize your table to minimize this space.  *Note Optimization::.

`Datafile: Parts'
     For dynamic record format, this indicates how many data blocks
     there are. For an optimized table without fragmented records, this
     is the same as `Data records'.

`Deleted data'
     How many bytes of non-reclaimed deleted data there are.  You can
     optimize your table to minimize this space.  *Note Optimization::.

`Datafile pointer'
     The size of the data file pointer, in bytes. It is usually 2, 3, 4
     or 5 bytes. Most tables manage with 2 bytes, but this cannot be
     controlled from *MySQL* yet. For fixed tables, this is a record
     address. For dynamic tables, this is a byte address.

`Keyfile pointer'
     The size of the index file pointer, in bytes. It is usually 1, 2
     or 3 bytes. Most tables manage with 2 bytes, but this is calculated
     automatically by *MySQL*. It is always a block address.

`Max datafile length'
     How long the table's data file (`.MYD' file) can become, in bytes.

`Max keyfile length'
     How long the table's key file (`.MYI' file) can become, in bytes.

`Recordlength'
     How much space each record takes, in bytes.

`Record format'
     The format used to store table rows.  The examples shown above use
     `Fixed length'.  Other possible values are `Compressed' and
     `Packed'.

`table description'
     A list of all keys in the table. For each key, some low-level
     information is presented:

    `Key'
          This key's number.

    `Start'
          Where in the record this index part starts.

    `Len'
          How long this index part is. For packed numbers, this should
          always be the full length of the column. For strings, it may
          be shorter than the full length of the indexed column,
          because you can index a prefix of a string column.

    `Index'
          `unique' or `multip.' (multiple). Indicates whether or not
          one value can exist multiple times in this index.

    `Type'
          What data-type this index part has. This is an ISAM data-type
          with the options `packed', `stripped' or `empty'.

    `Root'
          Address of the root index block.

    `Blocksize'
          The size of each index block. By default this is 1024, but
          the value may be changed at compile time.

    `Rec/key'
          This is a statistical value used by the optimizer. It tells
          how many records there are per value for this key. A unique
          key always has a value of 1. This may be updated after a
          table is loaded (or greatly changed) with `myisamchk -a'. If
          this is not updated at all, a default value of 30 is given.

`'
     In the first example above, the 9th key is a multi-part key with
     two parts.

`Keyblocks used'
     What percentage of the keyblocks are used. Since the table used in
     the examples had just been reorganized with `myisamchk', the
     values are very high (very near the theoretical maximum).

`Packed'
     *MySQL* tries to pack keys with a common suffix. This can only be
     used for `CHAR'/`VARCHAR'/`DECIMAL' keys. For long strings like
     names, this can significantly reduce the space used. In the third
     example above, the 4th key is 10 characters long and a 60%
     reduction in space is achieved.

`Max levels'
     How deep the B-tree for this key is. Large tables with long keys
     get high values.

`Records'
     How many rows are in the table.

`M.recordlength'
     The average record length. For tables with fixed-length records,
     this is the exact record length.

`Packed'
     *MySQL* strips spaces from the end of strings. The `Packed' value
     indicates the percentage savings achieved by doing this.

`Recordspace used'
     What percentage of the data file is used.

`Empty space'
     What percentage of the data file is unused.

`Blocks/Record'
     Average number of blocks per record (i.e., how many links a
     fragmented record is composed of). This is always 1 for
     fixed-format tables. This value should stay as close to 1.0 as
     possible. If it gets too big, you can reorganize the table with
     `myisamchk'.  *Note Optimization::.

`Recordblocks'
     How many blocks (links) are used. For fixed format, this is the
     same as the number of records.

`Deleteblocks'
     How many blocks (links) are deleted.

`Recorddata'
     How many bytes in the data file are used.

`Deleted data'
     How many bytes in the data file are deleted (unused).

`Lost space'
     If a record is updated to a shorter length, some space is lost.
     This is the sum of all such losses, in bytes.

`Linkdata'
     When the dynamic table format is used, record fragments are linked
     with pointers (4 to 7 bytes each). `Linkdata' is the sum of the
     amount of storage used by all such pointers.

If a table has been compressed with `myisampack', `myisamchk -d' prints
additional information about each table column.  See *Note
`myisampack': myisampack, for an example of this information and a
description of what it means.

Using `myisamchk' for crash recovery
====================================

If you run `mysqld' with `--skip-locking' (which is the default on some
systems, like Linux), you can't reliably use `myisamchk' to check a
table when `mysqld' is using the same table.  If you can be sure that
no one is accessing the tables through `mysqld' while you run
`myisamchk', you only have to do `mysqladmin flush-tables' before you
start checking the tables.  If you can't guarantee the above, then you
must take down `mysqld' while you check the tables.  If you run
`myisamchk' while `mysqld' is updating the tables, you may get a
warning that a table is corrupt even if it isn't.

If you are not using `--skip-locking', you can use `myisamchk' to check
tables at any time.  While you do this, all clients that try to update
the table will wait until `myisamchk' is ready before continuing.

If you use `myisamchk' to repair or optimize tables, you *MUST* always
ensure that the `mysqld' server is not using the table (this also
applies if you are using `--skip-locking').  If you don't take down
`mysqld' you should at least do a `mysqladmin flush-tables' before you
run `myisamchk'.

The file format that *MySQL* uses to store data has been extensively
tested, but there are always external circumstances that may cause
database tables to become corrupted:

   * The `mysqld' process being killed in the middle of a write

   * Unexpected shutdown of the computer (for example, if the computer
     is turned off)

   * A hardware error

This chapter describes how to check for and deal with data corruption
in *MySQL* databases.  If your tables get corrupted a lot you should
try to find the reason for this! *Note Debugging server::.

When performing crash recovery, it is important to understand that each
table `tbl_name' in a database corresponds to three files in the
database directory:

*File*         *Purpose*                                                  
`tbl_name.frm' Table definition (form) file                               
`tbl_name.MYD' Data file                                                  
`tbl_name.MYI' Index file                                                 

Each of these three file types is subject to corruption in various
ways, but problems occur most often in data files and index files.

`myisamchk' works by creating a copy of the `.MYD' (data) file row by
row. It ends the repair stage by removing the old `.MYD' file and
renaming the new file to the original file name.  If you use `--quick',
`myisamchk' does not create a temporary `.MYD' file, but instead
assumes that the `.MYD' file is correct and only generates a new index
file without touching the `.MYD' file. This is safe, because
`myisamchk' automatically detects if the `.MYD' file is corrupt and
aborts the repair in this case.  You can also give two `--quick'
options to `myisamchk'.  In this case, `myisamchk' does not abort on
some errors (like duplicate key) but instead tries to resolve them by
modifying the `.MYD' file. Normally the use of two `--quick' options is
useful only if you have too little free disk space to perform a normal
repair.  In this case you should at least make a backup before running
`myisamchk'.

How to check tables for errors
------------------------------

To check a table, use the following commands:

`myisamchk tbl_name'
     This finds 99.99% of all errors. What it can't find is corruption
     that involves *ONLY* the data file (which is very unusual). If you
     want to check a table, you should normally run `myisamchk' without
     options or with either the `-s' or `--silent' option.

`myisamchk -e tbl_name'
     This does a complete and thorough check of all data (`-e' means
     "extended check"). It does a check-read of every key for each row
     to verify that they indeed point to the correct row.  This may
     take a LONG time on a big table with many keys.  `myisamchk' will
     normally stop after the first error it finds. If you want to
     obtain more information, you can add the `--verbose' (`-v')
     option.  This causes `myisamchk' to keep going, up through a
     maximum of 20 errors.  In normal usage, a simple `myisamchk' (with
     no arguments other than the table name) is sufficient.

`myisamchk -e -i tbl_name'
     Like the previous command, but the `-i' option tells `myisamchk' to
     print some informational statistics, too.

How to repair tables
--------------------

In the following we only talk about using `myisamchk' on `MyISAM'
tables (extensions `.MYI' and `.MYD').  If you are using `ISAM' tables
(extensions `.ISM' and `.ISD'), you should use `isamchk' instead.

The symptoms of a corrupted table are usually that queries abort
unexpectedly and that you observe errors such as these:

   * `tbl_name.frm' is locked against change

   * Can't find file `tbl_name.MYI' (Errcode: ###)

   * Got error ### from table handler (Error 135 is an exception in
     this case)

   * Unexpected end of file

   * Record file is crashed

In these cases, you must repair your tables. `myisamchk' can usually
detect and fix most things that go wrong.

The repair process involves up to four stages, described below. Before
you begin, you should `cd' to the database directory and check the
permissions of the table files. Make sure they are readable by the Unix
user that `mysqld' runs as (and to you, since you need to access the
files you are checking).  If it turns out you need to modify files,
they must also be writable by you.

If you are going to do a repair a table, you must first take down the
`mysqld' server. Note that when you do `mysqladmin shutdown', the
`mysqld' server will still be alive for a while after `mysqladmin'
returns until all queries are stopped and all keys have been flushed to
disk.

*Stage 1: Checking your tables*

Run `myisamchk *.MYI' or (`myisamchk -e *.MYI' if you have more time).
Use the `-s' (silent) option to suppress unnecessary information.

You have to repair only those tables for which `myisamchk' announces an
error.  For such tables, proceed to Stage 2.

If you get weird errors when checking (such as `out of memory' errors),
or if `myisamchk' crashes, go to Stage 3.

*Stage 2: Easy safe repair*

First, try `myisamchk -r -q tbl_name' (`-r -q' means "quick recovery
mode"). This will attempt to repair the index file without touching the
data file.  If the data file contains everything that it should and the
delete links point at the correct locations within the data file, this
should work and the table is fixed. Start repairing the next table.
Otherwise, use the following procedure:

  1. Make a backup of the data file before continuing.

  2. Use `myisamchk -r tbl_name' (`-r' means "recovery mode"). This will
     remove incorrect records and deleted records from the data file and
     reconstruct the index file.

  3. If the preceding step fails, use `myisamchk --safe-recover
     tbl_name'.  Safe recovery mode uses an old recovery method that
     handles a few cases that regular recovery mode doesn't (but is
     slower).

If you get weird errors when repairing (such as `out of memory'
errors), or if `myisamchk' crashes, go to Stage 3.

*Stage 3: Difficult repair*

You should only reach this stage if the first 16K block in the index
file is destroyed or contains incorrect information, or if the index
file is missing.  In this case, it's necessary to create a new index
file. Do so as follows:

  1. Move the data file to some safe place.

  2. Use the table description file to create new (empty) data and
     index files:

          shell> mysql db_name
          mysql> DELETE FROM tbl_name;
          mysql> quit

  3. Copy the old data file back onto the newly created data file.
     (Don't just move the old file back onto the new file; you want to
     retain a copy in case something goes wrong.)

Go back to Stage 2.  `myisamchk -r -q' should work now.  (This shouldn't
be an endless loop).

*Stage 4: Very difficult repair*

You should reach this stage only if the description file has also
crashed. That should never happen, because the description file isn't
changed after the table is created.

  1. Restore the description file from a backup and go back to Stage 3.
     You can also restore the index file and go back to Stage 2.  In
     the latter case, you should start with `myisamchk -r'.

  2. If you don't have a backup but know exactly how the table was
     created, create a copy of the table in another database.  Remove
     the new data file, then move the description and index files from
     the other database to your crashed database.  This gives you new
     description and index files, but leaves the data file alone.  Go
     back to Stage 2 and attempt to reconstruct the index file.

Table optimization
------------------

To coalesce fragmented records and eliminate wasted space resulting from
deleting or updating records, run `myisamchk' in recovery mode:

     shell> myisamchk -r tbl_name

You can optimize a table in the same way using the SQL `OPTIMIZE TABLE'
statement.  `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is easier, but `myisamchk' is faster.
There is also no possibility of unwanted interaction between a utility
and the server, because the server does all the work when you use
`OPTIMIZE TABLE'.

`myisamchk' also has a number of other options you can use to improve
the performance of a table:

`-S, --sort-index'

`-R index_num, --sort-records=index_num'

`-a, --analyze'
For a full description of the option see *Note myisamchk syntax::.

Log file maintenance
====================

When using *MySQL* with log files, you will from time to time want to
remove/backup old log files and tell *MySQL* to start logging on new
files.  *Note Update log::.

One a Linux (`Redhat') installation, you can use the `mysql-log-rotate'
script for this. If you installed *MySQL* from an RPM distribution, the
script should have been installed automatically.

On other systems you must install a short script yourself that you
start from `cron' to handle log files.

You can force *MySQL* to start using new log files by using `mysqladmin
flush-logs' or by using the SQL command `FLUSH LOGS'.  If you are using
*MySQL* 3.21 you must use `mysqladmin refresh'.

The above command does the following:

   * If standard logging (`--log') is used, closes and reopens the log
     file.  (`mysql.log' as default).

   * If update logging (`--log-update') is used, closes the update log
     and opens a new log file with a higher sequence number.

If you are using only an update log, you only have to flush the logs
and then move away the old update log files to a backup.  If you are
using the normal logging, you can do something like:

     shell> cd mysql-data-directory
     shell> mv mysql.log mysql.old
     shell> mysqladmin flush-tables

and then take a backup and remove `mysql.old'.

Adding new functions to MySQL
*****************************

There are two ways to add new functions to *MySQL*:

   * You can add the function through the user-definable function (UDF)
     interface.  User-definable functions are added and removed
     dynamically using the `CREATE FUNCTION' and `DROP FUNCTION'
     statements.  *Note `CREATE FUNCTION': CREATE FUNCTION.

   * You can add the function as a native (built in) *MySQL* function.
     Native functions are compiled into the `mysqld' server and become
     available on a permanent basis.

Each method has advantages and disadvantages:

   * If you write a user-definable function, you must install the
     object file in addition to the server itself.  If you compile your
     function into the server, you don't need to do that.

   * You can add UDFs to a binary *MySQL* distribution.  Native
     functions require you to modify a source distribution.

   * If you upgrade your *MySQL* distribution, you can continue to use
     your previously-installed UDFs.  For native functions, you must
     repeat your modifications each time you upgrade.

Whichever method you use to add new functions, they may be used just
like native functions such as `ABS()' or `SOUNDEX()'.

Adding a new user-definable function
====================================

For the UDF mechanism to work, functions must be written in C or C++
and your operating system must support dynamic loading.  The *MySQL*
source distribution includes a file `sql/udf_example.cc' that defines 5
new functions.  Consult this file to see how UDF calling conventions
work.

For each function that you want to use in SQL statements, you should
define corresponding C (or C++) functions.  In the discussion below,
the name "xxx" is used for an example function name.  To distinquish
between SQL and C/C++ usage, `XXX()' (uppercase) indicates a SQL
function call, and `xxx()' (lowercase) indicates a C/C++ function call.

The C/C++ functions that you write to implement the inferface for
`XXX()' are:

`xxx()' (required)
     The main function.  This is where the function result is computed.
     The correspondence between the SQL type and return type of your
     C/C++ function is shown below:

     *SQL type*    *C/C++ type*                                           
     `STRING'      `char *'                                               
     `INTEGER'     `long long'                                            
     `REAL'        `double'                                               

`xxx_init()' (optional)
     The initialization function for `xxx()'.  It can be used to:

        * Check the number of arguments to `XXX()'

        * Check that the arguments are of a required type, or,
          alternatively, tell *MySQL* to coerce arguments to the types
          you want when the main function is called

        * Allocate any memory required by the main function

        * Specify the maximum length of the result

        * Specify (for `REAL' functions) the maximum number of decimals

        * Specify whether or not the result can be `NULL'

`xxx_deinit()' (optional)
     The deinitialization function for `xxx()'.  It should deallocate
     any memory allocated by the initialization function.

When a SQL statement invokes `XXX()', *MySQL* calls the initialization
function `xxx_init()' to let it perform any required setup, such as
argument checking or memory allocation.  If `xxx_init()' returns an
error, the SQL statement is aborted with an error message and the main
and deinitialization functions are not called.  Otherwise, the main
function `xxx()' is called once for each row.  After all rows have been
processed, the deinitialization function `xxx_deinit()' is called so it
can perform any required cleanup.

All functions must be thread-safe (not just the main function, but the
initialization and deinitialization functions as well). This means that
you are not allowed to allocate any global or static variables that
change!  If you need memory, you should allocate it in `xxx_init()' and
free it in `xxx_deinit()'.

UDF calling sequences
---------------------

The main function should be declared as shown below.  Note that the
return type and parameters differ, depending on whether you will
declare the SQL function `XXX()' to return `STRING', `INTEGER' or `REAL'
in the `CREATE FUNCTION' statement:

For `STRING' functions:

     char *xxx(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                   char *result, unsigned long *length,
                   char *is_null, char *error);

For `INTEGER' functions:

     long long xxx(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                   char *is_null, char *error);

For `REAL' functions:

     double xxx(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                   char *is_null, char *error);

The initialization and deinitialization functions are declared like
this:

     my_bool xxx_init(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args, char *message);
     
     void xxx_deinit(UDF_INIT *initid);

The `initid' parameter is passed to all three functions.  It points to a
`UDF_INIT' structure that is used to communicate information between
functions.  The `UDF_INIT' structure members are listed below.  The
initialization function should fill in any members that it wishes to
change.  (To use the default for a member, leave it unchanged.)

`my_bool maybe_null'
     `xxx_init()' should set `maybe_null' to `1' if `xxx()' can return
     `NULL'.  The default value is `1' if any of the arguments are
     declared `maybe_null'.

`unsigned int decimals'
     Number of decimals.  The default value is the maximum number of
     decimals in the arguments passed to the main function.  (For
     example, if the function is passed `1.34', `1.345' and `1.3', the
     default would be 3, since `1.345' has 3 decimals.

`unsigned int max_length'
     The maximum length of the string result.  The default value
     differs depending on the result type of the function.  For string
     functions, the default is the length of the longest argument.  For
     integer functions, the default is 21 digits.  For real functions,
     the default is 13 plus the number of decimals indicated by
     `initid->decimals'.  (For numeric functions, the length includes
     any sign or decimal point characters.)

`char *ptr'
     A pointer that the function can use for its own purposes.  For
     example, functions can use `initid->ptr' to communicate allocated
     memory between functions.  In `xxx_init()', allocate the memory
     and assign it to this pointer:

          initid->ptr = allocated_memory;

     In `xxx()' and `xxx_deinit()', refer to `initid->ptr' to use or
     deallocate the memory.

Argument processing
-------------------

The `args' parameter points to a `UDF_ARGS' structure which has the
members listed below:

`unsigned int arg_count'
     The number of arguments.  Check this value in the initialization
     function if you want your function to be called with a particular
     number of arguments.  For example:

          if (args->arg_count != 2)
          {
              strcpy(message,"XXX() requires two arguments");
              return 1;
          }

`enum Item_result *arg_type'
     The types for each argument.  The possible type values are
     `STRING_RESULT', `INT_RESULT' and `REAL_RESULT'.

     To make sure that arguments are of a given type and return an
     error if they are not, check the `arg_type' array in the
     initialization function.  For example:

          if (args->arg_type[0] != STRING_RESULT
                && args->arg_type[1] != INT_RESULT)
          {
              strcpy(message,"XXX() requires a string and an integer");
              return 1;
          }

     As an alternative to requiring your function's arguments to be of
     particular types, you can use the initialization function to set
     the `arg_type' elements to the types you want.  This causes
     *MySQL* to coerce arguments to those types for each call to
     `xxx()'.  For example, to specify coercion of the first two
     arguments to string and integer, do this in `xxx_init()':

          args->arg_type[0] = STRING_RESULT;
          args->arg_type[1] = INT_RESULT;

`char **args'
     `args->args' communicates information to the initialization
     function about the general nature of the arguments your function
     was called with.  For a constant argument `i', `args->args[i]'
     points to the argument value.  (See below for instructions on how
     to access the value properly.)  For a non-constant argument,
     `args->args[i]' is `0'.  A constant argument is an expression that
     uses only constants, such as `3' or `4*7-2' or `SIN(3.14)'.  A
     non-constant argument is an expression that refers to values that
     may change from row to row, such as column names or functions that
     are called with non-constant arguments.

     For each invocation of the main function, `args->args' contains the
     actual arguments that are passed for the row currently being
     processed.

     Functions can refer to an argument `i' as follows:

        * An argument of type `STRING_RESULT' is given as a string
          pointer plus a length, to allow handling of binary data or
          data of arbitrary length.  The string contents are available
          as `args->args[i]' and the string length is
          `args->lengths[i]'.  You should not assume that strings are
          null-terminated.

        * For an argument of type `INT_RESULT', you must cast
          `args->args[i]' to a `long long' value:

               long long int_val;
               int_val = *((long long*) args->args[i]);

        * For an argument of type `REAL_RESULT', you must cast
          `args->args[i]' to a `double' value:

               double    real_val;
               real_val = *((double*) args->args[i]);

`unsigned long *lengths'
     For the initialization function, the `lengths' array indicates the
     maximum string length for each argument.  For each invocation of
     the main function, `lengths' contains the actual lengths of any
     string arguments that are passed for the row currently being
     processed.  For arguments of types `INT_RESULT' or `REAL_RESULT',
     `lengths' still contains the maximum length of the argument (as
     for the initialization function).

Return values and error handling
--------------------------------

The initialization function should return `0' if no error occurred and
`1' otherwise.  If an error occurs, `xxx_init()' should store a
null-terminated error message in the `message' parameter.  The message
will be returned to the client.  The message buffer is
`MYSQL_ERRMSG_SIZE' characters long, but you should try to keep the
message to less than 80 characters so that it fits the width of a
standard terminal screen.

The return value of the main function `xxx()' is the function value, for
`long long' and `double' functions.  For string functions, the string
is returned in the `result' and `length' arguments.  `result' is a
buffer at least 255 bytes long.  Set these to the contents and length
of the return value.  For example:

     memcpy(result, "result string", 13);
     *length = 13;

The string function return value normally also points to the result.

To indicate a return value of `NULL' in the main function, set
`is_null' to `1':

     *is_null = 1;

To indicate an error return in the main function, set the `error'
parameter to `1':

     *error = 1;

If `xxx()' sets `*error' to `1' for any row, the function value is
`NULL' for the current row and for any subsequent rows processed by the
statement in which `XXX()' was invoked.  (`xxx()' will not even be
called for subsequent rows.) *Note:* In *MySQL* versions prior to
3.22.10, you should set both `*error' and `*is_null':

     *error = 1;
     *is_null = 1;

Compiling and installing user-definable functions
-------------------------------------------------

Files implementing UDFs must be compiled and installed on the host
where the server runs.  This process is described below for the example
UDF file `udf_example.cc' that is included in the *MySQL* source
distribution.  This file contains the following functions:

   * `metaphon()' returns a metaphon string of the string argument.
     This is something like a soundex string, but it's more tuned for
     English.

   * `myfunc_double()' returns the sum of the ASCII values of the
     characters in its arguments, divided by the sum of the length of
     its arguments.

   * `myfunc_int()' returns the sum of the length of its arguments.

   * `lookup()' returns the IP number for a hostname.

   * `reverse_lookup()' returns the hostname for an IP number.  The
     function may be called with a string `"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"' or four
     numbers.

A dynamically-loadable file should be compiled as a sharable object
file, using a command something like this:

     shell> gcc -shared -o udf_example.so myfunc.cc

You can easily find out the correct compiler options for your system by
running this command in the `sql' directory of your *MySQL* source tree:

     shell> make udf_example.o

You should run a compile command similar to the one that `make'
displays, except that you should remove the `-c' option near the end of
the line and add `-o udf_example.so' to the end of the line.  (On some
systems, you may need to leave  the `-c' on the command.)

Once you compile a shared object containing UDFs, you must install it
and tell *MySQL* about it.  Compiling a shared object from
`udf_example.cc' produces a file named something like `udf_example.so'
(the exact name may vary from platform to platform).  Copy this file to
some directory searched by `ld', such as `/usr/lib'.  On many systems,
you can set the `LD_LIBRARY' or `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable
to point at the directory where you have your UDF function files. The
`dopen' manual page tells you which variable you should use on your
system. You should set this in `mysql.server' or `safe_mysqld' and
restart `mysqld'.

After the library is installed, notify `mysqld' about the new functions
with these commands:

     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION metaphon RETURNS STRING SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION myfunc_double RETURNS REAL SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION myfunc_int RETURNS INTEGER SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION lookup RETURNS STRING SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION reverse_lookup RETURNS STRING SONAME "udf_example.so";

Functions can be deleted using `DROP FUNCTION':

     mysql> DROP FUNCTION metaphon;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION myfunc_double;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION myfunc_int;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION lookup;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION reverse_lookup;

The `CREATE FUNCTION' and `DROP FUNCTION' statements update the system
table `func' in the `mysql' database.  The function's name, type and
shared library name are saved in the table.  You must have the *insert*
and *delete* privileges for the `mysql' database to create and drop
functions.

You should not use `CREATE FUNCTION' to add a function that has already
been created.  If you need to reinstall a function, you should remove
it with `DROP FUNCTION' and then reinstall it with `CREATE FUNCTION'.
You would need to do this, for example, if you recompile a new version
of your function, so that `mysqld' gets the new version.  Otherwise the
server will continue to use the old version.

Active functions are reloaded each time the server starts, unless you
start `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables' option.  In this case, UDF
initialization is skipped and UDFs are unavailable.  (An active
function is one that has been loaded with `CREATE FUNCTION' and not
removed with `DROP FUNCTION'.)

Adding a new native function
============================

The procedure for adding a new native function is described below.
Note that you cannot add native functions to a binary distribution
since the procedure involves modifying *MySQL* source code.  You must
compile *MySQL* yourself from a source distribution.  Also note that if
you migrate to another version of *MySQL* (e.g., when a new version is
released), you will need to repeat the procedure with the new version.

To add a new native *MySQL* function, follow these steps:

  1. Add one line to `lex.h' that defines the function name in the
     `sql_functions[]' array.

  2. Add two lines to `sql_yacc.yy'. One indicates the preprocessor
     symbol that `yacc' should define (this should be added at the
     beginning of the file). Then define the function parameters and
     add an "item" with these parameters to the `simple_expr' parsing
     rule.  For an example, check all occurrences of `SOUNDEX' in
     `sql_yacc.yy' to see how this is done.

  3. In `item_func.h', declare a class inheriting from `Item_num_func'
     or `Item_str_func', depending on whether your function returns a
     number or a string.

  4. In `item_func.cc', add one of the following declarations, depending
     on whether you are defining a numeric or string function:
          double   Item_func_newname::val()
          longlong Item_func_newname::val_int()
          String  *Item_func_newname::Str(String *str)

  5. You should probably also define the following function:
          void Item_func_newname::fix_length_and_dec()
     This function should at least calculate `max_length' based on the
     given arguments. `max_length' is the maximum number of characters
     the function may return.  This function should also set
     `maybe_null = 0' if the main function can't return a `NULL' value.
     The function can check if any of the function arguments can
     return `NULL' by checking the arguments `maybe_null' variable.

All functions must be thread-safe.

For string functions, there are some additional considerations to be
aware of:
   * The `String *str' argument provides a string buffer that may be
     used to hold the result.

   * The function should return the string that holds the result.

   * All current string functions try to avoid allocating any memory
     unless absolutely necessary!

Adding new procedures to MySQL
******************************

In *MySQL*, you can define a procedure in C++ that can access and
modify the data in a query before it is sent to the client.  The
modification can be done on row by row or `GROUP BY' level.

We have created an example procedure in *MySQL* 3.23 to show you what
can be done.

Procedure analyse
=================

`analyse([max elements,[max memory]])'

This procedure is defined in the `sql/sql_analyse.cc'.  This examines
the result from your query and returns an analysis of the results.

   * `max elements' (default 256) is the maximum number of distinct
     values `analyse' will notice per column.  This is used by
     `analyse' to check if the optimal column type should be of type
     `ENUM'.

   * `max memory' (default 8192) is the maximum memory `analyse' should
     allocate per column while trying to find all distinct values.

     SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE ... PROCEDURE ANALYSE([max elements,[max memory]])

Writing a procedure.
====================

For the moment, the only documentation for this is the source. :(

You can find all information about procedures by examining the
following files:

   * `sql/sql_analyse.cc'

   * `sql/procedure.h'

   * `sql/procedure.cc'

   * `sql/sql_select.cc'

MySQL ODBC Support
******************

*MySQL* provides support for ODBC by means of the *MyODBC* program.

Operating systems supported by MyODBC
=====================================

*MyODBC* is a 32-bit ODBC (2.50) level 0 driver for connecting a
ODBC-aware application to *MySQL*.  *MyODBC* works on Windows95,
Windows98, NT and on most Unix platforms.

Normally you only need to install *MyODBC* on Windows machines.  You
only need *MyODBC* for Unix if you have a program like ColdFusion that
is running on the Unix machine and uses ODBC to connect to the
databases.

*MyODBC* is in public domain and you can find the newest version at
`http://www.mysql.com/download_myodbc.html'.

If you want to install *MyODBC* on a Unix box, you will also need an
*ODBC* manager.  *MyODBC* is known to work both with most of the Unix
ODBC managers.  You can find a list at these in the *ODBC*-related
links section on the MySQL useful links page.  *Note Useful Links::.

On Windows/NT you may get the following error when trying to install
*MyODBC*:

     An error occurred while copying C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MFC30.DLL. Restart Windows
     and try installing again (before running any applications which use ODBC)

The problem in this case is that some other program is using ODBC and
because of how windows is designed, one can in this case install new
ODBC drivers with Microsoft's ODBC setup program :(   The solution to
this is to reboot your computer in 'safe mod' (You can choose this by
pressing F8 just before your machine start windows during rebooting),
install *MyODBC* and reboot to normal mode.

   * To make a connection to an Unix box from a Windows box, with an
     ODBC application (one that doesn't support *MySQL* natively), you
     must first install *MyODBC* on the Windows Machine.

   * The user and Windows machine must have the access privileges to the
     *MySQL* server the Unix machine.  This is set up with the `GRANT'
     command. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

   * You must create an ODBC DSN entry as follows:

        * Open the Control Panel on the Windows Machine

        * Double click the ODBC Data Sources 32 bits icon.

        * Click the tab User DSN

        * Click the button Add

        * Select *MySQL* in the screen Create New Data Source and click
          the Finish button.

        * The TCX *MySQL* Driver default configuration screen is shown.
          *Note ODBC administrator::.

   * Now start your application and select the ODBC driver with the DSN
     you specified in the ODBC administrator.

Notice that there are other configuration options in the screen of
*MySQL* (trace, don't prompt on connect, etc) that you can try if you
run into problems.

How to fill in the various fields in the ODBC administrator program
===================================================================

There are three possibilities for specifying the server name on
Windows95:

   * Use the IP address of the server.

   * Add a file `\windows\lmhosts' with the following information:

          ip hostname

     For example:

          194.216.84.21 my_hostname

   * Configure the PC to use DNS.

Example of how to fill in the `ODBC setup'
     Windows DSN name:   test
     Description:        This is my test database
     MySql Database:     test
     Server:             194.216.84.21
     User:               monty
     Password:           my_password
     Port:

The value for the `Windows DSN name' field is any name that is unique
in your Windows ODBC setup.

You don't have to specify values for the `Server', `User', `Password'
or `Port' fields in the ODBC setup screen.  However, if you do, the
values will be used as the defaults later when you attempt to make a
connection.  You have the option of changing the values at that time.

If the port number is not given, the default port (3306) is used.

If you specify the option `Read options from C:\my.cnf', the groups
`client' and `odbc' will be read from the `C:\my.cnf' file.  You can
use all options that are usable by `mysql_options()'.  *Note
`mysql_options': mysql_options.

How to report problems with MyODBC
==================================

*MyODBC* has been tested with Access, Admndemo.exe, C++-Builder,
Borland Builder 4, Centura Team Developer (formerly Gupta SQL/Windows),
ColdFusion (on Solaris and NT with svc pack 5), Crystal Reports,
DataJunction, Delphi, ERwin, Excel, iHTML, FileMaker Pro, FoxPro, Notes
4.5/4.6, SBSS, Perl DBD-ODBC, Paradox, Powerbuilder, Powerdesigner 32
bit, VC++ and Visual Basic.

If you know of any other applications that work with *MyODBC*, please
mail <myodbc@lists.mysql.com> about this!

Programs known to work with MyODBC
==================================

Most programs should work with *MyODBC*, but for each of those listed
below, we have tested it ourselves or gotten confirmation from some
user that it works:

*Program*
     *Comment*

Access
     To make Access work:
        * You should have a primary key in the table.

        * You should have a timestamp in all tables you want to be able
          to update.

        * Only use double float fields. Access fails when comparing
          with single floats.

        * Set the `Return matching rows' option field when connecting
          to *MySQL*.

        * Access on NT will report `BLOB' columns as `OLE OBJECTS'. If
          you want to have `MEMO' columns instead, you should change the
          column to `TEXT' with `ALTER TABLE'.

        * Access can't always handle `DATE' columns properly. If you
          have a problem with these, change the columns to `DATETIME'.

        * In some cases, Access may generate illegal SQL queries that
          *MySQL* can't understand. You can fix this by selecting
          `"Query|SQLSpecific|Pass-Through"' from the Access menu.

Borland Builder 4
     When you start a query you can use the property `Active' or use the
     method `Open'.  Note that `Active' will start by automaticly issue
     a `SELECT * FROM ...' query that may not be a good thing if your
     tables are big!

DataJunction
     You have to change it to output `VARCHAR' rather than `ENUM', as
     it exports the latter in a manner that causes *MySQL* grief.

Excel
     Works. Some tips:
        * If you have problems with dates, try to select them as
          strings using the `CONCAT()' function. For example:
               select CONCAT(rise_time), CONCAT(set_time)
                   from sunrise_sunset;
          Values retrieved as strings this way should be correctly
          recognized as time values by Excel97.

          The purpose of `CONCAT()' in this example is to fool ODBC
          into thinking the column is of "string type". Without the
          `CONCAT()', ODBC knows the column is of time type, and Excel
          does not understand that.

          Note that this is a bug in Excel, because it automatically
          converts a string to a time. This would be great if the
          source was a text file, but is plain stupid when the source
          is an ODBC connection that reports exact types for each
          column.

odbcadmin
     Test program for ODBC.

Delphi
     You must use DBE 3.2 or newer.  Set the `Don't optimize column
     width' option field when connecting to *MySQL*.

     Also, here is some potentially useful delphi code that sets up
     both an ODBC entry and a BDE entry for MyODBC (the BDE entry
     requires a BDE Alias Editor which may be had for free at a Delphi
     Super Page near you.):  (Thanks to Bryan Brunton
     <bryan@flesherfab.com> for this)

          fReg:= TRegistry.Create;
            fReg.OpenKey('\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\DocumentsFab', True);
            fReg.WriteString('Database', 'Documents');
            fReg.WriteString('Description', ' ');
            fReg.WriteString('Driver', 'C:\WINNT\System32\myodbc.dll');
            fReg.WriteString('Flag', '1');
            fReg.WriteString('Password', '');
            fReg.WriteString('Port', ' ');
            fReg.WriteString('Server', 'xmark');
            fReg.WriteString('User', 'winuser');
            fReg.OpenKey('\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC Data Sources', True);
            fReg.WriteString('DocumentsFab', 'MySQL');
            fReg.CloseKey;
            fReg.Free;
          
            Memo1.Lines.Add('DATABASE NAME=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('USER NAME=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ODBC DSN=DocumentsFab');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('OPEN MODE=READ/WRITE');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('BATCH COUNT=200');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('LANGDRIVER=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('MAX ROWS=-1');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SCHEMA CACHE DIR=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SCHEMA CACHE SIZE=8');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SCHEMA CACHE TIME=-1');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SQLPASSTHRU MODE=SHARED AUTOCOMMIT');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SQLQRYMODE=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ENABLE SCHEMA CACHE=FALSE');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ENABLE BCD=FALSE');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ROWSET SIZE=20');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('BLOBS TO CACHE=64');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('BLOB SIZE=32');
          
            AliasEditor.Add('DocumentsFab','MySQL',Memo1.Lines);

C++Builder
     Tested with BDE 3.0. The only known problem is that when the table
     schema changes, query fields are not updated. BDE however does not
     seem to recognize primary keys, only the index PRIMARY, though
     this has not been a problem.

Visual basic
     To be able to update a table, you must define a primary key for
     the table.

How to get the value of an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column in ODBC
==========================================================

A common problem is how to get the value of an automatically generated
ID from an `INSERT'. With ODBC, you can do something like this (assuming
that `auto' is an `AUTO_INCREMENT' field):

     INSERT INTO foo (auto,text) VALUES(NULL,'text');
     SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();

Or, if you are just going to insert the ID into another table, you can
do this:

     INSERT INTO foo (auto,text) VALUES(NULL,'text');
     INSERT INTO foo2 (id,text) VALUES(LAST_INSERT_ID(),'text');

For the benefit of some ODBC applications (at least Delphi and Access),
the following query can be used to find a newly-inserted row:
     SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE auto IS NULL;

Reporting problems with MyODBC
==============================

If you encounter difficulties with MyODBC, you should start by making a
log file from the ODBC manager (the log you get when requesting logs
from ODBCADMIN) and a *MyODBC* log. To get a *MyODBC* log, tag the
`Trace MyODBC' option flag in the *MyODBC* connect/configure screen.
The log will be written to file `C:\myodbc.log'.  Note that you must
use `MYSQL.DLL' and not `MYSQL2.DLL' for this option to work!

Check the queries that MyODBC sends to the *MySQL* server; You should
be able to find this by searching after the string `>mysql_real_query'
in the `myodbc.log' file.

You should also try duplicating the queries in the `mysql' monitor or
`admndemo' to find out if the error is MyODBC or *MySQL*.

If you find out something is wrong, please only send the relevant rows
(max 40 rows) to the <myodbc@lists.mysql.com>.  Please never send the
whole MyODBC or ODBC log file !

If you are unable to find out what's wrong, the last option is to to
make a archive (tar or zip) that contains a MyODBC log file, the ODBC
log file and a README file that explains the problem.  You can send
this to `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret'.  Only we at TCX will
have access to the files you upload and we will be very discrete with
the data!

If you can create a program that also shows this problem, please upload
this too!

If the program works with some other SQL server, you should make a ODBC
log file where you do exactly the same thing in the other SQL server.

Remember that the more information you can supply to us, the more
likely it is that we can fix the problem!

Using `MySQL' with some common programs
***************************************

Using MySQL with Apache
=======================

The contrib section includes programs that lets you authenticate your
users from a *MySQL* database and also let you log your log files into
a *MySQL* table. *Note Contrib::.

You can change the Apache logging format to be easily readable by
`MySQL' by putting the following into the Apache configuration file:

     LogFormat \
             "\"%h\",%{%Y%m%d%H%M%S}t,%>s,\"%b\",\"%{Content-Type}o\",  \
             \"%U\",\"%{Referer}i\",\"%{User-Agent}i\""

In *MySQL* you can now do something like this:

     LOAD DATA INFILE '/local/access_log' INTO TABLE table_name
     FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"' ESCAPED BY '\\'

Problems and common errors
**************************

What to do if MySQL keeps crashing
==================================

All *MySQL* versions are tested on many platforms before they are
released.  This doesn't mean that there isn't any bugs in *MySQL*, but
that if there are bugs they are very few and can be hard to find.  If
you have a problem, it will always help if you try to find out exactly
what crashes your system as you will have a much better chance of
getting this fixed quickly.

First you should try to find out whether the problem is that the
`mysqld' daemon dies or whether your problem has to do with your
client.  You can check how long your `mysqld' server has been up by
executing `mysqladmin version'.  If `mysqld' has died, you may find the
reason for this in the file `mysql-data-directory/'hostname'.err'.

Since it is very difficult to know why something is crashing, first try
to check whether or not things that work for others crash for you.
Please try the following things:

   * Take down the `mysqld' daemon with `mysqladmin shutdown', run
     `myisamchk --silent --force */*.MYI' on all tables and restart the
     `mysqld' daemon.  This will ensure that you are running from a
     clean state.  *Note Maintenance::.

   * Use `mysqld --log' and try to determine from the information in
     the log whether or not some specific query kills the server. 95%
     of all bugs are related to a particular query!  Normally this is
     one of the last queries in the log file just before *MySQL*
     restarted.

     You may be able to verify this using the following procedure:

        * Take down the *MySQL* daemon (with `mysqladmin shutdown')

        * Make a backup of files in the *MySQL* database directory.

        * Check the tables with `myisamchk -s */*.MYI' to verify that
          all tables are correct.  If any table is corrupted, repair it
          with `myisamchk -r path-to-table.MYI'.

        * Remove (or move away) any old log files from the *MySQL* data
          directory.

        * Start the server with `safe_mysql --log'.

        * If `mysqld' now dies, you can test if the problem is a
          specific query by restoring the backup and executing `mysql <
          mysql-log-file'.  You can of course do the last test in some
          other directory than the standard *MySQL* database directory
          by starting another *MySQL* server with `safe_mysqld
          --data=path-to-backup-directory'.

   * Have you tried the benchmarks?  They should test *MySQL* rather
     well.  You can also add code that simulates your application!  The
     benchmarks can be found in the `bench' directory in the source
     distribution, or, for a binary distribution, in the `sql-bench'
     directory under your *MySQL* installation directory.

   * Try `fork_test.pl' and `fork2_test.pl'.

   * Check the file `mysql-data-directory/'hostname'.err' for any
     errors.

   * If you configure *MySQL* for debugging, it will be much easier to
     gather information about possible errors if something goes wrong.
     Reconfigure *MySQL* with the `--with-debug' option to `configure'
     and then recompile.  *Note Debugging server::.

   * Configuring *MySQL* for debugging causes a safe memory allocator
     to be included that can find some errors. It also provides a lot
     of output about what is happening.

   * Have you applied the latest patches for your operating system?

   * Use the `--skip-locking' option to `mysqld'.  On some systems, the
     `lockd' lock manager does not work properly; the `--skip-locking'
     option tells `mysqld' not to use external locking.  (This means
     that you cannot run 2 `mysqld' servers on the same data and that
     you must be careful if you use `myisamchk', but it may be
     instructive to try the option as a test.)

   * Have you tried `mysqladmin -u root processlist' when `mysqld'
     appears to be running but not responding?  Sometimes `mysqld' is
     not comatose even though you might think so.  The problem may be
     that all connections are in use, or there may be some internal
     lock problem.  `mysqladmin processlist' will usually be able to
     make a connection even in these cases, and can provide useful
     information about the current number of connections and their
     status.

   * Run the command `mysqladmin -i 5 status' in a separate window to
     produce statistics while you run your other queries.

   * Try the following:
       1. Start `mysqld' from `gdb' (or another debugger).

       2. Run your test scripts.

       3. Do `back' (or the backtrace command in your debugger) when
          `mysqld' core dumps.

   * Try to simulate your application with a Perl script to force
     *MySQL* to crash or misbehave.

   * Or send a normal bug report. *Note Bug reports::. But be even more
     detailed than usual.  Since *MySQL* works for many people, it may
     be that the crash results from something that exists only on your
     computer (for example, an error that is related to your particular
     system libraries).

   * If you have a problem with table with dynamic length rows and you
     are not using `BLOB/TEXT' columns (but only `VARCHAR' columns) you
     can try to change all `VARCHAR' to `CHAR' with `ALTER TABLE'.
     This will force *MySQL* to use fixed size rows.  Fixed size rows
     take a little extra place, but are much more tolerant for
     corruption!

     The current dynamic row code has been in use at TCX for at least 3
     years without any problems, but by nature dynamic length rows are
     more prone to errors so it may be a good idea to try if the above
     helps!

Some common errors when using MySQL
===================================

`MySQL server has gone away' error
----------------------------------

This section also covers the related `Lost connection to server during
query' error.

The most common reason for the `MySQL server has gone away' error is
that the server timed out and closed the connection. By default, the
server closes the connection after 8 hours if nothing has happened. You
can change the time limit with by setting the `wait_timeout' variable
when you start mysqld.

You can check that the *MySQL* hasn't died by executing `mysqladmin
version' and examining the uptime.

If you have a script, you just have to issue the query again for the
client to do an automatic reconnection.

You normally can get the following error codes in this case (which one
you get is OS-dependent):

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR' The client couldn't send a question to the server. 
`CR_SERVER_LOST'       The client didn't get an error when writing to     
                       the server, but it didn't get a full answer (or    
                       any answer) to the question.                       

You can also get these errors if you send a query to the server that is
incorrect or too large. If `mysqld' gets a packet that is too large or
out of order, it assumes that something has gone wrong with the client
and closes the connection.  If you need big queries (for example, if
you are working with big `BLOB' columns), you can increase the query
limit by starting `mysqld' with the `-O max_allowed_packet=#' option
(default 1M). The extra memory is allocated on demand, so `mysqld' will
use more memory only when you issue a big query or when `mysqld' must
return a big result row!

`Can't connect to [local] MySQL server' error
---------------------------------------------

A *MySQL* client on Unix can connect to the `mysqld' server in two
different ways: Unix sockets, which connect through a file in the file
system (default `/tmp/mysqld.sock'), or TCP/IP, which connects through
a port number.  Unix sockets are faster than TCP/IP but can only be
used when connecting to a server on the same computer.  Unix sockets
are used if you don't specify a hostname or if you specify the special
hostname `localhost'.

On Windows you can connect only with TCP/IP if the `mysqld' server is
running on Win95/Win98. If it's running on NT, you can also connect
with named pipes.  The name of the named pipe is `MySQL'.  If you don't
give a hostname when connecting to `mysqld', a *MySQL* client will
first try to connect to the named pipe and if this doesn't work it will
connect to the TCP/IP port.  You can force the use of named pipes on
Windows by using `.' as the hostname.

The error (2002) `Can't connect to ...' normally means that there isn't
a *MySQL* server running on the system or that you are using a wrong
socket file or TCP/IP port when trying to connect to the `mysqld'
server.

Start by checking (using `ps' or the task manager on windows) that
there is a process running named `mysqld' on your server!  If there
isn't any `mysqld' process, you should start one. *Note Starting
server::.

If a `mysqld' process is running, you can check the server by trying
these different connections (the port number and socket pathname might
be different in your setup, of course):

     shell> mysqladmin version
     shell> mysqladmin variables
     shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` version variables
     shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` --port=3306 version
     shell> mysqladmin -h 'ip for your host' version
     shell> mysqladmin --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock version

Note the use of backquotes rather than forward quotes with the
`hostname' command; these cause the output of `hostname' (i.e., the
current hostname) to be substituted into the `mysqladmin' command.

Here are some reasons the `Can't connect to local MySQL server' error
might occur:

   * `mysqld' is not running.

   * You are running on a system that uses MIT-pthreads.  If you are
     running on a system that doesn't have native threads, `mysqld'
     uses the MIT-pthreads package.  *Note Which OS::.  However,
     MIT-pthreads doesn't support Unix sockets, so on such a system you
     must always specify the hostname explicitly when connecting to the
     server.  Try using this command to check the connection to the
     server:
          shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` version

   * Someone has removed the Unix socket that `mysqld' uses (default
     `/tmp/mysqld.sock').  You might have a `cron' job that removes the
     *MySQL* socket (e.g., a job that removes old files from the `/tmp'
     directory).  You can always run `mysqladmin version' and check
     that the socket `mysqladmin' is trying to use really exists.  The
     fix in this case is to change the `cron' job to not remove
     `mysqld.sock' or to place the socket somewhere else. You can
     specify a different socket location at *MySQL* configuration time
     with this command:
          shell> ./configure --with-unix-socket-path=/path/to/socket
     You can also start `safe_mysqld' with the
     `--socket=/path/to/socket' option and set the environment variable
     `MYSQL_UNIX_PORT' to the socket pathname before starting your
     *MySQL* clients.

   * You have started the `mysqld' server with the
     `--socket=/path/to/socket' option.  If you change the socket
     pathname for the server, you must also notify the *MySQL* clients
     about the new path. You can do this by setting the environment
     variable `MYSQL_UNIX_PORT' to the socket pathname or by providing
     the socket path as an argument to the clients. You can test the
     socket with this command:

          shell> mysqladmin --socket=/path/to/socket version

   * You are using Linux and one thread has died (core dumped).  In
     this case you must kill the other `mysqld' threads (for example
     with the `mysql_zap' script before you can start a new *MySQL*
     server.  *Note Crashing::.

If you get the error message `Can't connect to MySQL server on
some_hostname', you can try the following things to find out what is the
problem:

   * Check if the server up by doing `telnet your-host-name
     tcp-ip-port-number' and press `RETURN' a couple of times.  If there
     is a *MySQL* server running on this port you should get a
     responses that includes the version number of the running *MySQL*
     server.  If you get an error like `telnet: Unable to connect to
     remote host: Connection refused', then there is no server running
     on the used port.

   * Try connecting to the `mysqld' daemon on the local machine and
     check the TCP/IP port that mysqld it's configured to use (variable
     `port') with `mysqladmin variables'.

   * Check that your `mysqld' server is not started with the
     `--skip-networking' option.

`Host '...' is blocked' error
-----------------------------

If you get a error like this:

     Host 'hostname' is blocked because of many connection errors.
     Unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts'

This means that `mysqld' has gotten a lot (`max_connect_errors') of
connect requests from the host `'hostname'' that have been interrupted
in the middle. After `max_connect_errors' failed requests, `mysqld'
assumes that something is wrong (like a attack from a cracker), and
blocks the site from further connections until someone executes the
command `mysqladmin flush-hosts'.

By default, `mysqld' blocks a host after 10 connection errors.  You can
easily adjust this by starting the server like this:

     shell> safe_mysqld -O max_connect_errors=10000 &

Note that if you get this error message for a given host, you should
first check that there isn't anything wrong with TCP/IP connections
from that host.  If your TCP/IP connections aren't working, it won't do
you any good to increase the value of the `max_connect_errors' variable!

`Too many connections' error
----------------------------

If you get the error `Too many connections' when you try to connect to
*MySQL*, this means that there is already `max_connections' clients
connected to the `mysqld' server.

If you need more connections than the default (100), then you should
restart `mysqld' with a bigger value for the `max_connections' variable.

Note that `mysqld' actually allows (`max_connections'+1) clients to
connect.  The last connection is reserved for a user with the *process*
privilege.  By not giving this privilege to normal users (they
shouldn't need this), an administrator with this privilege can login
and use `SHOW PROCESSLIST' to find out what could be wrong. *Note
SHOW::.

`Out of memory' error
---------------------

If you issue a query and get something like the following error:

     mysql: Out of memory at line 42, 'malloc.c'
     mysql: needed 8136 byte (8k), memory in use: 12481367 bytes (12189k)
     ERROR 2008: MySQL client ran out of memory

Note that the error refers to the *MySQL* client `mysql'. The reason
for this error is simply that the client does not have enough memory to
store the whole result.

To remedy the problem, first check that your query is correct. Is it
reasonable that it should return so many rows?  If so, you can use
`mysql --quick', which uses `mysql_use_result()' to retrieve the result
set.  This places less of a load on the client (but more on the server).

`Packet too large' error
------------------------

When a *MySQL* client or the `mysqld' server gets a packet bigger than
`max_allowed_packet' bytes, it issues a `Packet too large' error and
closes the connection.

If you are using the `mysql' client, you may specify a bigger buffer by
starting the client with `mysql --set-variable=max_allowed_packet=8M'.

If you are using other clients that do not allow you to specify the
maximum packet size (such as `DBI'), you need to set the packet size
when you start the server.  You cau use a command-line option to
`mysqld' to set `max_allowed_packet' to a larger size.  For example, if
you are expecting to store the full length of a `BLOB' into a table,
you'll need to start the server with the
`--set-variable=max_allowed_packet=24M' option.

`The table is full' error
-------------------------

This error occurs when an in-memory temporary table becomes larger than
`tmp_table_size' bytes. To avoid this problem, you can use the `-O
tmp_table_size=#' option to `mysqld' to increase the temporary table
size, or use the SQL option `SQL_BIG_TABLES' before you issue the
problematic query. *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

You can also start `mysqld' with the `--big-tables' option.  This is
exactly the same as using `SQL_BIG_TABLES' for all queries.

`Commands out of sync' error in client
--------------------------------------

If you get `Commands out of sync; You can't run this command now' in
your client code, you are calling client functions in the wrong order!

This can happen, for example, if you are using `mysql_use_result()' and
try to execute a new query before you have called `mysql_free_result()'.
It can also happen if you try to execute two queries that return data
without a `mysql_use_result()' or `mysql_store_result()' in between.

`Ignoring user' error
---------------------

If you get the following error:

`Found wrong password for user: 'some_user@some_host'; Ignoring user'

This means that when `mysqld' was started or when it reloaded the
permissions tables, it found an entry in the `user' table with an
invalid password.  As a result, the entry is simply ignored by the
permission system.

Possible causes of and fixes for this problem:

   * You may be running a new version of `mysqld' with an old `user'
     table.  You can check this by executing `mysqlshow mysql user' to
     see if the password field is shorter than 16 characters. If so,
     you can correct this condition by running the
     `scripts/add_long_password' script.

   * The user has an old password (8 chararacters long) and you didn't
     start `mysqld' with the `--old-protocol' option.  Update the user
     in the `user' table with a new password or restart `mysqld' with
     `--old-protocol'.

   * You have specified a password in the `user' table without using the
     `PASSWORD()' function.  Use `mysql' to update the user in the
     `user' table with a new password. Make sure to use the `PASSWORD()'
     function:

          mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD('your password')
                     where user='XXX';

`Table 'xxx' doesn't exist' error
---------------------------------

If you get the error `Table 'xxx' doesn't exist' or `Can't find file:
'xxx' (errno: 2)', this means that no table exists in the current
database with the name `xxx'.

Note that as *MySQL* uses directories and files to store databases and
tables, the database and table names are *case sensitive*!  (On Win32
the databases and tables names are not case sensitive, but all
references to a given table within a query must use the same case!)

You can check which tables you have in the current database with `SHOW
TABLES'. *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

How MySQL handles a full disk
=============================

When a disk full condition occurs, *MySQL* does the following:

   * It checks once every minute to see whether or not there is enough
     space to write the current row. If there is enough space, it
     continues as if nothing had happened.

   * Every 6 minutes it writes an entry to the log file warning about
     the disk full condition.

To alleviate the problem, you can take the following actions:

   * To continue, you only have to free enough disk space to insert all
     records.

   * To abort the thread, you must send a `mysqladmin kill' to the
     thread.  The thread will be aborted the next time it checks the
     disk (in 1 minute).

   * Note that other threads may be waiting for the table that caused
     the "disk full" condition.  If you have several "locked" threads,
     killing the one thread that is waiting on the disk full condition
     will allow the other threads to continue.

How to run SQL commands from a text file
========================================

The `mysql' client typically is used interactively, like this:

     shell> mysql database

However, it's also possible to put your SQL commands in a file and tell
`mysql' to read its input from that file.  To do so, create a text file
`text_file' that contains the commands you wish to execute.  Then
invoke `mysql' as shown below:

     shell> mysql database < text_file

You can also start your text file with a `USE db_name' statement.  In
this case, it is unnecessary to specify the database name on the command
line:

     shell> mysql < text_file

*Note Programs::.

Where MySQL stores temporary files
==================================

*MySQL* uses the value of the `TMPDIR' environment variable as the
pathname of the directory in which to store temporary files.  If you
don't have `TMPDIR' set, *MySQL* uses the system default, which is
normally `/tmp' or `/usr/tmp'.  If the file system containing your
temporary file directory is too small, you should edit `safe_mysqld' to
set `TMPDIR' to point to a directory in a file system where you have
enough space!  You can also set the temporary directory using the
`--tmpdir' option to `mysqld'.

*MySQL* creates all temporary files as "hidden files". This ensures
that the temporary files will be removed if `mysqld' is terminated.  The
disadvantage of using hidden files is that you will not see a big
temporary file that fills up the file system in which the temporary
file directory is located.

When sorting (`ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY'), *MySQL* normally uses one or
two temporary files. The maximum disk-space needed is:

     (length of what is sorted + sizeof(database pointer))
     * number of matched rows
     * 2

`sizeof(database pointer)' is usually 4, but may grow in the future for
really big tables.

For some `SELECT' queries, *MySQL* also creates temporary SQL tables.
These are not hidden and have names of the form `SQL_*'.

`ALTER TABLE' and `OPTIMIZE TABLE' create a temporary table in the same
directory as the original table.

How to protect `/tmp/mysql.sock' from being deleted
===================================================

If you have problems with the fact that anyone can delete the *MySQL*
communication socket `/tmp/mysql.sock', you can, on most versions of
Unix, protect your `/tmp' file system by setting the `sticky' bit on
it.  Log in as `root' and do the following:

     shell> chmod +t /tmp

This will protect your `/tmp' file system so that files can be deleted
only by their owners or the superuser (`root').

You can check if the `sticky' bit is set by executing `ls -ld /tmp'.
If the last permission bit is `t', the bit is set.

`Access denied' error
=====================

*Note Privileges::. And especially see *Note Access denied::.

How to run MySQL as a normal user
=================================

The *MySQL* server `mysqld' can be started and run by any user.  In
order to change `mysqld' to run as Unix user `user_name', you must do
the following:

  1. Stop the server if it's running (use `mysqladmin shutdown').

  2. Change the database directories and files so that `user_name' has
     privileges to read and write files in them (you may need to do
     this as the Unix `root' user):

          shell> chown -R user_name /path/to/mysql/datadir

     If directories or files within the *MySQL* data directory are
     symlinks, you'll also need to follow those links and change the
     directories and files they point to.  `chown -R' may not follow
     symlinks for you.

  3. Start the server as user `user_name', or, if you are using *MySQL*
     3.22 or later, start `mysqld' as the Unix `root' user and use the
     `--user=user_name' option.  `mysqld' will switch to run as Unix
     user `user_name' before accepting any connections.

  4. If you are using the `mysql.server' script to start `mysqld' when
     the system is rebooted, you should edit `mysql.server' to use `su'
     to run `mysqld' as user `user_name', or to invoke `mysqld' with
     the `--user' option.  (No changes to `safe_mysqld' are necessary.)

At this point, your `mysqld' process should be running fine and dandy as
the Unix user `user_name'. One thing hasn't changed, though: the
contents of the permissions tables. By default (right after running the
permissions table install script `mysql_install_db'), the *MySQL* user
`root' is the only user with permission to access the `mysql' database
or to create or drop databases.  Unless you have changed those
permissions, they still hold. This shouldn't stop you from accessing
*MySQL* as the *MySQL* `root' user when you're logged in as a Unix user
other than `root'; just specify the `-u root' option to the client
program.

Note that accessing *MySQL* as `root', by supplying `-u root' on the
command line, has *nothing* to do with *MySQL* running as the Unix
`root' user, or, indeed, as other Unix user. The access permissions and
user names of *MySQL* are completely separate from Unix user names. The
only connection with Unix user names is that if you don't provide a
`-u' option when you invoke a client program, the client will try to
connect using your Unix login name as your *MySQL* user name.

If your Unix box itself isn't secured, you should probably at least put
a password on the *MySQL* `root' users in the access tables.
Otherwise, any user with an account on that machine can run `mysql -u
root db_name' and do whatever he likes.

How to reset a forgotten password.
==================================

If you have forgotten the `root' user password for *MySQL*, you can
restore it with the following procedure.

  1. Take down the mysqld server by sending a `kill' (not `kill -9') to
     the `mysqld' server.  The pid is stored in a `.pid' file which is
     normally in the *MySQL* database directory:

          kill `cat /mysql-data-directory/hostname.pid`

     You must be either the UNIX `root' user or the same user the server
     runs as to do this.

  2. Restart `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables' option.

  3. Connect to the mysqld server with `mysql -h hostname mysql' and
     change the password with a `GRANT' command. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.
     You can also do this with `mysqladmin -h hostname -u user password
     'new password''

  4. Load the privilege tables with: `mysqladmin -h hostname
     flush-privileges' or with the SQL command `FLUSH PRIVILEGES'.

Problems with file permissions
==============================

If you have problems with file permissions, for example, if `mysql'
issues the following error message when you create a table:

     ERROR: Can't find file: 'path/with/filename.frm' (Errcode: 13)

Then the environment variable `UMASK' might be set incorrectly when
`mysqld' starts up.  The default umask value is `0660'. You can change
this behavior by starting `safe_mysqld' as follows:

     shell> UMASK=384  # = 600 in octal
     shell> export UMASK
     shell> /path/to/safe_mysqld &

File not found
==============

If you get `ERROR '...' not found (errno: 23)', `Can't open file: ...
(errno: 24)' or any other error with `errno 23' or `errno 24' from
*MySQL*, it means that you haven't allocated enough file descriptors
for *MySQL*.  You can use the `perror' utility to get a description of
what the error number means:

     shell> perror 23
     File table overflow
     shell> perror 24
     Too many open files

The problem here is that `mysqld' is trying to keep open too many files
simultaneously.  You can either tell `mysqld' not to open so many files
at once, or increase the number of file descriptors available to
`mysqld'.

To tell `mysqld' to keep open fewer files at a time, you can make the
table cache smaller by using the `-O table_cache=32' option to
`safe_mysqld' (the default value is 64). Reducing the value of
`max_connections' will also reduce the number of open files (the default
value is 90).

To change the number of file descriptors available to `mysqld', modify
the `safe_mysqld' script.  There is a commented-out line `ulimit -n
256' in the script.  You can remove the `'#'' character to uncomment
this line, and change the number 256 to change the number of file
descriptors available to `mysqld'.

`ulimit' can increase the number of file descriptors, but only up to the
limit imposed by the operating system.  If you need to increase the OS
limit on the number of file descriptors available to each process,
consult the documentation for your operating system.

Note that if you run the `tcsh' shell, `ulimit' will not work!  `tcsh'
will also report incorrect values when you ask for the current limits!
In this case you should start `safe_mysqld' with `sh'!

Problems using `DATE' columns
=============================

The format of a `DATE' value is `'YYYY-MM-DD''. According to ANSI SQL,
no other format is allowed. You should use this format in `UPDATE'
expressions and in the WHERE clause of `SELECT' statements.  For
example:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE date >= '1997-05-05';

As a convenience, *MySQL* automatically converts a date to a number if
the date is used in a numeric context (and vice versa). It is also smart
enough to allow a "relaxed" string form when updating and in a `WHERE'
clause that compares a date to a `TIMESTAMP', `DATE' or a `DATETIME'
column.  (Relaxed form means that any punctuation character may be used
as the separator between parts. For example, `'1998-08-15'' and
`'1998#08#15'' are equivalent.) *MySQL* can also convert a string
containing no separators (such as `'19980815''), provided it makes
sense as a date.

The special date `'0000-00-00'' can be stored and retrieved as
`'0000-00-00'.' When using a `'0000-00-00'' date through *MyODBC*, it
will automatically be converted to `NULL' in *MyODBC* 2.50.12 and
above, because ODBC can't handle this kind of date.

Since *MySQL* performs the conversions described above, the following
statements work:

     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES (19970505);
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('19970505');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('97-05-05');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('1997.05.05');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('1997 05 05');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('0000-00-00');
     
     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= '1997-05-05';
     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= 19970505;
     mysql> SELECT mod(idate,100) FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= 19970505;
     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= '19970505';

However, the following will not work:

     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE STRCMP(idate,'19970505')=0;

`STRCMP()' is a string function, so it converts `idate' to a string and
performs a string comparison.  It does not convert `'19970505'' to a
date and perform a date comparison.

Note that *MySQL* does no checking whether or not the date is correct.
If you store an incorrect date, such as `'1998-2-31'', the wrong date
will be stored. If the date cannot be converted to any reasonable
value, a `0' is stored in the `DATE' field.  This is mainly a speed
issue and we think it is up to the application to check the dates, and
not the server.

Timezone problems
=================

If you have a problem with `SELECT NOW()' returning values in GMT and
not your local time, you have to set the `TZ' environment variable to
your current timezone.  This should be done for the environment in which
the server runs, for example in `safe_mysqld' or `mysql.server'.

Case sensitivity in searches
============================

By default, *MySQL* searches are case-insensitive (although there are
some character sets that are never case insensitive, such as `czech').
That means that if you search with `col_name LIKE 'a%'', you will get
all column values that start with `A' or `a'. If you want to make this
search case-sensitive, use something like `INDEX(col_name, "A")=0' to
check a prefix. Or use `STRCMP(col_name, "A") = 0' if the column value
must be exactly `"A"'.

Simple comparison operations (`>=, >, = , < , <=', sorting and
grouping) are based on each character's "sort value". Characters with
the same sort value (like E, e and 'e) are treated as the same
character!

`LIKE' comparisons are done on the uppercase value of each character (E
== e but E <> 'e)

If you want a column always to be treated in case-sensitive fashion,
declare it as `BINARY'. *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

If you are using Chinese data in the so-called big5 encoding, you want
to make all character columns `BINARY'. This works because the sorting
order of big5 encoding characters is based on the order of ASCII codes.

Problems with `NULL' values
===========================

The concept of the `NULL' value is a common source of confusion for
newcomers to SQL, who often think that `NULL' is the same thing as an
empty string `'''.  This is not the case! For example, the following
statements are completely different:

     mysql> INSERT INTO my_table (phone) VALUES (NULL);
     mysql> INSERT INTO my_table (phone) VALUES ("");

Both statements insert a value into the `phone' column, but the first
inserts a `NULL' value and the second inserts an empty string.  The
meaning of the first can be regarded as "phone number is not known" and
the meaning of the second can be regarded as "she has no phone".

In SQL, the `NULL' value is always false in comparison to any other
value, even `NULL'.  An expression that contains `NULL' always produces
a `NULL' value unless otherwise indicated in the documentation for the
operators and functions involved in the expression. All columns in the
following example return `NULL':

     mysql> SELECT NULL,1+NULL,CONCAT('Invisible',NULL);

If you want to search for column values that are `NULL', you cannot use
the `=NULL' test. The following statement returns no rows, because
`expr = NULL' is FALSE, for any expression:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE phone = NULL;

To look for `NULL' values, you must use the `IS NULL' test.  The
following shows how to find the `NULL' phone number and the empty phone
number:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE phone IS NULL;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE phone = "";

In *MySQL*, as in many other SQL servers, you can't index columns that
can have `NULL' values.  You must declare such columns `NOT NULL'.
Conversely, you cannot insert `NULL' into an indexed column.

When reading data with `LOAD DATA INFILE', empty columns are updated
with `'''. If you want a `NULL' value in a column, you should use `\N'
in the text file. The literal word `'NULL'' may also be used under some
circumstances.  *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

When using `ORDER BY', `NULL' values are presented first. If you sort
in descending order using `DESC', `NULL' values are presented last.
When using `GROUP BY', all `NULL' values are regarded as equal.

To help with `NULL' handling, you can use the `IS NULL' and `IS NOT
NULL' operators and the `IFNULL()' function.

For some column types, `NULL' values are handled specially.  If you
insert `NULL' into the first `TIMESTAMP' column of a table, the current
date and time is inserted.  If you insert `NULL' into an
`AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the next number in the sequence is inserted.

Problems with `alias'
=====================

You can use alias to refer to a column in the `GROUP BY', `ORDER BY' or
in the `HAVING' part.  Aliases can also be used to give columns more
better names:

     SELECT SQRT(a*b) as rt FROM table_name GROUP BY rt HAVING rt > 0;
     SELECT id,COUNT(*) AS cnt FROM table_name GROUP BY id HAVING cnt > 0;
     SELECT id AS "Customer identity" FROM table_name;

Note that you ANSI SQL doesn't allow you to refer to an alias in a
`WHERE' clause.  This is because that when the `WHERE' code is executed
the column value may not yet be determinated. For example the following
query is *illegal*:

     SELECT id,COUNT(*) AS cnt FROM table_name WHERE cnt > 0 GROUP BY id;

The `WHERE' statement is executed to determinate which rows should be
included in the `GROUP BY' part while `HAVING' is used to decide which
rows from the result set should be used.

Deleting rows from related tables
=================================

As *MySQL* doesn't support sub-selects or use of more than one table in
the `DELETE' statement, you should use the following approach to delete
rows from 2 related tables:

  1. `SELECT' the rows based on some `WHERE' condition in the main
     table.

  2. `DELETE' the rows in the main table based on the same condition.

  3. `DELETE FROM related_table WHERE related_column IN (selected_rows)'

If the total number of characters in the query with `related_column' is
more than 1,048,576 (the default value of `max_allowed_packet', you
should split it into smaller parts and execute multiple `DELETE'
statements.  You will probably get the fastest `DELETE' by only
deleting 100-1000 `related_column' id's per time if the
`related_column' is an index.  If the `related_column' isn't an index,
the speed is independent of the number of arguments in the `IN' clause.

Solving problems with no matching rows
======================================

If you have a complicated query with many tables that doesn't return any
rows, you should use the following procedure to find out what is wrong
with your query:

  1. Test the query with `EXPLAIN' and check if you can find something
     that is obviously wrong. *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

  2. Select only those fields that are used in the `WHERE' clause.

  3. Remove one table at a time from the query until it returns some
     rows.  If the tables are big, it's a good idea to use `LIMIT 10'
     with the query.

  4. Do a `SELECT' for the column that should have matched a row,
     against the table that was last removed from the query.

  5. If you are comparing `FLOAT' or `DOUBLE' columns with numbers that
     have decimals, you can't use `='!  This problem is common in most
     computer languages because floating point values are not exact
     values.

          mysql> SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE float_column=3.5;
             ->
          mysql> SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE float_column between 3.45 and 3.55;

     In most cases, changing the `FLOAT' to a `DOUBLE' will fix this!

  6. If you still can't find out what's wrong, create a minimal test
     that can be run with `mysql test < query.sql' that shows your
     problems.  You can create a test file with `mysqldump --quick
     database tables > query.sql'. Take the file up in a editor, remove
     some insert lines (if there are too many of these) and add your
     select statement last in the file.

     Test that you still have your problem by doing:

          shell> mysqladmin create test2
          shell> mysql test2 < query.sql

     Post the test file using `mysqlbug' to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.

Problems with `ALTER TABLE'.
============================

If `ALTER TABLE' dies with an error like this:

     Error on rename of './database/name.frm' to './database/B-a.frm' (Errcode: 17)

The problem may be that *MySQL* has crashed in a previous `ALTER TABLE'
and there is an old table named `A-something' or `B-something' lying
around.  In this case, go to the *MySQL* data directory and delete all
files that have names starting with `A-' or `B-'.  (You may want to
move them elsewhere instead of deleting them).

`ALTER TABLE' works the following way:

   * Create a new table named `A-xxx' with the requested changes.

   * All rows from the old table are copied to `A-xxx'.

   * The old table is renamed `B-xxx'.

   * `A-xxx' is renamed to your old table name.

   * `B-xxx' is deleted.

If something goes wrong with the renaming operation, *MySQL* tries to
undo the changes.  If something goes seriously wrong (this shouldn't
happen, of course), *MySQL* may leave the old table as `B-xxx' but a
simple rename should get your data back.

How to change the order of columns in a table
=============================================

The whole point of SQL is to abstract the application from the data
storage format.  You should always specify the order in wish you wish to
retrieve your data.  For example:

     SELECT col_name1, col_name2, col_name3 FROM tbl_name;

will return columns in the order `col_name1', `col_name2', `col_name3',
whereas:

     SELECT col_name1, col_name3, col_name2 FROM tbl_name;

will return columns in the order `col_name1', `col_name3', `col_name2'.

You should *NEVER*, in an application, use `SELECT *' and retrieve the
columns based on their position, because the order in which columns are
returned *CANNOT* be guaranteed over time; A simple change to your
database may cause your application to fail rather dramatically.

If you want to change the order of columns anyway, you can do it as
follows:

  1. Create a new table with the columns in the right order.

  2. Execute `INSERT INTO new_table SELECT fields-in-new_table-order
     FROM old_table'.

  3. Drop or rename `old_table'

  4. `ALTER TABLE new_table RENAME old_table'

Solving some common problems with MySQL
***************************************

Database replication
====================

One way replication can be used both to increase robustness and speed.
For robustness you have two systems and switch to the backup if you get
problems you witch to the backup. The extra speed is achieved by
sending a part of the non updating queries to the replica server. Of
course this only works if non updating queries dominate, but that is the
normal case.

One way replication is planned for the near future. This will be
implemented so that slave servers will be synchronized with low priority
updates and delayed inserts up to date (this will give readers higher
priority than writers).

*MySQL* doesn't (yet) have database replication, but here are some info
on how do to it.

The most general way to replicate a database is to use the update log.
*Note Update log::. This requires one database that acts as a master
(to which data changes are made) and one or more other databases that
act as slaves. To update a slave, just run `mysql < update_log'.
Supply host, user and password options that are appropriate for the
slave database, and use the update log from the master database as
input.

If you never delete anything from a table, you can use a `TIMESTAMP'
column to find out which rows have been inserted or changed in the table
since the last replication (by comparing to the time when you did the
replication last time) and only copy these rows to the mirror.

It is possible to make a two-way updating system using both the update
log (for deletes) and timestamps (on both sides). But in that case you
must be able to handle conflicts when the same data have been changed in
both ends. You probably want to keep the old version to help with
deciding what has been updated.

Because replication in this case is done with SQL statements, you
should not use the following functions in statements that update the
database; they may not return the same value as in the original
database:

   * `DATABASE()'

   * `GET_LOCK()' and `RELEASE_LOCK()'

   * `RAND()'

   * `USER()', `SYSTEM_USER()' or `SESSION_USER()'

   * `VERSION()'

All time functions are safe to use, as the timestamp is sent to the
mirror if needed. `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is also safe to use.

Database backups
================

Since *MySQL* tables are stored as files, it is easy to do a backup. To
get a consistent backup, do a `LOCK TABLES' on the relevant tables.
*Note `LOCK TABLES': LOCK TABLES. You only need a read lock; this
allows other threads to continue to query the tables while you are
making a copy of the files in the database directory. If you want to
make a SQL level backup, you can use `SELECT INTO OUTFILE'.

Another way to backup a database is to use the `mysqldump' program:

  1. Do a full backup of your databases:

          shell> mysqldump --tab=/path/to/some/dir --opt --full

     You can also simply copy all table files (`*.frm', `*.MYD' and
     `*.MYI' files), as long as the server isn't updating anything.

  2. Stop `mysqld' if it's running, then start it with the
     `--log-update' option.  You will get log files with names of the
     form `hostname.n', where `n' is a number that is incremented each
     time you execute `mysqladmin refresh' or `mysqladmin flush-logs',
     the `FLUSH LOGS' statement, or restart the server.  These log
     files provide you with the information you need to replicate
     changes to the database that are made subsequent to the point at
     which you executed `mysqldump'.

If you have to restore something, try to recover your tables using
`myisamchk -r' first.  That should work in 99.9% of all cases.  If
`myisamchk' fails, try the following procedure:

  1. Restore the original `mysqldump' backup.

  2. Execute the following command to re-run the updates in the update
     logs:
          shell> ls -1 -t -r hostname.[0-9]* | xargs cat | mysql

`ls' is used to get all the log files in the right order.

You can also do selective backups with `SELECT * INTO OUTFILE
'file_name' FROM tbl_name' and restore with `LOAD DATA INFILE
'file_name' REPLACE ...' To avoid duplicate records, you need a
`PRIMARY KEY' or a `UNIQUE' key in the table. The `REPLACE' keyword
causes old records to be replaced with new ones when a new record
duplicates an old record on a unique key value.

Running multiple MySQL servers on the same machine
==================================================

There are circumstances when you might want to run multiple servers on
the same machine.  For example, you might want to test a new *MySQL*
release while leaving your existing production setup undisturbed.  Or
you might be an Internet service provider that wants to provide
independent *MySQL* installations for different customers.

If you want to run multiple servers, the easiest way is to compile the
servers with different TCP/IP ports and socket files so they are not
both listening to the same TCP/IP port or socket file.

Assume an existing server is configured for the default port number and
socket file.  Then configure the new server with a `configure' command
something like this:

     shell> ./configure  --with-tcp-port=port_number \
                  --with-unix-socket=file_name \
                  --prefix=/usr/local/mysql-3.22.9

Here `port_number' and `file_name' should be different than the default
port number and socket file pathname, and the `--prefix' value should
specify an installation directory different than the one under which
the existing *MySQL* installation is located.

You can check the socket and port used by any currently-executing
*MySQL* server with this command:

     shell> mysqladmin -h hostname --port=port_number variables

If you have a *MySQL* server running on the port you used, you will get
a list of some of the most important configurable variables in *MySQL*,
including the socket name.

You should also edit the initialization script for your machine
(probably `mysql.server') to start and kill multiple `mysqld' servers.

You don't have to recompile a new *MySQL* server just to start with a
different port and socket.  You can change the port and socket to be
used by specifying them at runtime as options to `safe_mysqld':

     shell> /path/to/safe_mysqld --socket=file_name --port=port_number

If you run the new server on the same database directory as another
server with logging enabled, you should also specify the name of the
log files to `safe_mysqld' with `--log' and `--log-update'.  Otherwise,
both servers may be trying to write to the same log file.

*Warning*: Normally you should never have two servers that update data
in the same database!  If your OS doesn't support fault-free system
locking, this may lead to unpleasant surprises!

If you want to use another database directory for the second server, you
can use the `--datadir=path' option to `safe_mysqld'.

When you want to connect to a *MySQL* server that is running with a
different port than the port that is compiled into your client, you can
use one of the following methods:

   * Start the client with `--host 'hostname' --port=port_numer' or
     `[--host localhost] --socket=file_name'.

   * In your C or Perl programs, you can give the port and socket
     arguments when connecting to the *MySQL* server.

   * Set the `MYSQL_UNIX_PORT' and `MYSQL_TCP_PORT' environment
     variables to point to the Unix socket and TCP/IP port before you
     start your clients.  If you normally use a specific socket or
     port, you should place commands to set these environment variables
     in your `.login' file.  *Note Programs::.

   * Specify the default socket and TCP/IP port in the `.my.cnf' file
     in your home directory. *Note Option files::.

MySQL client tools and APIs
***************************

MySQL C API
===========

The C API code is distributed with *MySQL*. It is included in the
`mysqlclient' library and allows C programs to access a database.

Many of the clients in the MySQL source distribution are written in C.
If you are looking for examples that demonstrate how to use the C API,
take a look at these clients.

Most of the other client APIs (all except Java) use the `mysqlclient'
library to communicate with the *MySQL* server. This means that, for
example, you can take advantage of many of the same environment
variables that are used by other client programs, because they are
referenced from the library.  See *Note Programs::, for a list of these
variables.

The client has a maximum communication buffer size. The size of the
buffer that is allocated initially (16K bytes) is automatically
increased up to the maximum size (the default maximum is 24M). Since
buffer sizes are increased only as demand warrants, simply increasing
the default maximum limit does not in inself cause more resources to be
used. This size check is mostly a check for erroneous queries and
communication packets.

The communication buffer must be large enough to contain a single SQL
statement (for client-to-server traffic) and one row of returned data
(for server-to-client traffic).  Each thread's communication buffer is
dynamically enlarged to handle any query or row up to the maximum
limit.  For example, if you have `BLOB' values that contain up to 16M
of data, you must have a communication buffer limit of at least 16M (in
both server and client).  The client's default maximum is 24M, but the
default maximum in the server is 1M.  You can increase this by changing
the value of the `max_allowed_packet' parameter when the server is
started.  *Note Server parameters::.

The *MySQL* server shrinks each communication buffer to
`net_buffer_length' bytes after each query.  For clients, the size of
the buffer associated with a connection is not decreased until the
connection is closed, at which time client memory is reclaimed.

If you are programming with threads, you should compile the *MySQL* C
API with `--with-thread-safe-client'.  This will make the C API thread
safe per connection.   You can let two threads share the same
connection as long if you do the following:


     Two threads can't send a query to the *MySQL* at the same time on
     the same connection.  In particular you have to ensure that
     between a `mysql_query()' and `mysql_store_result()' no other
     thread is using the same connection.


     Many threads can access different result sets that are retrieved
     with `mysql_store_result()'.


     If you use `mysql_use_result', you have to ensure that no other
     thread is asking anything on the same connection until the result
     set is closed.

C API datatypes
===============

`MYSQL'
     This structure represents a handle to one database connection. It
     is used for almost all *MySQL* functions.

`MYSQL_RES'
     This structure represents the result of a query that returns rows
     (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE', `EXPLAIN').  The information
     returned from a query is called the *result set* in the remainder
     of this section.

`MYSQL_ROW'
     This is a type-safe representation of one row of data. It is
     currently implemented as an array of counted byte strings.  (You
     cannot treat these as null-terminated strings if field values may
     contain binary data, because such values may contain null bytes
     internally.)  Rows are obtained by calling `mysql_fetch_row()'.

`MYSQL_FIELD'
     This structure contains information about a field, such as the
     field's name, type and size. Its members are described in more
     detail below.  You may obtain the `MYSQL_FIELD' structures for
     each field by calling `mysql_fetch_field()' repeatedly.  Field
     values are not part of this structure; they are contained in a
     `MYSQL_ROW' structure.

`MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET'
     This is a type-safe representation of an offset into a *MySQL*
     field list.  (Used by `mysql_field_seek()'.)  Offsets are field
     numbers within a row, beginning at zero.

`my_ulonglong'
     The type used for the number of rows and for
     `mysql_affected_rows()', `mysql_num_rows()' and
     `mysql_insert_id()'. This type provides a range of `0' to
     `1.84e19'.

     On some systems, attempting to print a value of type `my_ulonglong'
     will not work.  To print such a value, convert it to `unsigned
     long' and use a `%lu' print format.  Example:
          printf (Number of rows: %lu\n", (unsigned long) mysql_num_rows(result));

The `MYSQL_FIELD' structure contains the members listed below:

`char * name'
     The name of the field, as a null-terminated string.

`char * table'
     The name of the table containing this field, if it isn't a
     calculated field.  For calculated fields, the `table' value is an
     empty string.

`char * def'
     The default value of this field, as a null-terminated string.
     This is set only if you use `mysql_list_fields()'.

`enum enum_field_types type'
     The type of the field.  The `type' value may be one of the
     following:

     *Type value*         *Type meaning*                        
     `FIELD_TYPE_TINY'    `TINYINT' field                       
     `FIELD_TYPE_SHORT'   `SMALLINT' field                      
     `FIELD_TYPE_LONG'    `INTEGER' field                       
     `FIELD_TYPE_INT24'   `MEDIUMINT' field                     
     `FIELD_TYPE_LONGLONG'`BIGINT' field                        
     `FIELD_TYPE_DECIMAL' `DECIMAL' or `NUMERIC' field          
     `FIELD_TYPE_FLOAT'   `FLOAT' field                         
     `FIELD_TYPE_DOUBLE'  `DOUBLE' or `REAL' field              
     `FIELD_TYPE_TIMESTAMP'`TIMESTAMP' field                     
     `FIELD_TYPE_DATE'    `DATE' field                          
     `FIELD_TYPE_TIME'    `TIME' field                          
     `FIELD_TYPE_DATETIME'`DATETIME' field                      
     `FIELD_TYPE_YEAR'    `YEAR' field                          
     `FIELD_TYPE_STRING'  String (`CHAR' or `VARCHAR') field    
     `FIELD_TYPE_BLOB'    `BLOB' or `TEXT' field (use           
                          `max_length' to determine the         
                          maximum length)                       
     `FIELD_TYPE_SET'     `SET' field                           
     `FIELD_TYPE_ENUM'    `ENUM' field                          
     `FIELD_TYPE_NULL'    `NULL'-type field                     
     `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR'    Deprecated; use `FIELD_TYPE_TINY'     
                          instead                               

     You can use the `IS_NUM()' macro to test whether or not a field
     has a numeric type.  Pass the `type' value to `IS_NUM()' and it
     will evaluate to TRUE if the field is numeric:

          if (IS_NUM(field->type))
              printf("Field is numeric\n");

`unsigned int length'
     The width of the field, as specified in the table definition.

`unsigned int max_length'
     The maximum width of the field for the result set (the length of
     the longest field value for the rows actually in the result set).
     If you use `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_list_fields()', this
     contains the maximum length for the field.  If you use
     `mysql_use_result()', the value of this variable is zero.

`unsigned int flags'
     Different bit-flags for the field.  The `flags' value may have zero
     or more of the following bits set:

     *Flag value*         *Flag meaning*                        
     `NOT_NULL_FLAG'      Field can't be `NULL'                 
     `PRI_KEY_FLAG'       Field is part of a primary key        
     `UNIQUE_KEY_FLAG'    Field is part of a unique key         
     `MULTIPLE_KEY_FLAG'  Field is part of a non-unique key.    
     `UNSIGNED_FLAG'      Field has the `UNSIGNED' attribute    
     `ZEROFILL_FLAG'      Field has the `ZEROFILL' attribute    
     `BINARY_FLAG'        Field has the `BINARY' attribute      
     `AUTO_INCREMENT_FLAG'Field has the `AUTO_INCREMENT'        
                          attribute                             
     `ENUM_FLAG'          Field is an `ENUM' (deprecated)       
     `BLOB_FLAG'          Field is a `BLOB' or `TEXT'           
                          (deprecated)                          
     `TIMESTAMP_FLAG'     Field is a `TIMESTAMP' (deprecated)   

     Use of the `BLOB_FLAG', `ENUM_FLAG' and `TIMESTAMP_FLAG' flags is
     deprecated because they indicate the type of a field rather than an
     attribute of its type.  It is preferable to test `field->type'
     against `FIELD_TYPE_BLOB', `FIELD_TYPE_ENUM' or
     `FIELD_TYPE_TIMESTAMP' instead.

     The example below illustrates a typical use of the `flags' value:

          if (field->flags & NOT_NULL_FLAG)
              printf("Field can't be null\n");

     You may use the following convenience macros to determine the
     boolean status of the `flags' value:

     `IS_NOT_NULL(flags)' True if this field is defined as   
                          `NOT NULL'                         
     `IS_PRI_KEY(flags)'  True if this field is a primary    
                          key                                
     `IS_BLOB(flags)'     True if this field is a `BLOB' or  
                          `TEXT' (deprecated; test           
                          `field->type' instead)             

`unsigned int decimals'
     The number of decimals for numeric fields.

C API function overview
=======================

The functions available in the C API are listed below and are described
in greater detail in the next section.  *Note C API functions::.

*mysql_affected_rows()* Returns the number of rows affected by the last   
                       `UPDATE', `DELETE' or `INSERT' query.              
*mysql_close()*         Closes a server connection.                       
*mysql_connect()*       Connects to a *MySQL* server. This function is    
                       deprecated; use `mysql_real_connect()' instead.    
*mysql_change_user()*   Change user and database on an open connection.   
*mysql_create_db()*     Creates a database. This function is deprecated;  
                       use the SQL command `CREATE DATABASE' instead.     
*mysql_data_seek()*     Seeks to an arbitrary row in a query result set.  
*mysql_debug()*         Does a `DBUG_PUSH' with the given string.         
*mysql_drop_db()*       Drops a database. This function is deprecated;    
                       use the SQL command `DROP DATABASE' instead.       
*mysql_dump_debug_info()* Makes the server write debug information to the   
                       log.                                               
*mysql_eof()*           Determines whether or not the last row of a       
                       result set has been read.  This function is        
                       deprecated; `mysql_errno()' or `mysql_error()'     
                       may be used instead.                               
*mysql_errno()*         Returns the error number for the most recently    
                       invoked *MySQL* function.                          
*mysql_error()*         Returns the error message for the most recently   
                       invoked *MySQL* function.                          
*mysql_escape_string()* Escapes special characters in a string for use    
                       in a SQL statement.                                
*mysql_fetch_field()*   Returns the type of the next table field.         
*mysql_fetch_field_direct()* Returns the type of a table field, given a field  
                       number.                                            
*mysql_fetch_fields()*  Returns an array of all field structures.         
*mysql_fetch_lengths()* Returns the lengths of all columns in the         
                       current row.                                       
*mysql_fetch_row()*     Fetches the next row from the result set.         
*mysql_field_seek()*    Puts the column cursor on a specified column.     
*mysql_field_count()*   Returns the number of result columns for the      
                       most recent query.                                 
*mysql_field_tell()*    Returns the position of the field cursor used     
                       for the last `mysql_fetch_field()'.                
*mysql_free_result()*   Frees memory used by a result set.                
*mysql_get_client_info()* Returns client version information.               
*mysql_get_host_info()* Returns a string describing the connection.       
*mysql_get_proto_info()* Returns the protocol version used by the          
                       connection.                                        
*mysql_get_server_info()* Returns the server version number.                
*mysql_info()*          Returns information about the most recently       
                       executed query.                                    
*mysql_init()*          Gets or initializes a `MYSQL' structure.          
*mysql_insert_id()*     Returns the ID generated for an `AUTO_INCREMENT'  
                       column by the previous query.                      
*mysql_kill()*          Kill a given thread.                              
*mysql_list_dbs()*      Returns database names matching a simple regular  
                       expression.                                        
*mysql_list_fields()*   Returns field names matching a simple regular     
                       expression.                                        
*mysql_list_processes()* Returns a list of the current server threads.     
*mysql_list_tables()*   Returns table names matching a simple regular     
                       expression.                                        
*mysql_num_fields()*    Returns the number of columns in a result set.    
*mysql_num_rows()*      Returns the number of rows in a result set.       
*mysql_options()*       Set connect options for `mysql_connect()'.        
*mysql_ping()*          Checks whether or not the connection to the       
                       server is working, reconnecting as necessary.      
*mysql_query()*         Executes a SQL query specified as a               
                       null-terminated string.                            
*mysql_real_connect()*  Connects to a *MySQL* server.                     
*mysql_real_query()*    Executes a SQL query specified as a counted       
                       string.                                            
*mysql_reload()*        Tells the server to reload the grant tables.      
*mysql_row_seek()*      Seeks to a row in a result set, using value       
                       returned from `mysql_row_tell()'.                  
*mysql_row_tell()*      Returns the row cursor position.                  
*mysql_select_db()*     Connects to a database.                           
*mysql_shutdown()*      Shuts down the database server.                   
*mysql_stat()*          Returns the server status as a string.            
*mysql_store_result()*  Retrieves a complete result set to the client.    
*mysql_thread_id()*     Returns the current thread ID.                    
*mysql_use_result()*    Initiates a row-by-row result set retrieval.      

To connect to the server, call `mysql_init()' to initialize a connection
handler, then call `mysql_real_connect()' with that handler (along with
other information such as the hostname, user name and password).  When
you are done with the connection, call `mysql_close()' to terminate it.

While a connection is active, the client may send SQL queries to the
server using `mysql_query()' or `mysql_real_query()'.  The difference
between the two is that `mysql_query()' expects the query to be
specified as a null-terminated string whereas `mysql_real_query()'
expects a counted string.  If the string contains binary data (which may
include null bytes), you must use `mysql_real_query()'.

For each non-`SELECT' query (e.g., `INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE'), you
can found out how many rows were affected (changed) by calling
`mysql_affected_rows()'.

For `SELECT' queries, you retrieve the selected rows as a result set.
(Note that some statements are `SELECT'-like in that they return rows.
These include `SHOW', `DESCRIBE' and `EXPLAIN'.  They should be treated
the same way as `SELECT' statements.)

There are two ways for a client to process result sets.  One way is to
retrieve the entire result set all at once by calling
`mysql_store_result()'.  This function acquires from the server all the
rows returned by the query and stores them in the client.  The second
way is for the client to initiate a row-by-row result set retrieval by
calling `mysql_use_result()'.  This function initializes the retrieval,
but does not actually get any rows from the server.

In both cases, you access rows by calling `mysql_fetch_row()'.  With
`mysql_store_result()', `mysql_fetch_row()' accesses rows that have
already been fetched from the server.  With `mysql_use_result()',
`mysql_fetch_row()' actually retrieves the row from the server.
Information about as the size of the data values in each row is
available by calling `mysql_fetch_lengths()'.

After you are done with a result set, call `mysql_free_result()' to
free the memory used for it.

The two retrieval mechanisms are complementary.  Client programs should
choose the approach that is most appropriate for their requirements.
In practice, clients tend to use `mysql_store_result()' more commonly.

An advantage of `mysql_store_result()' is that since the rows have all
been fetched to the client, you not only can access rows sequentially,
you can move back and forth in the result set using `mysql_data_seek()'
or `mysql_row_seek()' to change the current row position within the
result set.  You can also find out how many rows there are by calling
`mysql_num_rows()'.  On the other hand, the memory requirements for
`mysql_store_result()' may be very high for large result sets and you
are more likely to encounter out-of-memory conditions.

An advantage of `mysql_use_result()' is that the client requires less
memory for the result set since it maintains only one row at a time (and
since there is less allocation overhead, `mysql_use_result()' can be
faster).  Disadvantages are that you must process each row quickly to
avoid tying up the server, you don't have random access to rows within
the result set (you can only access rows sequentially), and you don't
know how many rows are in the result set until you have retrieved them
all.  Furthermore, you *must* retrieve all the rows even if you
determine in mid-retrieval that you've found the information you were
looking for.

The API makes it possible for clients to respond appropriately to
queries (retrieving rows only as necessary) without knowing whether or
not the query is a `SELECT'.  You can do this by calling
`mysql_store_result()' after each `mysql_query()' (or
`mysql_real_query()').  If the result set call succeeds, the query was
a `SELECT' and you can read the rows.  If the result set call fails,
call `mysql_field_count()' to determine whether or not a result was
actually to be expected.  If `mysql_field_count()' returns zero, the
query returned no data (indicating that it was an `INSERT', `UPDATE',
`DELETE', etc.), and thus not expected to return rows.  If
`mysql_field_count()' is non-zero, the query should have returned rows,
but didn't.  This indicates that the query was a `SELECT' that failed.
See the description for `mysql_field_count()' for an example of how
this can be done.

Both `mysql_store_result()' and `mysql_use_result()' allow you to
obtain information about the fields that make up the result set (the
number of fields, their names and types, etc.).  You can access field
information sequentially within the row by calling
`mysql_fetch_field()' repeatedly, or by field number within the row by
calling `mysql_fetch_field_direct()'.  The current field cursor
position may be changed by calling `mysql_field_seek()'.  Setting the
field cursor affects subsequent calls to `mysql_fetch_field()'.  You
can also get information for fields all at once by calling
`mysql_fetch_fields()'.

For detecting and reporting errors, *MySQL* provides access to error
information by means of the `mysql_errno()' and `mysql_error()'
functions.  These return the error code or error message for the most
recently invoked function that can succeed or fail, allowing you to
determine when an error occurred and what it was.

C API function descriptions
===========================

In the descriptions below, a parameter or return value of `NULL' means
`NULL' in the sense of the C programming language, not a *MySQL* `NULL'
value.

Functions that return a value generally return a pointer or an integer.
Unless specified otherwise, functions returning a pointer return a
non-`NULL' value to indicate success or a `NULL' value to indicate an
error, and functions returning an integer return zero to indicate
success or non-zero to indicate an error.  Note that "non-zero" means
just that.  Unless the function description says otherwise, do not test
against a value other than zero:

     if (result)                   /* correct */
         ... error ...
     
     if (result < 0)               /* incorrect */
         ... error ...
     
     if (result == -1)             /* incorrect */
         ... error ...

When a function returns an error, the *Errors* subsection of the
function description lists the possible types of errors.  You can find
out which of these occurred by calling `mysql_errno()'.  A string
representation of the error may be obtained by calling `mysql_error()'.

`mysql_affected_rows()'
-----------------------

`my_ulonglong mysql_affected_rows(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of rows affected (changed) by the last `UPDATE',
`DELETE' or `INSERT' query. May be called immediately after
`mysql_query()' for `UPDATE', `DELETE' or `INSERT' statements.  For
`SELECT' statements, `mysql_affected_rows()' works like
`mysql_num_rows()'.

`mysql_affected_rows()' is currently implemented as a macro.

Return values
.............

An integer greater than zero indicates the number of rows affected or
retrieved.  Zero indicates that no records matched the `WHERE' clause in
the query or that no query has yet been executed.  -1 indicates that the
query returned an error or that, for a `SELECT' query,
`mysql_affected_rows()' was called prior to calling
`mysql_store_result()'.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     mysql_query(&mysql,"UPDATE products SET cost=cost*1.25 WHERE group=10");
     printf("%d products updated",mysql_affected_rows(&mysql));

`mysql_close()'
---------------

`void mysql_close(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Closes a previously opened connection.  `mysql_close()' also deallocates
the connection handle pointed to by `mysql' if the handle was allocated
automatically by `mysql_init()' or `mysql_connect()'.

Return values
.............

None.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_connect()'
-----------------

`MYSQL *mysql_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host, const char *user,
const char *passwd)'

Description
...........

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use
`mysql_real_connect()' instead.

`mysql_connect()' attempts to establish a connection to a *MySQL*
database engine running on `host'.  `mysql_connect()' must complete
successfully before you can execute any of the other API functions,
with the exception of `mysql_get_client_info()'.

The meanings of the parameters are the same as for the corresponding
parameters for `mysql_connect()' with the difference that the
connection paramater may be `NULL'. In this case the C API allocates
memory for the connection structure automatically and frees it when you
call `mysql_close()'. The disadvantage of this approach is that you
can't retrieve an error message if the connection fails.  (To get error
information from `mysql_errno()' or `mysql_error()', you must provide a
valid `MYSQL' pointer.)

Return values
.............

Same as for `mysql_real_connect()'.

Errors
......

Same as for `mysql_real_connect()'.

`mysql_change_user()'
---------------------

`my_bool mysql_change_user(MYSQL *mysql, const char *user, const char
*password, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Changes the user and causes the database specified by `db' to become
the default (current) database on the connection specified by `mysql'.
In subsequent queries, this database is the default for table
references that do not include an explicit database specifier.

This function was introduced in *MySQL* 3.23.3.

`mysql_change_user()' fails unless the connected user can be
authenticated or if he doesn't have permission to use the database.  In
this case the user and database are not changed

The `db' parameter may be set to `NULL' if you don't want to have a
default database.

Return values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

The same that you can get from `mysql_real_connect()'.

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`ER_UNKNOWN_COM_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server doesn't implement this command (probably an old
     server)

`ER_ACCESS_DENIED_ERROR'
     The user or password was wrong.

`ER_BAD_DB_ERROR'
     The database didn't exists.

`ER_DBACCESS_DENIED_ERROR'
     The user did not have access rights to the database.

`ER_WRONG_DB_NAME'
     The database name was too long.

Example
.......

     if (mysql_change_user(&mysql, "user", "password", "new_database"))
     {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to change user.  Error: %s\n",
                mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_create_db()'
-------------------

`int mysql_create_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Creates the database named by the `db' parameter.

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use `mysql_query()'
to issue a SQL `CREATE DATABASE' statement instead.

Return values
.............

Zero if the database was created successfully. Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

     if(mysql_create_db(&mysql, "my_database"))
     {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create new database.  Error: %s\n",
                mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_data_seek()'
-------------------

`void mysql_data_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, unsigned long long offset)'

Description
...........

Seeks to an arbitrary row in a query result set.  This requires that the
result set structure contains the entire result of the query, so
`mysql_data_seek()' may be used in conjunction only with
`mysql_store_result()', not with `mysql_use_result()'.

The offset should be a value in the range from 0 to
`mysql_num_rows(result)-1'.

Return values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_debug()'
---------------

`void mysql_debug(char *debug)'

Description
...........

Does a `DBUG_PUSH' with the given string. `mysql_debug()' uses the Fred
Fish debug library. To use this function, you must compile the client
library to support debugging.  *Note Debugging server::. *Note
Debugging client::.

Return values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

The call shown below causes the client library to generate a trace file
in `/tmp/client.trace' on the client machine:

     mysql_debug("d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace");

`mysql_drop_db()'
-----------------

`int mysql_drop_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Drops the database named by the `db' parameter.

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use `mysql_query()'
to issue a SQL `DROP DATABASE' statement instead.

Return values
.............

Zero if the database was dropped successfully. Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

     if(mysql_drop_db(&mysql, "my_database"))
       fprintf(stderr, "Failed to drop the database: Error: %s\n",
               mysql_error(&mysql));

`mysql_dump_debug_info()'
-------------------------

`int mysql_dump_debug_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Instructs the server to write some debug information to the log.  The
connected user must have the *process* privilege for this to work.

Return values
.............

Zero if the command was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_eof()'
-------------

`my_bool mysql_eof(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

This function is deprecated.  `mysql_errno()' or `mysql_error()' may be
used instead.

`mysql_eof()' determines whether or not the last row of a result set
has been read.

If you acquire a result set from a successful call to
`mysql_store_result()', the client receives the entire set in one
operation.  In this case, a `NULL' return from `mysql_fetch_row()'
always means the end of the result set has been reached and it is
unnecessary to call `mysql_eof()'.

On the other hand, if you use `mysql_use_result()' to initiate a result
set retrieval, the rows of the set are obtained from the server one by
one as you call `mysql_fetch_row()' repeatedly.  Because an error may
occur on the connection during this process, a `NULL' return value from
`mysql_fetch_row()' does not necessarily mean the end of the result set
was reached normally.  In this case, you can use `mysql_eof()' to
determine what happened.  `mysql_eof()' returns a non-zero value if the
end of the result set was reached and zero if an error occurred.

Historically, `mysql_eof()' predates the standard *MySQL* error
functions `mysql_errno()' and `mysql_error()'.  Since those error
functions provide the same information, their use is preferred over
`mysql_eof()', which is now deprecated.  (In fact, they provide more
information, since `mysql_eof()' returns only a boolean value whereas
the error functions indicate a reason for the error when one occurs.)

Return values
.............

Zero if an error occurred. Non-zero if the end of the result set has
been reached.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

The following example shows how you might use `mysql_eof()':

     mysql_query(&mysql,"SELECT * FROM some_table");
     result = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
     while((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
     {
         // do something with data
     }
     if(!mysql_eof(result))  // mysql_fetch_row() failed due to an error
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

However, you can achieve the same effect with the standard *MySQL*
error functions:

     mysql_query(&mysql,"SELECT * FROM some_table");
     result = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
     while((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
     {
         // do something with data
     }
     if(mysql_errno(&mysql))  // mysql_fetch_row() failed due to an error
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_errno()'
---------------

`unsigned int mysql_errno(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

For the connection specified by `mysql', `mysql_errno()' returns the
error code for the most recently invoked API function that can succeed
or fail.  A return value of zero means that no error occurred. Client
error message numbers are listed in the *MySQL* `errmsg.h' header file.
Server error message numbers are listed in `mysqld_error.h'

Return values:
..............

An error code value. Zero if no error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_error()'
---------------

`char *mysql_error(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

For the connection specified by `mysql', `mysql_error()' returns the
error message for the most recently invoked API function that can
succeed or fail.  An empty string (`""') is returned if no error
occurred.  This means the following two tests are equivalent:

     if(mysql_errno(&mysql))
     {
         // an error occurred
     }
     
     if(mysql_error(&mysql)[0] != '\0')
     {
         // an error occurred
     }

The language of the client error messages may be changed by recompiling
the *MySQL* client library. Currently you can choose error messages in
several different languages.  *Note Languages::.

Return values
.............

A character string that describes the error.  An empty string if no
error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_escape_string()'
-----------------------

`unsigned int mysql_escape_string(char *to, const char *from, unsigned
int length)'

Description
...........

Encodes the string in `from' to an escaped SQL string that can be sent
to the server in a SQL statement, places the result in `to', and adds a
terminating null byte.  Characters encoded are `NUL' (ASCII 0), `\n',
`\r', `\', `'', `"' and Control-Z (*note Literals::.).

The string pointed to by `from' must be `length' bytes long.  You must
allocate the `to' buffer to be at least `length*2+1' bytes long.  (In
the worse case, each character may need to be encoded as using two
bytes, and you need room for the terminating null byte.)  When
`mysql_escape_string()' returns, the contents of `to' will be a
null-terminated string.  The return value is the length of the encoded
string, not including the terminating null character.

Example
.......

     char query[1000],*end;
     
     end = strmov(query,"INSERT INTO test_table values(");
     *end++ = '\'';
     end += mysql_escape_string(end,"What's this",11);
     *end++ = '\'';
     *end++ = ',';
     *end++ = '\'';
     end += mysql_escape_string(end,"binary data: \0\r\n",16);
     *end++ = '\'';
     *end++ = ')';
     
     if (mysql_real_query(&mysql,query,(unsigned int) (end - query)))
     {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to insert row, Error: %s\n",
                mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

The `strmov()' function used in the example is included in the
`mysqlclient' library and works like `strcpy()' but returns a pointer
to the terminating null of the first parameter.

Return values
.............

The length of the value placed into `to', not including the terminating
null character.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_fetch_field()'
---------------------

`MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_field(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the definition of one column of a result set as a `MYSQL_FIELD'
structure. Call this function repeatedly to retrieve information about
all columns in the result set.  `mysql_fetch_field()' returns `NULL'
when no more fields are left.

`mysql_fetch_field()' is reset to return information about the first
field each time you execute a new `SELECT' query.  The field returned by
`mysql_fetch_field()' is also affected by calls to `mysql_field_seek()'.

If you've called `mysql_query()' to perform a `SELECT' on a table but
have not called `mysql_store_result()', *MySQL* returns the default
blob length (8K bytes) if you call `mysql_fetch_field()' to ask for the
length of a `BLOB' field.  (The 8K size is chosen because *MySQL*
doesn't know the maximum length for the `BLOB'. This should be made
configurable sometime.) Once you've retrieved the result set,
`field->max_length' contains the length of the largest value for this
column in the specific query.

Return values
.............

The `MYSQL_FIELD' structure for the current column. `NULL' if no
columns are left.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_FIELD *field;
     
     while((field = mysql_fetch_field(result)))
     {
         printf("field name %s\n", field->name);
     }

`mysql_fetch_fields()'
----------------------

`MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_fields(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns an array of all `MYSQL_FIELD' structures for a result set.
Each structure provides the field definition for one column of the
result set.

Return values
.............

An array of `MYSQL_FIELD' structures for all columns of a result set.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     MYSQL_FIELD *fields;
     
     num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
     fields = mysql_fetch_fields(result);
     for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
     {
        printf("Field %u is %s\n", i, fields[i].name);
     }

`mysql_fetch_field_direct()'
----------------------------

`MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_field_direct(MYSQL_RES *result, unsigned int
fieldnr)'

Description
...........

Given a field number `fieldnr' for a column within a result set, returns
that column's field definition as a `MYSQL_FIELD' structure. You may use
this function to retrieve the definition for an arbitrary column.  The
value of `fieldnr' should be in the range from 0 to
`mysql_num_fields(result)-1'.

Return values
.............

The `MYSQL_FIELD' structure for the specified column.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     MYSQL_FIELD *field;
     
     num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
     for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
     {
         field = mysql_fetch_field_direct(result, i);
         printf("Field %u is %s\n", i, field->name);
     }

`mysql_fetch_lengths()'
-----------------------

`unsigned long *mysql_fetch_lengths(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the lengths of the columns of the current row within a result
set.  If you plan to copy field values, this length information is also
useful for optimization, because you can avoid calling `strlen()'.  In
addition, if the result set contains binary data, you *must* use this
function to determine the size of the data, because `strlen()' returns
incorrect results for any field containing null characters.

The length for empty columns and for columns containing `NULL' values is
zero.  To see how to distinguish these two cases, see the description
for `mysql_fetch_row()'.

Return values
.............

An array of unsigned long integers representing the size of each column
(not including any terminating null characters).  `NULL' if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`mysql_fetch_lengths()' is valid only for the current row of the result
set.  It returns `NULL' if you call it before calling
`mysql_fetch_row()' or after retrieving all rows in the result.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_ROW row;
     unsigned long *lengths;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     
     row = mysql_fetch_row(result);
     if (row)
     {
         num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
         lengths = mysql_fetch_lengths(result);
         for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
         {
              printf("Column %u is %lu bytes in length.\n", i, lengths[i]);
         }
     }

`mysql_fetch_row()'
-------------------

`MYSQL_ROW mysql_fetch_row(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Retrieves the next row of a result set. When used after
`mysql_store_result()', `mysql_fetch_row()' returns `NULL' when there
are no more rows to retrieve.  When used after `mysql_use_result()',
`mysql_fetch_row()' returns `NULL' when there are no more rows to
retrieve or if an error occurred.

The number of values in the row is given by `mysql_num_fields(result)'.
If `row' holds the return value from a call to `mysql_fetch_row()',
pointers to the values are accessed as `row[0]' to
`row[mysql_num_fields(result)-1]'.  `NULL' values in the row are
indicated by `NULL' pointers.

The lengths of the field values in the row may be obtained by calling
`mysql_fetch_lengths()'.  Empty fields and fields containing `NULL'
both have length 0; you can distinguish these by checking the pointer
for the field value.  If the pointer is `NULL', the field is `NULL';
otherwise the field is empty.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_ROW' structure for the next row.  `NULL' if there are no more
rows to retrieve or if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_ROW row;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     
     num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
     while ((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
     {
        unsigned long *lengths;
        lengths = mysql_fetch_lengths(result);
        for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
        {
            printf("[%.*s] ", (int) lengths[i], row[i] ? row[i] : "NULL");
        }
        printf("\n");
     }

`mysql_field_count()'
---------------------

`unsigned int mysql_field_count(MYSQL *mysql)'

If you are using a version of *MySQL* earlier than 3.22.24, you should
use `unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL *mysql)' instead.

Description
...........

Returns the number of columns for the most recent query on the
connection.

The normal use of this function is when `mysql_store_result()' returned
`NULL' (and thus you have no result set pointer).  In this case, you
can call `mysql_field_count()' to determine whether or not
`mysql_store_result()' should have produced a non-empty result.  This
allows the client program to take proper action without knowing whether
or not the query was a `SELECT' (or `SELECT'-like) statement.  The
example shown below illustrates how this may be done.

*Note `NULL mysql_store_result()': NULL mysql_store_result.

Return values
.............

An unsigned integer representing the number of fields in a result set.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_RES *result;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int num_rows;
     
     if (mysql_query(&mysql,query_string))
     {
         // error
     }
     else // query succeeded, process any data returned by it
     {
         result = mysql_store_result(&mysql);
         if (result)  // there are rows
         {
             num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
             // retrieve rows, then call mysql_free_result(result)
         }
         else  // mysql_store_result() returned nothing; should it have?
         {
             if(mysql_field_count(&mysql) == 0)
             {
                 // query does not return data
                 // (it was not a SELECT)
                 num_rows = mysql_affected_rows(&mysql);
             }
             else // mysql_store_result() should have returned data
             {
                 fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
             }
         }
     }

An alternative is to replace the `mysql_field_count(&mysql)' call with
`mysql_errno(&mysql)'.  In this case, you are checking directly for an
error from `mysql_store_result()' rather than inferring from the value
of `mysql_field_count()' whether or not the statement was a `SELECT'.

`mysql_field_seek()'
--------------------

`MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET mysql_field_seek(MYSQL_RES *result,
MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET offset)'

Description
...........

Sets the field cursor to the given offset.   The next call to
`mysql_fetch_field()' will retrieve the field definition of the column
associated with that offset.

To seek to the beginning of a row, pass an `offset' value of zero.

Return values
.............

The previous value of the field cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_field_tell()'
--------------------

`MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET mysql_field_tell(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the position of the field cursor used for the last
`mysql_fetch_field()'. This value can be used as an argument to
`mysql_field_seek()'.

Return values
.............

The current offset of the field cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_free_result()'
---------------------

`void mysql_free_result(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Frees the memory allocated for a result set by `mysql_store_result()',
`mysql_use_result()', `mysql_list_dbs()', etc.  When you are done with
a result set, you must free the memory it uses by calling
`mysql_free_result()'.

Return values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_client_info()'
-------------------------

`char *mysql_get_client_info(void)'

Description
...........

Returns a string that represents the client library version.

Return values
.............

A character string that represents the *MySQL* client library version.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_host_info()'
-----------------------

`char *mysql_get_host_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a string describing the type of connection in use, including the
server host name.

Return values
.............

A character string representing the server host name and the connection
type.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_proto_info()'
------------------------

`unsigned int mysql_get_proto_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the protocol version used by current connection.

Return values
.............

An unsigned integer representing the protocol version used by the
current connection.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_server_info()'
-------------------------

`char *mysql_get_server_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a string that represents the server version number.

Return values
.............

A character string that represents the server version number.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_info()'
--------------

`char *mysql_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Retrieves a string providing information about the most recently
executed query, but only for the statements listed below.  For other
statements, `mysql_info()' returns `NULL'.  The format of the string
varies depending on the type of query, as described below.  The numbers
are illustrative only; the string will contain values appropriate for
the query.

`INSERT INTO ... SELECT ...'
     String format: `Records: 100 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0'

`INSERT INTO ... VALUES (...),(...),(...)...'
     String format: `Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0'

`LOAD DATA INFILE ...'
     String format: `Records: 1 Deleted: 0 Skipped: 0 Warnings: 0'

`ALTER TABLE'
     String format: `Records: 3 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0'

`UPDATE'
     String format: `Rows matched: 40 Changed: 40 Warnings: 0'

Note that `mysql_info()' returns a non-`NULL' value for the `INSERT ...
VALUES' statement only if multiple value lists are specified in the
statement.

Return values
.............

A character string representing additional information about the most
recently executed query.  `NULL' if no information is available for the
query.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_init()'
--------------

`MYSQL *mysql_init(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Allocates or initializes a `MYSQL' object suitable for
`mysql_real_connect()'.  If `mysql' is a `NULL' pointer, the function
allocates, initializes and returns a new object.  Otherwise the object
is initialized and the address of the object is returned.  If
`mysql_init()' allocates a new object, it will be freed when
`mysql_close()' is called to close the connection.

Return values
.............

An initialized `MYSQL*' handle.  `NULL' if there was insufficient
memory to allocate a new object.

Errors
......

In case of insufficient memory, `NULL' is returned.

`mysql_insert_id()'
-------------------

`my_ulonglong mysql_insert_id(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the ID generated for an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column by the previous
query.  Use this function after you have performed an `INSERT' query
into a table that contains an `AUTO_INCREMENT' field.

Note that `mysql_insert_id()' returns `0' if the previous query does
not generate an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.  If you need to save the value
for later, be sure to call `mysql_insert_id()' immediately after the
query that generates the value.

Also note that the value of the SQL `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function always
contains the most recently generated `AUTO_INCREMENT' value, and is not
reset between queries since the value of that function is maintained in
the server.

Return values
.............

The value of the `AUTO_INCREMENT' field that was updated by the previous
query.  Returns zero if there was no previous query on the connection
or if the query did not update an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_kill()'
--------------

`int mysql_kill(MYSQL *mysql, unsigned long pid)'

Description
...........

Asks the server to kill the thread specified by `pid'.

Return values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_dbs()'
------------------

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_dbs(MYSQL *mysql, const char *wild)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set consisting of database names on the server that
match the simple regular expression specified by the `wild' parameter.
`wild' may contain the wildcard characters `%' or `_', or may be a
`NULL' pointer to match all databases.  Calling `mysql_list_dbs()' is
similar to executing the query `SHOW databases [LIKE wild]'.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_fields()'
---------------------

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_fields(MYSQL *mysql, const char *table, const
char *wild)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set consisting of field names in the given table that
match the simple regular expression specified by the `wild' parameter.
`wild' may contain the wildcard characters `%' or `_', or may be a
`NULL' pointer to match all fields.  Calling `mysql_list_fields()' is
similar to executing the query `SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name [LIKE wild]'.

Note that it's recommended that you use `SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name'
instead of `mysql_list_fields()'.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_processes()'
------------------------

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_processes(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set describing the current server threads.  This is
the same kind of information as that reported by `mysqladmin
processlist' or a `SHOW PROCESSLIST' query.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' rsult set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_tables()'
---------------------

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_tables(MYSQL *mysql, const char *wild)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set consisting of table names in the current database
that match the simple regular expression specified by the `wild'
parameter.  `wild' may contain the wildcard characters `%' or `_', or
may be a `NULL' pointer to match all tables.  Calling
`mysql_list_tables()' is similar to executing the query `SHOW tables
[LIKE wild]'.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_num_fields()'
--------------------

`unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL_RES *result)'

or

`unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL *mysql)'

The second form doesn't work on *MySQL* 3.22.24 or newer.  To pass a
`MYSQL*' argument, you must use `unsigned int mysql_field_count(MYSQL
*mysql)' instead.

Description
...........

Returns the number of columns in a result set.

Note that you can get the number of columns either from a pointer to a
result set or to a connection handle.  You would use the connection
handle if `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_user_result()' returned
`NULL' (and thus you have no result set pointer).  In this case, you can
call `mysql_field_count()' to determine whether or not
`mysql_store_result()' should have produced a non-empty result.  This
allows the client program to take proper action without knowing whether
or not the query was a `SELECT' (or `SELECT'-like) statement.  The
example shown below illustrates how this may be done.

*Note `NULL mysql_store_result()': NULL mysql_store_result.

Return values
.............

An unsigned integer representing the number of fields in a result set.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_RES *result;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int num_rows;
     
     if (mysql_query(&mysql,query_string))
     {
         // error
     }
     else // query succeeded, process any data returned by it
     {
         result = mysql_store_result(&mysql);
         if (result)  // there are rows
         {
             num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
             // retrieve rows, then call mysql_free_result(result)
         }
         else  // mysql_store_result() returned nothing; should it have?
         {
             if (mysql_errno(&mysql))
     	{
                fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
     	}
             else if (mysql_field_count(&mysql) == 0)
             {
                 // query does not return data
                 // (it was not a SELECT)
                 num_rows = mysql_affected_rows(&mysql);
             }
         }
     }

An alternative (if you KNOW that your query should have returned a
result set) is to replace the `mysql_errno(&mysql)' call with a check if
`mysql_field_count(&mysql)' is = 0.  This will only happen if something
went wrong.

`mysql_num_rows()'
------------------

`my_ulonglong mysql_num_rows(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of rows in the result set.

The use of `mysql_num_rows()' depends on whether you use
`mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' to return the result
set.  If you use `mysql_store_result()', `mysql_num_rows()' may be
called immediately.  If you use `mysql_use_result()',
`mysql_num_rows()' will not return the correct value until all the rows
in the result set have been retrieved.

Return values
.............

The number of rows in the result set.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_options()'
-----------------

`int mysql_options(MYSQL *mysql, enum mysql_option option, const char
*arg)'

Description
...........

Can be used to set extra connect options and affect behavior for a
connection.  This function may be called multiple times to set several
options.

`mysql_options()' should be called after `mysql_init()' and before
`mysql_connect()' or `mysql_real_connect()'.

The `option' argument is the option that you want to set; the `arg'
argument is the value for the option. If the option is an integer, then
`arg' should point to the value of the integer.

Possible options values:

*Option*           *Argument type*    *Function*                           
`MYSQL_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT'`unsigned int *'   Connect timeout in seconds.          
`MYSQL_OPT_COMPRESS'Not used           Use the compressed client/server     
                                      protocol.                            
`MYSQL_OPT_NAMED_PIPE'Not used           Use named pipes to connect to a      
                                      *MySQL* server on NT.                
`MYSQL_INIT_COMMAND'`char *'           Command to execute when connecting   
                                      to the *MySQL* server. Will          
                                      automatically be re-executed when    
                                      reconnecting.                        
`MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE'`char *'           Read options from the named option   
                                      file instead of from `my.cnf'.       
`MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP'`char *'           Read options from the named group    
                                      from `my.cnf' or the file specified  
                                      with `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE'.      

Note that the group `client' is always read if you use
`MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE' or `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP'.

The specified group in the option file may contain the following
options:

`compress'             Use the compressed client/server protocol.         
`database'             Connect to this database if there no database was  
                       specified in the connect command                   
`debug'                Debug options                                      
`host'                 Default host name                                  
`init-command'         Command to execute when connecting to *MySQL*      
                       server. Will automatically be re-executed when     
                       reconnecting.                                      
`password'             Default password                                   
`pipe'                 Use named pipes to connect to a *MySQL* server on  
                       NT.                                                
`port'                 Default port number                                
`return-found-rows'    Tell `mysql_info()' to return found rows instead   
                       of updated rows when using `UPDATE'.               
`socket'               Default socket number                              
`timeout'              Connect timeout in seconds.                        
`user'                 Default user                                       

For more information about option files, see *Note Option files::.

Return values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if you used an unknown option.

Example
.......

     MYSQL mysql;
     
     mysql_init(&mysql);
     mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_OPT_COMPRESS,0);
     mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP,"odbc");
     if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
               mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

The above requests the client to use the compressed client/server
protocol and read the additional options from the `odbc' section in the
`my.cnf' file.

`mysql_ping()'
--------------

`int mysql_ping(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Checks whether or not the connection to the server is working. If it
has gone down, an automatic reconnection is attempted.

This function can be used by clients that remain idle for a long while,
to check whether or not the server has closed the connection and
reconnect if necessary.

Return values
.............

Zero if the server is alive. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_query()'
---------------

`int mysql_query(MYSQL *mysql, const char *query)'

Description
...........

Executes the SQL query pointed to by the null-terminated string `query'.
The query must consist of a single SQL statement.  You should not add a
terminating semicolon (`;') or `\g' to the statement.

`mysql_query()' cannot be used for queries that contain binary data; you
should use `mysql_real_query()' instead.  (Binary data may contain the
`\0' character, which `mysql_query()' interprets as the end of the
query string.)

Return values
.............

Zero if the query was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_real_connect()'
----------------------

`MYSQL *mysql_real_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host,
            const char *user, const char *passwd, const char *db,
                    unsigned int port, const char *unix_socket,
                  unsigned int client_flag)'

Description
...........

`mysql_real_connect()' attempts to establish a connection to a *MySQL*
database engine running on `host'.  `mysql_real_connect()' must
complete successfully before you can execute any of the other API
functions, with the exception of `mysql_get_client_info()'.

The parameters are specified as follows:

   * The first parameter should be the address of an existing `MYSQL'
     structure.  Before calling `mysql_real_connect()' you must call
     `mysql_init()' to initialize the `MYSQL' structure.  See the
     example below.

   * The value of `host' may be either a hostname or an IP address.  If
     `host' is `NULL' or the string `"localhost"', a connection to the
     local host is assumed. If the OS supports sockets (Unix) or named
     pipes (Win32), they are used instead of TCP/IP to connect to the
     server.

   * The `user' parameter contains the user's *MySQL* login ID.  If
     `user' is `NULL', the current user is assumed.  Under Unix, this is
     the current login name.  Under Windows ODBC, the current user name
     must be specified explicitly.  *Note ODBC administrator::.

   * The `passwd' parameter contains the password for `user'.  If
     `passwd' is `NULL', only entries in the `user' table for the user
     that have a blank password field will be checked for a match. This
     allows the database administrator to set up the *MySQL* privilege
     system in such a way that users get different privileges depending
     on whether or not they have specified a password.

     Note: Do not attempt to encrypt the password before calling
     `mysql_real_connect()'; password encryption is handled
     automatically by the client API.

   * `db' is the database name.  If `db' is not `NULL', the connection
     will set the default database to this value.

   * If `port' is not 0, the value will be used as the port number for
     the TCP/IP connection.  Note that the `host' parameter determines
     the type of the connection.

   * If `unix_socket' is not `NULL', the string specifies the socket or
     named pipe that should be used.  Note that the `host' parameter
     determines the type of the connection.

   * The value of `client_flag' is usually 0, but can be set to a
     combination of the following flags in very special circumstances:

     *Flag name*       *Flag meaning*                                  
     `CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS'Return the number of found (matched) rows, not  
                       the number of affected rows                     
     `CLIENT_NO_SCHEMA'Don't allow the `db_name.tbl_name.col_name'     
                       syntax.  This is for ODBC; it causes the        
                       parser to generate an error if you use that     
                       syntax, which is is useful for trapping bugs    
                       in some ODBC programs.                          
     `CLIENT_COMPRESS' Use compression protocol                        
     `CLIENT_ODBC'     The client is an ODBC client. This changes      
                       `mysqld' to be more ODBC-friendly.              

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL*' connection handle if the connection was successful.  `NULL'
if the connection was unsuccessful.  For a successful connection, the
return value is the same as the value of the first parameter, unless you
pass `NULL' for that parameter.

Errors
......

`CR_CONN_HOST_ERROR'
     Failed to connect to the *MySQL* server.

`CR_CONNECTION_ERROR'
     Failed to connect to the local *MySQL* server.

`CR_IPSOCK_ERROR'
     Failed to create an IP socket.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SOCKET_CREATE_ERROR'
     Failed to create a Unix socket.

`CR_UNKNOWN_HOST'
     Failed to find the IP address for the hostname.

`CR_VERSION_ERROR'
     A protocol mismatch resulted from attempting to connect to a
     server with a client library that uses a different protocol
     version.  This can happen if you use a very old client library to
     connect to a new server that wasn't started with the
     `--old-protocol' option.

`CR_NAMEDPIPEOPEN_ERROR;'
     Failed to create a named pipe on Win32.

`CR_NAMEDPIPEWAIT_ERROR;'
     Failed to wait for a named pipe on Win32.

`CR_NAMEDPIPESETSTATE_ERROR;'
     Failed to get a pipe handler on Win32.

Example
.......

     MYSQL mysql;
     
     mysql_init(&mysql);
     if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
               mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_real_query()'
--------------------

`int mysql_real_query(MYSQL *mysql, const char *query, unsigned int
length)'

Description
...........

Executes the SQL query pointed to by query, which should be a string
`length' bytes long.  The query must consist of a single SQL statement.
You should not add a terminating semicolon (`;') or `\g' to the
statement.

You *must* use `mysql_real_query()' rather than `mysql_query()' for
queries that contain binary data, since binary data may contain the
`\0' character.  In addition, `mysql_real_query()' is faster than
`mysql_query()' since it does not call `strlen()' on the query string.

Return values
.............

Zero if the query was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_reload()'
----------------

`int mysql_reload(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Asks the *MySQL* server to reload the grant tables. The connected user
must have the *reload* privilege.

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use `mysql_query()'
to issue a SQL `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement instead.

Return values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_row_seek()'
------------------

`MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_row_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET
offset)'

Description
...........

Sets the row cursor to an arbitrary row in a query result set.  This
requires that the result set structure contains the entire result of
the query, so `mysql_row_seek()' may be used in conjunction only with
`mysql_store_result()', not with `mysql_use_result()'.

The offset should be a value returned from a call to `mysql_row_tell()'
or to `mysql_row_seek()'.  This value is not simply a row number; if you
want to seek to a row within a result set using a row number, use
`mysql_data_seek()' instead.

Return values
.............

The previous value of the row cursor.  This value may be passed to a
subsequent call to `mysql_row_seek()'.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_row_tell()'
------------------

`MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_row_tell(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the current position of the row cursor for the last
`mysql_fetch_row()'. This value can be used as an argument to
`mysql_row_seek()'.

You should use `mysql_row_tell()' only after `mysql_store_result()',
not after `mysql_use_result()'.

Return values
.............

The current offset of the row cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_select_db()'
-------------------

`int mysql_select_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Causes the database specified by `db' to become the default (current)
database on the connection specified by `mysql'.  In subsequent queries,
this database is the default for table references that do not include an
explicit database specifier.

`mysql_select_db()' fails unless the connected user can be authenticated
as having permission to use the database.

Return values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_shutdown()'
------------------

`int mysql_shutdown(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Asks the database server to shutdown. The connected user must have
*shutdown* privileges.

Return values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_stat()'
--------------

`char *mysql_stat(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a character string containing information similar to that
provided by the `mysqladmin status' command.  This includes uptime in
seconds and the number of running threads, questions, reloads and open
tables.

Return values
.............

A character string describing the server status. `NULL' if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_store_result()'
----------------------

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_store_result(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

You must call `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' for every
query which successfully retrieves data (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE',
`EXPLAIN').

`mysql_store_result()' reads the entire result of a query to the client,
allocates a `MYSQL_RES' structure, and places the result into this
structure.

An empty result set is returned if there are no rows returned.  (An
empty result set differs from a `NULL' return value.)

Once you have called `mysql_store_result()', you may call
`mysql_num_rows()' to find out how many rows are in the result set.

You can call `mysql_fetch_row()' to fetch rows from the result set, or
`mysql_row_seek()' and `mysql_row_tell()' to obtain or set the current
row position within the result set.

You must call `mysql_free_result()' once you are done with the result
set.

*Note `NULL mysql_store_result()': NULL mysql_store_result.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result structure with the results. `NULL' if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_thread_id()'
-------------------

`unsigned long mysql_thread_id(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the thread ID of the current connection.  This value can be
used as an argument to `mysql_kill()' to kill the thread.

If the connection is lost and you reconnect with `mysql_ping()', the
thread ID will change.  This means you should not get the thread ID and
store it for later, you should get it when you need it.

Return values
.............

The thread ID of the current connection.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_use_result()'
--------------------

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_use_result(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

You must call `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' for every
query which successfully retrieves data (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE',
`EXPLAIN').

`mysql_use_result()' initiates a result set retrieval but does not
actually read the result set into the client like `mysql_store_result()'
does.  Instead, each row must be retrieved individually by making calls
to `mysql_fetch_row()'.  This reads the result of a query directly from
the server without storing it in a temporary table or local buffer,
which is somewhat faster and uses much less memory than
`mysql_store_result()'.  The client will only allocate memory for the
current row and a communication buffer that may grow up to
`max_allowed_packet' bytes.

On the other hand, you shouldn't use `mysql_use_result()' if you are
doing a lot of processing for each row on the client side, or if the
output is sent to a screen on which the user may type a `^S' (stop
scroll).  This will tie up the server and prevent other threads from
updating any tables from which the data are fetched.

When using `mysql_use_result()', you must execute `mysql_fetch_row()'
until a `NULL' value is returned, otherwise the unfetched rows will be
returned as part of the result set for your next query. The C API will
give the error `Commands out of sync; You can't run this command now'
if you forget to do this!

You may not use `mysql_data_seek()', `mysql_row_seek()',
`mysql_row_tell()', `mysql_num_rows()' or `mysql_affected_rows()' with
a result returned from `mysql_use_result()', nor may you issue other
queries until the `mysql_use_result()' has finished.  (However, after
you have fetched all the rows, `mysql_num_rows()' will accurately
return the number of rows fetched.)

You must call `mysql_free_result()' once you are done with the result
set.

Return values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result structure. `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The *MySQL* server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Why is it that after `mysql_query()' returns success, `mysql_store_result()' sometimes returns `NULL?'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is possible for `mysql_store_result()' to return `NULL' following a
successful call to `mysql_query()'.  When this happens, it means one of
the following conditions occurred:

   * There was a `malloc()' failure (for example, if the result set was
     too large).

   * The data couldn't be read (an error occurred on the connection).

   * The query returned no data (e.g., it was an `INSERT', `UPDATE' or
     `DELETE').

You can always check whether or not the statement should have produced a
non-empty result by calling `mysql_field_count()'.  If
`mysql_field_count()' returns zero, the result is empty and the last
query was a statement that does not return values (for example, an
`INSERT' or a `DELETE').  If `mysql_field_count()' returns a non-zero
value, the statement should have produced a non-empty result.  See the
description of the `mysql_field_count()' function for an example.

You can test for an error by calling `mysql_error()' or `mysql_errno()'.

What results can I get from a query?
------------------------------------

In addition to the result set returned by a query, you can also get the
following information:

   * `mysql_affected_rows()' returns the number of rows affected by the
     last query when doing an `INSERT', `UPDATE' or `DELETE'. An
     exception is that if `DELETE' is used without a `WHERE' clause, the
     table is truncated, which is much faster! In this case,
     `mysql_affected_rows()' returns zero for the number of records
     affected.

   * `mysql_num_rows()' returns the number of rows in a result set.
     With `mysql_store_result()', `mysql_num_rows()' may be called as
     soon as `mysql_store_result()' returns.  With `mysql_use_result()',
     `mysql_num_rows()' may be called only after you have fetched all
     the rows with `mysql_fetch_row()'.

   * `mysql_insert_id()' returns the ID generated by the last query
     that inserted a row into a table with an `AUTO_INCREMENT' index.
     *Note `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

   * Some queries (`LOAD DATA INFILE ...', `INSERT INTO ... SELECT
     ...', `UPDATE') return additional info.  The result is returned by
     `mysql_info()'.  See the description for `mysql_info()' for the
     format of the string that it returns.  `mysql_info()' returns a
     `NULL' pointer if there is no additional information.

How can I get the unique ID for the last inserted row?
------------------------------------------------------

If you insert a record in a table containing a column that has the
`AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute, you can get the most recently generated ID
by calling the `mysql_insert_id()' function.

You can also retrieve the ID by using the `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function in
a query string that you pass to `mysql_query()'.

You can check if an `AUTO_INCREMENT' index is used by executing the
following code. This also checks if the query was an `INSERT' with an
`AUTO_INCREMENT' index:

     if (mysql_error(&mysql)[0] == 0 &&
         mysql_num_fields(result) == 0 &&
         mysql_insert_id(&mysql) != 0)
     {
         used_id = mysql_insert_id(&mysql);
     }

The most recently generated ID is maintained in the server on a
per-connection basis.  It will not be changed by another client. It
will not even be changed if you update another `AUTO_INCREMENT' column
with a non-magic value (that is, a value that is not `NULL' and not
`0').

If you want to use the ID that was generated for one table and insert
it into a second table, you can use SQL statements like this:

     INSERT INTO foo (auto,text)
         VALUES(NULL,'text');              # generate ID by inserting NULL
     INSERT INTO foo2 (id,text)
         VALUES(LAST_INSERT_ID(),'text');  # use ID in second table

Problems linking with the C API
-------------------------------

When linking with the C API, the following errors may occur on some
systems:

     gcc -g -o client test.o -L/usr/local/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient -lsocket -lnsl
     
     Undefined        first referenced
      symbol          in file
     floor            /usr/local/lib/mysql/libmysqlclient.a(password.o)
     ld: fatal: Symbol referencing errors. No output written to client

If this happens on your system, you must include the math library by
adding `-lm' to the end of the compile/link line.

How to make a thread-safe client
--------------------------------

The client is "almost" thread-safe. The biggest problem is that the
subroutines in `net.c' that read from sockets are not interrupt-safe.
This was done with the thought that you might want to have your own
alarm that can break a long read to a server.

The standard client libraries are not compiled with the thread options.

To get a thread-safe client, use the `-lmysys', `-lstring' and `-ldbug'
libraries and `net_serv.o' that the server uses.

When using a threaded client, you can make great use of the routines in
the `thr_alarm.c' file.  If you are using routines from the `mysys'
library, the only thing you must remember is to call `my_init()' first!

All functions except `mysql_real_connect()' are currently thread-safe.
The following notes describe how to compile a thread-safe client
library and use it in a thread-safe manner.  (The notes below for
`mysql_real_connect()' actually apply to `mysql_connect()' as well, but
since `mysql_connect()' is deprecated, you should be using
`mysql_real_connect()' anyway.)

To make `mysql_real_connect()' thread-safe, you must recompile the
client library with this command:

     shell> CPPFLAGS=-DTHREAD_SAFE_CLIENT ./configure ...

You may get some errors because of undefined symbols when linking the
standard client, because the pthread libraries are not included by
default.

The resulting `libmysqlclient.a' library is now thread-safe.  What this
means is that client code is thread-safe as long as two threads don't
query the same connection handle returned by `mysql_real_connect()' at
the same time; the client/server protocol allows only one request at a
time on a given connection.  If you want to use multiple threads on the
same connection, you must have a mutex lock around your `mysql_query()'
and `mysql_store_result()' call combination.  Once
`mysql_store_result()' is ready, the lock can be released and other
threads may query the same connection.  (In other words, different
threads can use different `MYSQL_RES' pointers that were created with
`mysql_store_result()', as long as they use the proper locking
protocol.) If you program with POSIX threads, you can use
`pthread_mutex_lock()' and `pthread_mutex_unlock()' to establish and
release a mutex lock.

If you used `mysql_use_result()' rather than `mysql_store_result()',
the lock would need to surround `mysql_use_result()' and the calls to
`mysql_fetch_row()'.  However, it really is best for threaded clients
not to use `mysql_use_result()'.

MySQL Perl API
==============

This section documents the Perl `DBI' interface.  The former interface
was called `mysqlperl'.  Since `DBI'/`DBD' now is the recommended Perl
interface, `mysqlperl' is obsolete and is not documented here.

`DBI' with `DBD::mysql'
-----------------------

`DBI' is a generic interface for many databases. That means that you
can write a script that works with many different database engines
without change. You need a DataBase Driver (DBD) defined for each
database type. For *MySQL*, this driver is called `DBD::mysql'.

For more information on the Perl5 DBI, please visit the `DBI' web page
and read the documentation:
     `http://www.symbolstone.org/technology/perl/DBI/index.html'
For more information on Object Oriented Programming (OOP) as defined in
Perl5, see the Perl OOP page:
     `http://language.perl.com/info/documentation.html'

Installation instructions for *MySQL* Perl support are given in *Note
Perl support::.

The `DBI' interface
-------------------

*Portable DBI methods*

`connect'              Establishes a connection to a database server      
`disconnect'           Disconnects from the database server               
`prepare'              Prepares a SQL statement for execution             
`execute'              Executes prepared statements                       
`do'                   Prepares and executes a SQL statement              
`quote'                Quotes string or `BLOB' values to be inserted      
`fetchrow_array'       Fetches the next row as an array of fields.        
`fetchrow_arrayref'    Fetches next row as a reference array of fields    
`fetchrow_hashref'     Fetches next row as a reference to a hashtable     
`fetchall_arrayref'    Fetches all data as an array of arrays             
`finish'               Finishes a statement and let the system free       
                       resources                                          
`rows'                 Returns the number of rows affected                
`data_sources'         Returns an array of databases available on         
                       localhost                                          
`ChopBlanks'           Controls whether `fetchrow_*' methods trim spaces  
`NUM_OF_PARAMS'        The number of placeholders in the prepared         
                       statement                                          
`NULLABLE'             Which columns can be `NULL'                        
`trace'                Perform tracing for debugging                      

*MySQL-specific methods*

`insertid'             The latest `AUTO_INCREMENT' value                  
`is_blob'              Which column are `BLOB' values                     
`is_key'               Which columns are keys                             
`is_num'               Which columns are numeric                          
`is_pri_key'           Which columns are primary keys                     
`is_not_null'          Which columns CANNOT be `NULL'. See `NULLABLE'.    
`length'               Maximum possible column sizes                      
`max_length'           Maximum column sizes actually present in result    
`NAME'                 Column names                                       
`NUM_OF_FIELDS'        Number of fields returned                          
`table'                Table names in returned set                        
`type'                 All column types                                   

The Perl methods are described in more detail in the following sections.
Variables used for method return values have these meanings:

`$dbh'
     Database handle

`$sth'
     Statement handle

`$rc'
     Return code (often a status)

`$rv'
     Return value (often a row count)

*Portable DBI methods*

`connect($data_source, $username, $password)'
     Use the `connect' method to make a database connection to the data
     source. The `$data_source' value should begin with
     `DBI:driver_name:'.  Example uses of `connect' with the
     `DBD::mysql' driver:
          $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database", $user, $password);
          $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:$hostname",
                              $user, $password);
          $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database:$hostname:$port",
                              $user, $password);
     If the user name and/or password are undefined, `DBI' uses the
     values of the `DBI_USER' and `DBI_PASS' environment variables,
     respectively. If you don't specify a hostname, it defaults to
     `'localhost''. If you don't specify a port number, it defaults to
     the default *MySQL* port (3306).

     As of `Msql-Mysql-modules' version 1.2009, the `$data_source'
     value allows certain modifiers:

    `mysql_read_default_file=file_name'
          Read `filename' as an option file.  For information on option
          files, see *Note Option files::.

    `mysql_read_default_group=group_name'
          The default group when reading an option file is normally the
          `[client]' group.  By specifying the
          `mysql_read_default_group' option, the default group becomes
          the `[group_name]' group.

    `mysql_compression=1'
          Use compressed communication between the client and server
          (*MySQL* 3.22.3 or later).

    `mysql_socket=/path/to/socket'
          Specify the pathname of the Unix socket that is used to
          connect to the server (*MySQL* 3.21.15 or later).

     Multiple modifiers may be given; each must be preceded by a
     semicolon.

     For example, if you want to avoid hardcoding the user name and
     password into a `DBI' script, you can take them from the user's
     `~/.my.cnf' option file instead by writing your `connect' call
     like this:

          $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database"
                          . ";mysql_read_default_file=$ENV{HOME}/.my.cnf",
                          $user, $password);

     This call will read options defined for the `[client]' group in the
     option file.  If you wanted to do the same thing, but use options
     specified for the `[perl]' group as well, you could use this:

          $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database"
                          . ";mysql_read_default_file=$ENV{HOME}/.my.cnf"
                          . ";mysql_read_default_group=perl",
                          $user, $password);

`disconnect'
     The `disconnect' method disconnects the database handle from the
     database.  This is typically called right before you exit from the
     program.  Example:
          $rc = $dbh->disconnect;

`prepare($statement)'
     Prepares a SQL statement for execution by the database engine and
     returns a statement handle `($sth)' which you can use to invoke
     the `execute' method.  Typically you handle `SELECT' statements
     (and `SELECT'-like statements such as `SHOW', `DESCRIBE' and
     `EXPLAIN') by means of `prepare' and `execute'.  Example:
          $sth = $dbh->prepare($statement)
              or die "Can't prepare $statement: $dbh->errstr\n";

`execute'
     The `execute' method executes a prepared statement. For
     non-`SELECT' statements, `execute' returns the number of rows
     affected.  If no rows are affected, `execute' returns `"0E0"',
     which Perl treats as zero but regards as true.  For `SELECT'
     statements, `execute' only starts the SQL query in the database;
     you need to use one of the `fetch_*' methods described below to
     retrieve the data.  Example:
          $rv = $sth->execute
                    or die "can't execute the query: $sth->errstr;

`do($statement)'
     The `do' method prepares and executes a SQL statement and returns
     the number of rows affected.  If no rows are affected, `do' returns
     `"0E0"', which Perl treats as zero but regards as true.  This
     method is generally used for non-`SELECT' statements which cannot
     be prepared in advance (due to driver limitations) or which do not
     need to executed more than once (inserts, deletes, etc.). Example:
          $rv = $dbh->do($statement)
                  or die "Can't execute $statement: $dbh- >errstr\n";

`quote($string)'
     The `quote' method is used to "escape" any special characters
     contained in the string and to add the required outer quotation
     marks.  Example:
          $sql = $dbh->quote($string)

`fetchrow_array'
     This method fetches the next row of data and returns it as an
     array of field values.  Example:
          while(@row = $sth->fetchrow_array) {
                  print qw($row[0]\t$row[1]\t$row[2]\n);
          }

`fetchrow_arrayref'
     This method fetches the next row of data and returns it as a
     reference to an array of field values. Example:
          while($row_ref = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref) {
                  print qw($row_ref->[0]\t$row_ref->[1]\t$row_ref->[2]\n);
          }

`fetchrow_hashref'
     This method fetches a row of data and returns a reference to a hash
     table containing field name/value pairs. This method is not nearly
     as efficient as using array references as demonstrated above.
     Example:
          while($hash_ref = $sth->fetchrow_hashref) {
                  print qw($hash_ref->{firstname}\t$hash_ref->{lastname}\t\
                          $hash_ref- > title}\n);
          }

`fetchall_arrayref'
     This method is used to get all the data (rows) to be returned from
     the SQL statement. It returns a reference to an array of
     references to arrays for each row. You access or print the data by
     using a nested loop. Example:
          my $table = $sth->fetchall_arrayref
                          or die "$sth->errstr\n";
          my($i, $j);
          for $i ( 0 .. $#{$table} ) {
                  for $j ( 0 .. $#{$table->[$i]} ) {
                          print "$table->[$i][$j]\t";
                  }
                  print "\n";
          }

`finish'
     Indicates that no more data will be fetched from this statement
     handle. You call this method to free up the statement handle and
     any system resources associated with it.  Example:
          $rc = $sth->finish;

`rows'
     Returns the number of rows changed (updated, deleted, etc.) by the
     last command.  This is usually used after a non-`SELECT' `execute'
     statement.  Example:
          $rv = $sth->rows;

`NULLABLE'
     Returns a reference to an array of boolean values; for each
     element of the array, a value of TRUE indicates that this column
     may contain `NULL' values.  Example:
          $null_possible = $sth->{NULLABLE};

`NUM_OF_FIELDS'
     This attribute indicates the number of fields returned by a
     `SELECT' or `SHOW FIELDS' statement.  You may use this for
     checking whether a statement returned a result: A zero value
     indicates a non-`SELECT' statement like `INSERT', `DELETE' or
     `UPDATE'.  Example:
          $nr_of_fields = $sth->{NUM_OF_FIELDS};

`data_sources($driver_name)'
     This method returns an array containing names of databases
     available to the *MySQL* server on the host `'localhost''.
     Example:
          @dbs = DBI->data_sources("mysql");

`ChopBlanks'
     This attribute determines whether the `fetchrow_*' methods will
     chop leading and trailing blanks from the returned values.
     Example:
          $sth->{'ChopBlanks'} =1;

`trace($trace_level)'
`trace($trace_level, $trace_filename)'
     The `trace' method enables or disables tracing.  When invoked as a
     `DBI' class method, it affects tracing for all handles.  When
     invoked as a database or statement handle method, it affects
     tracing for the given handle (and any future children of the
     handle).  Setting `$trace_level' to 2 provides detailed trace
     information.  Setting `$trace_level' to 0 disables tracing.  Trace
     output goes to the standard error output by default.  If
     `$trace_filename' is specified, the file is opened in append mode
     and output for *all* traced handles is written to that file.
     Example:
          DBI->trace(2);                # trace everything
          DBI->trace(2,"/tmp/dbi.out"); # trace everything to /tmp/dbi.out
          $dth->trace(2);               # trace this database handle
          $sth->trace(2);               # trace this statement handle

     You can also enable `DBI' tracing by setting the `DBI_TRACE'
     environment variable.  Setting it to a numeric value is equivalent
     to calling `DBI->(value)'.  Setting it to a pathname is equivalent
     to calling `DBI->(2,value)'.

*MySQL-specific methods*

The methods shown below are *MySQL*-specific and not part of the `DBI'
standard.  Several of them are now deprecated: `is_blob', `is_key',
`is_num', `is_pri_key', `is_not_null', `length', `max_length', and
`table'.  Where `DBI'-standard alternatives exist, they are noted below.

`insertid'
     If you use the `AUTO_INCREMENT' feature of *MySQL*, the new
     auto-incremented values will be stored here.  Example:
          $new_id = $sth->{insertid};

     As an alternative, you can use `$dbh->{'mysql_insertid'}'.

`is_blob'
     Returns a reference to an array of boolean values; for each
     element of the array, a value of TRUE indicates that the
     respective column is a `BLOB'.  Example:
          $keys = $sth->{is_blob};

`is_key'
     Returns a reference to an array of boolean values; for each
     element of the array, a value of TRUE indicates that the
     respective column is a key.  Example:
          $keys = $sth->{is_key};

`is_num'
     Returns a reference to an array of boolean values; for each
     element of the array, a value of TRUE indicates that the
     respective column contains numeric values.  Example:
          $nums = $sth->{is_num};

`is_pri_key'
     Returns a reference to an array of boolean values; for each
     element of the array, a value of TRUE indicates that the
     respective column is a primary key.  Example:
          $pri_keys = $sth->{is_pri_key};

`is_not_null'
     Returns a reference to an array of boolean values; for each
     element of the array, a value of FALSE indicates that this column
     may contain `NULL' values.  Example:
          $not_nulls = $sth->{is_not_null};

     `is_not_null' is deprecated; it is preferable to use the
     `NULLABLE' attribute (described above), since that is a DBI
     standard.

`length'
`max_length'
     Each of these methods returns a reference to an array of column
     sizes.  The `length' array indicates the maximum possible sizes
     that each column may be (as declared in the table description).
     The `max_length' array indicates the maximum sizes actually
     present in the result table.  Example:

          $lengths = $sth->{length};
          $max_lengths = $sth->{max_length};

`NAME'
     Returns a reference to an array of column names.  Example:
          $names = $sth->{NAME};

`table'
     Returns a reference to an array of table names.  Example:
          $tables = $sth->{table};

`type'
     Returns a reference to an array of column types.  Example:
          $types = $sth->{type};

More `DBI'/`DBD' information
----------------------------

You can use the `perldoc' command to get more information about `DBI'.

     perldoc DBI
     perldoc DBI::FAQ
     perldoc DBD::mysql

You can also use the `pod2man', `pod2html', etc., tools to translate to
other formats.

And of course you can find the latest `DBI' information at the `DBI'
web page:
     `http://www.symbolstone.org/technology/perl/DBI/index.html'

MySQL Eiffel wrapper
====================

The *MySQL* Contrib directory (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/) contains
an Eiffel wrapper written by Michael Ravits.

You can also find this at: `http://www.netpedia.net/hosting/newplayer/'

MySQL Java connectivity (JDBC)
==============================

There are 2 supported JDBC drivers for MySQL (the twz and mm driver).
You can find a copy of these at `http://www.mysql.com/Contrib'.  For
documentation consult any JDBC documentation and the drivers own
documentation for *MySQL* specific features.

MySQL PHP API
=============

PHP is a server-side, HTML embedded scripting language that may be used
to create dynamic web pages.  It contains support for accessing several
databases, including *MySQL*.  PHP may be run as a separate program, or
compiled as a module for use with the Apache web server.

The distribution and documentation are available at the
PHP website (http://www.php.net/).

Common problems with MySQL and PHP
----------------------------------

   bullet Error: "Maximum Execution Time Exeeded" This is a PHP limit;
     Go into the php3.ini file and set the maximum execution time up
     from 30 seconds to something higher, as needed.  It is also not a
     bad idea to double the ram allowed per script to 16 instead of 8
     MB.

   bullet Error: "Fatal error: Call to unsupported or undefined
     function mysql_connect() in .."  This means that your PHP version
     isn't compiled with `MySQL' support.  You can either compile a
     dynamic module of MySQL and load it into PHP or recompile PHP with
     built-in `MySQL' support.  This is described in detail in the PHP
     manual.

MySQL C++ APIs
==============

Two API's are available in the *MySQL*
Contrib directory (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/).

MySQL Python APIs
=================

The *MySQL* Contrib directory (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/) contains
a Python interface written by Joseph Skinner.

You can also use the Python interface to iODBC to access a *MySQL*
server.  mxODBC (http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/)

MySQL TCL APIs
==============

TCL at binevolve (http://www.binevolve.com/~tdarugar/tcl-sql/).  The
Contrib directory (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib) contains a TCL
interface that is based on msqltcl 1.50.

How MySQL compares to other databases
*************************************

How MySQL compares to `mSQL'
============================

This section has been written by the *MySQL* developers, so it should
be read with that in mind. But there are NO factual errors that we know
of.

For a list of all supported limits, functions and types, see the
`crash-me' web page (http://www.mysql.com/crash-me-choose.htmy).

*Performance*
     For a true comparison of speed, consult the growing *MySQL*
     benchmark suite. *Note Benchmarks::.

     Because there is no thread creation overhead, a small parser, few
     features and simple security, `mSQL' should be quicker at:

        * Tests that perform repeated connects and disconnects, running
          a very simple query during each connection.

        * `INSERT' operations into very simple tables with few columns
          and keys.

        * `CREATE TABLE' and `DROP TABLE'.

        * `SELECT' on something that isn't an index. (A table scan is
          very easy.)

     Since these operations are so simple, it is hard to be better at
     them when you have a higher startup overhead. After the connection
     is established, *MySQL* should perform much better.

     On the other hand, *MySQL* is much faster than `mSQL' (and most
     other SQL implementions) on the following:

        * Complex `SELECT' operations.

        * Retrieving large results (*MySQL* has a better, faster and
          safer protocol).

        * Tables with variable-length strings, since *MySQL* has more
          efficent handling and can have indexes on `VARCHAR' columns.

        * Handling tables with many columns.

        * Handling tables with large record lengths.

        * `SELECT' with many expressions.

        * `SELECT' on large tables.

        * Handling many connections at the same time. *MySQL* is fully
          multi-threaded. Each connection has its own thread, which
          means that no thread has to wait for another (unless a thread
          is modifying a table another thread wants to access.) In
          `mSQL', once one connection is established, all others must
          wait until the first has finished, regardless of whether the
          connection is running a query that is short or long. When the
          first connection terminates, the next can be served, while
          all the others wait again, etc.

        * Joins.  `mSQL' can become pathologically slow if you change
          the order of tables in a `SELECT'. In the benchmark suite, a
          time more than 15000 times slower than *MySQL* was seen.
          This is due to `mSQL''s lack of a join optimizer to order
          tables in the optimal order. However, if you put the tables
          in exactly the right order in `mSQL'2 and the `WHERE' is
          simple and uses index columns, the join will be relatively
          fast!  *Note Benchmarks::.

        * `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY'.

        * `DISTINCT'.

        * Using `TEXT' or `BLOB' columns.

*SQL Features*
        * `GROUP BY' and `HAVING'.  `mSQL' does not support `GROUP BY'
          at all.  *MySQL* supports a full `GROUP BY' with both
          `HAVING' and the following functions: `COUNT()', `AVG()',
          `MIN()', `MAX()', `SUM()' and `STD()'.  `COUNT(*)' is
          optimized to return very quickly if the `SELECT' retrieves
          from one table, no other columns are retrieved and there is
          no `WHERE' clause.  `MIN()' and `MAX()' may take string
          arguments.

        * `INSERT' and `UPDATE' with calculations.  *MySQL* can do
          calculations in an `INSERT' or `UPDATE'.  For example:
               mysql> UPDATE SET x=x*10+y WHERE x<20;

        * Aliasing.  *MySQL* has column aliasing.

        * Qualifying column names.  In *MySQL*, if a column name is
          unique among the tables used in a query, you do not have to
          use the full qualifier.

        * `SELECT' with functions.  *MySQL* has many functions (too
          many to list here; see *Note Functions::).

*Disk space efficiency*
     That is, how small can you make your tables?

     *MySQL* has very precise types, so you can create tables that take
     very little space. An example of a useful *MySQL* datatype is the
     `MEDIUMINT' that is 3 bytes long. If you have 100,000,000 records,
     saving even one byte per record is very important.

     `mSQL2' has a more limited set of column types, so it is more
     difficult to get small tables.

*Stability*
     This is harder to judge objectively. For a discussion of *MySQL*
     stability, see *Note Stability::.

     We have no experience with `mSQL' stability, so we cannot say
     anything about that.

*Price*
     Another important issue is the license. *MySQL* has a more
     flexible license than `mSQL', and is also less expensive than
     `mSQL'.  Whichever product you choose to use, remember to at least
     consider paying for a license or email support.  (You are required
     to get a license if you include *MySQL* with a product that you
     sell, of course.)

*Perl interfaces*
     *MySQL* has basically the same interfaces to Perl as `mSQL' with
     some added features.

*JDBC (Java)*
     *MySQL* currently has 4 JDBC drivers:
        * The gwe driver: A Java interface by GWE technologies (not
          supported anymore).

        * The jms driver: An improved gwe driver by Xiaokun Kelvin ZHU
          <X.Zhu@brad.ac.uk>.

        * The twz driver: A type 4 JDBC driver by Terrence W. Zellers
          <zellert@voicenet.com>.  This is commercial but is free for
          private and educational use.

        * The mm driver: A type 4 JDBC driver by Mark Matthews
          <mmatthew@ecn.purdue.edu>.  This is released under the GPL.

     The recommended drivers are the twz or mm driver. Both are
     reported to work excellently.

     We know that `mSQL' has a JDBC driver, but we have too little
     experience with it to compare.

*Rate of development*
     *MySQL* has a very small team of developers, but we are quite used
     to coding C and C++ very rapidly. Since threads, functions, `GROUP
     BY' and so on are still not implemented in `mSQL', it has a lot of
     catching up to do. To get some perspective on this, you can view
     the `mSQL' `HISTORY' file for the last year and compare it with
     the News section of the *MySQL* Reference Manual (*note News::.).
     It should be pretty obvious which one has developed most rapidly.

*Utility programs*
     Both `mSQL' and *MySQL* have many interesting third-party tools.
     Since it is very easy to port upward (from `mSQL' to *MySQL*),
     almost all the interesting applications that are available for
     `mSQL' are also available for *MySQL*.

     *MySQL* comes with a simple `msql2mysql' program that fixes
     differences in spelling between `mSQL' and *MySQL* for the
     most-used C API functions.  For example, it changes instances of
     `msqlConnect()' to `mysql_connect()'. Converting a client program
     from `mSQL' to *MySQL* usually takes a couple of minutes.

How to convert `mSQL' tools for MySQL
-------------------------------------

According to our experience, it would just take a few hours to convert
tools such as `msql-tcl' and `msqljava' that use the `mSQL' C API so
that they work with the *MySQL* C API.

The conversion procedure is:

  1. Run the shell script `msql2mysql' on the source. This requires the
     `replace' program, which is distributed with *MySQL*.

  2. Compile.

  3. Fix all compiler errors.

Differences between the `mSQL' C API and the *MySQL* C API are:
   * *MySQL* uses a `MYSQL' structure as a connection type (`mSQL' uses
     an `int').

   * `mysql_connect()' takes a pointer to a `MYSQL' structure as a
     parameter.  It is easy to define one globally or to use `malloc()'
     to get one.  `mysql_connect()' also takes 2 parameters for
     specifying the user and password.  You may set these to `NULL,
     NULL' for default use.

   * `mysql_error()' takes the `MYSQL' structure as a parameter. Just
     add the parameter to your old `msql_error()' code if you are
     porting old code.

   * *MySQL* returns an error number and a text error message for all
     errors. `mSQL' returns only a text error message.

   * Some incompatibilities exist as a result of *MySQL* supporting
     multiple connections to the server from the same process.

How `mSQL' and MySQL client/server communications protocols differ
------------------------------------------------------------------

There are enough differences that it is impossible (or at least not
easy) to support both.

The most significant ways in which the *MySQL* protocol differs from
the `mSQL' protocol are listed below:

   * A message buffer may contain many result rows.

   * The message buffers are dynamically enlarged if the query or the
     result is bigger than the current buffer, up to a configurable
     server and client limit.

   * All packets are numbered to catch duplicated or missing packets.

   * All column values are sent in ASCII. The lengths of columns and
     rows are sent in packed binary coding (1, 2 or 3 bytes).

   * *MySQL* can read in the result unbuffered (without having to store
     the full set in the client).

   * If a single write/read takes more than 30 seconds, the server
     closes the connection.

   * If a connection is idle for 8 hours, the server closes the
     connection.

How `mSQL' 2.0 SQL syntax differs from MySQL
--------------------------------------------

*Column types*

`*MySQL*'
     Has the following additional types (among others; see *note
     `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.):
        * `ENUM' type for one of a set of strings.

        * `SET' type for many of a set of strings.

        * `BIGINT' type for 64-bit integers.

`'
     *MySQL* also supports the following additional type attributes:
        * `UNSIGNED' option for integer columns.

        * `ZEROFILL' option for integer columns.

        * `AUTO_INCREMENT' option for integer columns that are a
          `PRIMARY KEY'.  *Note `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

        * `DEFAULT' value for all columns.

`mSQL2'
     `mSQL' column types correspond to the *MySQL* types shown below:      `mSQL'     *Corresponding *MySQL* type*                              
     *type*                                                               
     `CHAR(len)'`CHAR(len)'                                               
     `TEXT(len)'`TEXT(len)'. `len' is the maximal length.  And `LIKE'     
                works.                                                    
     `INT'      `INT'. With many more options!                            
     `REAL'     `REAL'. Or `FLOAT'. Both 4- and 8-byte versions are       
                available.                                                
     `UINT'     `INT UNSIGNED'                                            
     `DATE'     `DATE'. Uses ANSI SQL format rather than `mSQL''s own.    
     `TIME'     `TIME'                                                    
     `MONEY'    `DECIMAL(12,2)'. A fixed-point value with two decimals.   



*Index creation*

`*MySQL*'
     Indexes may be specified at table creation time with the `CREATE
     TABLE' statement.

`mSQL'
     Indexes must be created after the table has been created, with
     separate `CREATE INDEX' statements.

*To insert a unique identifier into a table*

`*MySQL*'
     Use `AUTO_INCREMENT' as a column type specifier.  *Note
     `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

`mSQL'
     Create a `SEQUENCE' on a table and select the `_seq' column.

*To obtain a unique identifier for a row*

`*MySQL*'
     Add a `PRIMARY KEY' or `UNIQUE' key to the table and use this.
     New in 3.23.11: If the `PRIMARY/ UNIQUE' key consists of only one
     column and this is of type integer, one can also refer to it as
     `_rowid'.

`mSQL'
     Use the `_rowid' column. Observe that `_rowid' may change over time
     depending on many factors.

*To get the time a column was last modified*

`*MySQL*'
     Add a `TIMESTAMP' column to the table. This column is
     automatically set to the current date and time for `INSERT' or
     `UPDATE' statements if you don't give the column a value or if you
     give it a `NULL' value.

`mSQL'
     Use the `_timestamp' column.

*`NULL' value comparisons*

`*MySQL*'
     *MySQL* follows ANSI SQL and a comparison with `NULL' is always
     `NULL'.

`mSQL'
     In `mSQL', `NULL = NULL' is TRUE.  You must change `=NULL' to `IS
     NULL' and `<>NULL' to `IS NOT NULL' when porting old code from
     `mSQL' to *MySQL*.

*String comparisons*

`*MySQL*'
     Normally, string comparisons are performed in case-independent
     fashion with the sort order determined by the current character
     set (ISO-8859-1 Latin1 by default).  If you don't like this,
     declare your columns with the `BINARY' attribute, which causes
     comparisons to be done according to the ASCII order used on the
     *MySQL* server host.

`mSQL'
     All string comparisons are performed in case-sensitive fashion with
     sorting in ASCII order.

*Case-insensitive searching*

`*MySQL*'
     `LIKE' is a case-insensitive or case-sensitive operator, depending
     on the columns involved. If possible, *MySQL* uses indexes if the
     `LIKE' argument doesn't start with a wildcard character.

`mSQL'
     Use `CLIKE'.

*Handling of trailing spaces*

`*MySQL*'
     Strips all spaces at the end of `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns. Use
     a `TEXT' column if this behavior is not desired.

`mSQL'
     Retains trailing space.

*`WHERE' clauses*

`*MySQL*'
     *MySQL* correctly prioritizes everything (`AND' is evaluated
     before `OR'). To get `mSQL' behavior in *MySQL*, use parentheses
     (as shown below).

`mSQL'
     Evaluates everything from left to right. This means that some
     logical calculations with more than three arguments cannot be
     expressed in any way. It also means you must change some queries
     when you upgrade to *MySQL*. You do this easily by adding
     parentheses.  Suppose you have the following `mSQL' query:
          mysql> SELECT * FROM table WHERE a=1 AND b=2 OR a=3 AND b=4;
     To make *MySQL* evaluate this the way that `mSQL' would, you must
     add parentheses:
          mysql> SELECT * FROM table WHERE (a=1 AND (b=2 OR (a=3 AND (b=4))));

*Access control*

`*MySQL*'
     Has tables to store grant (permission) options per user, host and
     database. *Note Privileges::.

`mSQL'
     Has a file `mSQL.acl' in which you can grant read/write privileges
     for users.

`'
How MySQL compares to PostgreSQL
================================

`PostgreSQL' has some more advanced features like user-defined types,
triggers, rules and some transaction support. However, PostgreSQL lacks
many of the standard types and functions from ANSI SQL and ODBC. See the
`crash-me' web page (http://www.mysql.com/crash-me-choose.htmy) for a
complete list of limits and which types and functions are supported or
unsupported.

Normally, `PostgreSQL' is a magnitude slower than *MySQL*. *Note
Benchmarks::.  This is due largely to their transactions system. If you
really need transactions or the rich type system PostgreSQL offers and
you can afford the speed penalty, you should take a look at PostgreSQL.

MySQL internals
***************

This chapter will describe a lot of things that you need to know when
working on the MySQL code.

MySQL threads
=============

The *MySQL* server creates the the following threads:

   * The TCP/IP connection thread handles all connect requests and
     creates a new dedicated thread to handle the authentication and
     and SQL query processing for the connection.

   * On NT there is named pipe handler thread that does the same work as
     the TCP/IP connection thread on named pipe connect requests.

   * The signal thread handles all signals. This thread also normally
     handles alarms and calls `process_alarm()' to force timeouts on
     connections that has been idle too long.

   * If compiled with `-DUSE_ALARM_THREAD', a dedicated thread that
     handles alarms is created; This is only used one some system where
     there is some problems with `sigwait()' or if one wants to use the
     `thr_alarm()' code in ones one application without a dedicates
     signal handling thread.

   * If one uses the `--flush-time' option, a dedicated thread is
     created to flush all tables at the given interval.

   * Every connection has it's own thread.

   * Every different table on which one uses `INSERT DELAYED' gets its
     own thread.

`mysqladmin processlist' only shows the connection and `INSERT DELAYED'
threads.

Some MySQL users
****************

General news sites
==================

   * A pro-Linux/tech news and      comment/discussion site (http://www.slashdot.org)

   * All about Linux (http://www.linux.com)

   * 32Bits Online: because there's more      than one way to compute (http://www.32bitsonline.com)

   * New about new versions of computer      related stuff (http://www.freshmeat.net)

Some Web search engines
=======================

   * AAA Matilda Web Search (http://www.aaa.com.au)

   * What's New (http://www.whatsnu.com/)

   * Aladin (http://www.aladin.de/)

   * Columbus Finder (http://www.columbus-finder.de/)

   * Spider (http://www.spider.de/)

   * Blitzsuche (http://www.blitzsuche.de/)

   * Indoseek Indonesia (http://www.indoseek.co.id)

   * Yaboo - Yet Another BOOkmarker (http://www.yaboo.dk/)

   * Yahoosuck (http://www.yahoosuck.com)

   * OzSearch Internet Guide (http://www.ozsearch.com.au)

   * Splat! Search (http://www.splatsearch.com/)

Some Information search engines concentrated on some area
=========================================================

   * Jobvertise: Post and search for jobs (http://www.jobvertise.com)

   * The Music Database (http://www.musicdatabase.com)

   * Fotball (Soccer) search page (http://www.soccersearch.com)

   * TAKEDOWN - wrestling (http://www.headrush.net/takedown)

   * The International Lyrics Network (http://www.lyrics.net)

   * Musicians looking      for other musicians (Free Service) (http://TheMatrix.com/~matrix/band_search.phtml)

   * AddALL books searching      and price comparison (http://www.addall.com/AddBooks/Stores.html)

   * Harvard's Gray      Herbarium Index of Plant Names (http://www.herbaria.harvard.edu/Data/Gray/gray.html)

   * The Game Development Search Engine (http://www.game-developer.com/)

   * My-Recipe.com; Cookbook at      i-run.com (http://www.i-run.com/html/cookbook.html)

   * The Innkeeper Vacation Guides (www.theinnkeeper.com)

   * The Mac Game Database uses PHP      and MySQL (http://www.macgamedatabase.com/)

   * Research Publications      at Monash University in Australia (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/publications/)

   * Occupational Health &      Safety website databse (a project for the ECC) (http://www.ipielle.emr.it/bts/index.html)

   * Bioinformatics databases at the      Montreal Children's Hospital using MySQL (http://data.mch.mcgill.ca/)

Online magazines
================

   * Spoiler Webzine (http://www.spoiler.com).  An online magazine
     featuring music, literature, arts, and design content.

   * Daily news about Linux in      German language (http://www.linux-magazin.de/newsflash/)

   * Betazine - The Ultimate Online Beta      Tester's Magazine (http://www.betazine.com)

   * Computer Currents      Magazine (http://www.currents.net/ccinfo/aboutcc.html)

Web sites the use MySQL as a backed
===================================

   * Qt Widget and Object Repository (http://lindev.jmc.tju.edu/qwor)

   * Brazilian samba site (in Portuguese)
     (http://www.samba-choro.com.br)

   * Polish General Social      Survey (http://pgss.iss.uw.edu.pl/en_index.ISS)

   * Expo2000 (http://www.expo2000.com) World-wide distribution of
     tickets for this event is implemented using MySQL and tcl/tk. More
     than 5000 travel-agencies all over the world have access to it.

   * FreeVote.com is a free voting service      with millions of users. (http://www.freevote.com/)

   * Forza Motorsport (http://f1.tauzero.se)

Some Domain/Internet/Web and related services
=============================================

   * Registry of Web providers that      support *MySQL* (http://www.wix.com/mysql-hosting)

   * Dynamic DNS Services (http://www.yi.org/)

   * Dynamic domain name service (http://www.dynodns.net/)

   * Open DNS Project; free dynamic DNS service (http://www.ods.org/)

   * Free 3rd level domains (http://www.fdns.net/)

   * Online Database (http://worldcommunity.com/)

   * BigBiz Internet Services (http://www.bigbiz.com)

   * The Virt Gazette (http://virt.circle.net)

   * Global InfoNet Inc (http://www.california.com)

   * WebHosters - A Guide to WWW Providers (http://www.webhosters.com)

   * Internet information server (http://online.dn.ru)

   * A technology news site (http://www.stopbit.com)

   * WorldNet Communications - An Internet      Services Provider (http://www.worldnetla.net)

   * Netizen: Australian-based web      consultancy (http://www.netizen.com.au/)

   * Search site for training courses      in the UK (http://www.trainingpages.co.uk)

   * Gannon Chat (GPL). Written in Perl and      Javascript (http://chat.nitco.com)

   * A general links directory (http://www.addurls.com/)

   * A web-based bookmark management      service (http://www.bookmarktracker.com)

   * Walnut Creek CDROM (http://www.cdrom.com)

   * WWWThreads; Interactive discussion      Forums (http://www.wwwthreads.org/)

   * In Italian; Storage data from      meteo station (http://pvmon.portici.enea.it/Meteo)

   * Online "Person To Person" Auction (http://www.buysell.net/)

   * Tips on web development (http://tips.pair.com)

   * Mailfriends.com is a FREE service for      everybody who wants to find friends over the internet. (http://www.mailfriends.com)

   * Web Page Telnet BBS      List (http://www.uninova.com/cgi-bin/wctelnets?list)

   * UniNova Digital Postcards (http://www.uninova.com/cnc.html)

   * DSL providers search with reviews (http://www.dslreports.com) Made
     with MySQL and Modperl, all pages are generated dynamically out of
     the MySQL database

Web sites that use `PHP' and MySQL
==================================

   * Jgaa's Internet -      Official Support Site (http://war.jgaa.com:8080/support/index.php3)

   * Ionline - online publication: (http://io.incluso.com) *MySQL*,
     PHP, Java, Web programming, DB development

   * BaBoo(Browse and bookmark). Free web-based      bookmark manager and Calendar (http://www.baboo.com)

   * Course      Schedule System at Pensacola Junior College (http://www.courses.pjc.cc.fl.us/Schedule/index.php)

   * Florida Community College at Jacksonville (http://www.fccj.org)

   * 32bit.com; An extensive shareware /      freeware archive (http://www.32bit.com/)

   * Jokes 2000 (http://www.jokes2000.com/)

   * Burken.NU (http://www.burken.nu/ ) Burken is a webhotel that
     provides scripts, among other things, for remote users, like
     counters, guestbooks etc.

   * tips.pair.com (http://tips.pair.com) Contains tips on html,
     javascript, 2d/3d graphics and PHP3/MySQL. All pages are generated
     from a database.

Some MySQL consultants
======================

   * Ayni AG (http://www.ayni.com)

   * Online Database (http://worldcommunity.com/)

   * DataGuard (Uses *MySQL* and PHP) (http://www2.dataguard.no/)

   * WWITS (Uses *MySQL* and PHP)
     (http://wwits.net/programs/mysql.phtml)

   * WCN - The World Community Network (http://www.worldcommunity.com/)

   * Chip Castle Dot Com Inc (http://www.chipcastle.com)

   * Cybersource Pty. Ltd (http://www.cyber.com.au/)

   * Spring infotainment gmbh & co. kg (http://www.spring.de)

   * Develops websites using MySQL (http://www.wamdesign.com/)

Programming
===========

   * The Perl CPAN Testers results      page (http://www.perl.org/cpan-testers)

Uncategorized pages
===================

   * AZC.COM's      Feature Showcase (http://www.feature-showcase.com/htmls/demo_mysql.sql)

   * Course      Search (http://www.teach.org.uk/subjects/trainingcourse/g.html)

   * Northerbys Online Auctions (http://www.northerbys.com)

   * Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
     (http://www.schiphol.nl/flights/home.htm)

   * CD database (http://TheMatrix.com/seventhsin/query.phtml)

   * Used Audio Gear Database (http://TheMatrix.com/~flmm/GEAR.html)

   * Musical note-sheets (http://www.kiss.de/musik-mueller)

   * Bagism - A John Lennon fan page (http://www.bagism.com)

   * US Folk art broker (http://www.selftaught.com/)

   * Mail reading on the web (http://organizer.net/)

   * Free home pages on      www.somecoolname.mypage.org (http://www.mypage.org/)

   * Der Server f"ur Schulen im Web (In German)
     (http://www.schulweb.de/)

   * Auldhaefen Online Services (http://www.ald.net/)

   * CaryNET Information Center (http://www.cary.net/)

   * Dataden Computer Systems (http://www.dataden.com/)

   * Andr'emuseet (In Swedish) (http://andree.grm.se/)

   * HOMESITE Internet Marketing (http://www.him.net/)

   * Jade-V Network Services  (http://www.jade-v.com/techinfo.html)

   * Weather      World 2010 Technical Credits (http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gl)/abt/aknw/tech.rxml)
   * About The Gimp plugin      registry (http://gimp.foebud.org/registry/doc/)

   * Java tool      Archiver technical detail (Slightly optimistic about *MySQL*      ANSI-92 compliance) (http://www.fast-inc.com/Products/Archiver/database.html)

   * Games Domain      Cheats Database (http://www.gamesdomain.com/cheats/usrcheat.phtml)

   * The "Powered By" Page (Kcilink) (http://www.kcilink.com/poweredby/)

   * Netcasting (http://www.netcasting.net/index.whtml)

   * NBL (Australian National      Basketball League) tipping (http://homepages.tig.com.au/~mjj/nbltips)

   * CGI shop (http://www.cgishop.com/)

   * Whirlycott: Website Design (http://www.whirlycott.com/)

   * Museum Tusculanum Press (http://www.mtp.dk)

   * Centro Siciliano di      Documentazione (http://csdgi.historie.ku.dk/biblio)

   * Quake statistics database (http://caribou.dyn.ml.org:8000)

   * Astroforum: Astrologie and related      things (in German) (http://www.astroforum.ch)

   * OpenDebate - Interactive Polls & Open      Discussion (http://www.opendebate.com)

   * Online      chemical dissertation server (http://vermeer.organik.uni-erlangen.de/dissertationen/)

   * FreSch! The Free Scholarship Search      Service (http://www.freschinfo.com)

   * Stockholm Pinball Locator
     (http://www.nada.kth.se/~staffanu/pinball)

   * HEK A construction company (http://www.hek.com)

   * Elsevier Bussines Information (http://www.nbi.nl)

   * Medical Links (Using      ColdFusion and *MySQL*) (http://vaccination.medicallink.se/)

   * Search for jobs & people at JobLink-USA
     (http://www.joblink-usa.com)

   * Competition Formation Skydiving (http://www.skydive.net/competfs)

   * E-commerce and internal accounting (http://www.galaxy-net.net/Galaxy-NET Telecommunications)

   * Denmark's leading business daily newspaper      Bo/rsen (http://www.borsen.dk/)

   * The Internet NES Database (http://tmmm.simplenet.com/indb/)

   * Travel agency in Prague in 3 languages (http://www.russia.cz)

   * Linkstation (http://www.linkstation.de)

   * Searchable online database at      Peoplestaff (http://www.peoplestaff.com)

   * A searchable database system for horse      classified ads (http://www.dreamhorse.com)

   * The Poot site (http://pootpoot.com/)

   * "Playin' in the LAN"; a network      monitoring suite (http://grateful.net/hw_html/)

   * U.S. Army Publishing Agency (http://www.usapa.army.mil)

   * Realestate handling in Yugoslavia (http://www.nekretnine.co.yu/)

   * PIMS; a Patient      Information Management System (http://demo.cpsoft.com/pims/devFAQ.html)

   * Pilkington Software Inc (http://cpsoft.com)

   * A Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (The Wall)      database. (http://www.no-quarter.org/)

   * Gamer's Union specializes inauctions      of used & out of print gaming material (http://www.gamers-union.com/)

   * A daily bulletin at      Monterey High school (http://www.montereyhigh.com/office/dbul.php3)

   * Community-owned site serving Lake      Washington's Eastside residents and businesses (http://www.myEastside.com)

   * French bowling site (http://bowling-france.net/).

Send any additions to this list to <webmaster@mysql.com>.

Contributed programs
********************

Many users of *MySQL* have contributed *very* useful support tools and
addons.

A list of what is available at `http://www.mysql.com/Contrib' (or any
mirror) is shown below.  If you want to build *MySQL* support for the
Perl `DBI'/`DBD' interface, you should fetch the `Data-Dumper', `DBI',
and `Msql-Mysql-modules' files and install them.  *Note Perl support::.

00-README (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/00-README) This listing.

API's
=====

   * Perl modules
        * Data-Dumper-2.09.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Data-Dumper-2.09.tar.gz) Perl `Data-Dumper' module.  Useful with
          `DBI'/`DBD' support.

        * DBI-1.13.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/DBI-1.13.tar.gz)
          Perl `DBI' module.

        *



          KAMXbase1.0.tar.gz
          (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/KAMXbase1.0.tar.gz) Convert
          between `.dbf' files and *MySQL* tables.  Perl module written
          by Pratap Pereira <pereira@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu>, extened by
          Kevin A. McGrail <kmcgrail@digital1.peregrinehw.com>.  This
          converter can handle MEMO fields.

        *
          Msql-Mysql-modules-1.2209.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Msql-Mysql-modules-1.2209.tar.gz) Perl `DBD' module to access mSQL and
          *MySQL* databases..

        * Data-ShowTable-3.3.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Data-ShowTable-3.3.tar.gz) Perl `Data-ShowTable' module.  Useful with
          `DBI'/`DBD' support.

   * JDBC
        * mm.mysql.jdbc-1.2b.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mm.mysql.jdbc-1.2b.tar.gz) The mm JDBC driver for *MySQL*. This is a
          production release and is actively developed. By Mark Matthews
          (<mmatthew@ecn.purdue.edu>). This driver has a LGPL license.
          Please check `http://www.worldserver.com/mm.mysql/' for the
          latest drivers (and other JDBC information) since this driver
          is not updated as frequently.

        *
          twz1jdbcForMysql-1.0.4-GA.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/twz1jdbcForMysql-1.0.4-GA.tar.gz) The twz driver: A type 4 JDBC driver
          by Terrence W. Zellers <zellert@voicenet.com>.  This is
          commercial but is free for private and educational use.

   * mysql-c++-0.02.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-c++-0.02.tar.gz) *MySQL* C++ wrapper library. By Roland Haenel,
     <rh@ginster.net>.

   * mysql++ (http://www.mysql.com/download_mysql++.html) *MySQL* C++
     API (More than just a wrapper library). Originally by
     <kevina@clark.net>. Nowadays maintained by Sinisa at TCX.

   * mysql-ruby-2.1.6.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-ruby-2.1.6.tar.gz) *MySQL* Ruby module. By TOMITA Masahiro
     <tommy@tmtm.org> Ruby (http://www.netlab.co.jp/ruby/) is
     Object-Oriented Interpreter Language.

   * delphi-interface.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/delphi-interface.gz) Delphi interface to `libmysql.dll', by Blestan
     Tabakov, <root@tdg.bis.bg>.

   * DelphiMySQL2.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/DelphiMySQL2.zip)
     Delphi interface to `libmysql.dll', by <bsilva@umesd.k12.or.us>

   *
















     JdmMysqlDriver-0.1.0.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/JdmMysqlDriver-0.1.0.tar.gz) A
     VisualWorks 3.0 Smalltalk driver for *MySQL*. By
     <joshmiller@earthlink.net>

   * Db.py (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Db.py) Python module with
     caching. By <gandalf@rosmail.com>.

   * MySQLmodule-1.4.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MySQLmodule-1.4.tar.gz) Python interface for the *MySQL*. By Joseph
     Skinner <joe@earthlight.co.nz>;  Modified by Joerg Senekowitsch
     <senekow@ibm.net>

   * mysql_mex_1_1.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql_mex_1_1.tar.gz) An interface program for the Matlab program by
     MathWorks.  The interface is done by Kimmo Uutela and John Fisher
     (not by Mathworks).  Check
     mysqlmex.html (http://boojum.hut.fi/~kuutela/mysqlmex.html) for
     more information.

   * mysqltcl-1.53.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqltcl-1.53.tar.gz) Tcl interface for *MySQL*. Based on
     `msqltcl-1.50.tar.gz'.  Updated by Tobias Ritzau,
     <tobri@ida.liu.se>.

   * MyC-0.1.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MyC-0.1.tar.gz) A
     Visual Basic-like API, by Ed Carp.

   * sqlscreens-1.0.1.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/sqlscreens-1.0.1.tar.gz) TCL/TK code to generate database screens. By
     Jean-Francois Dockes.

   * Vdb-dflts-2.1.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Vdb-dflts-2.1.tar.gz) This is a new version of a set of library
     utilities intended to provide a generic interface to SQL database
     engines such that your application becomes a 3-tiered application.
     The advantage is that you can easily switch between and move to
     other database engines by implementing one file for the new
     backend without needing to make any changes to your applications.
     By <damian@cablenet.net>.

   * DbFramework-1.10.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/DbFramework-1.10.tar.gz) DbFramework is a collection of classes for
     manipulating *MySQL* databases.  The classes are loosely based on
     the CDIF Data Model Subject Area. By Paul Sharpe
     <paul@miraclefish.com>.

   * pike-mysql-1.4.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/pike-mysql-1.4.tar.gz) *MySQL* module for pike. For use with the Roxen
     web server.

   * squile.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/squile.tar.gz) Module
     for `guile' that allows `guile' to interact with SQL databases. By
     Hal Roberts.

   * stk-mysql.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/stk-mysql.tar.gz)
     Interface for Stk. Stk is the Tk widgets with Scheme underneath
     instead of Tcl.  By Terry Jones

   *












     eiffel-wrapper-1.0.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/eiffel-wrapper-1.0.tar.gz).  Eiffel
     wrapper by Michael Ravits.

Clients
=======

   * Graphical clients
        * mysqlgui homepage (http://www.mysql.com/download_clients.html)
          The MySQL GUI client homepage. By Sinisa at TCX.

        * kmysqladmin-0.4.1.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/kmysqladmin-0.4.1.tar.gz)

        * kmysqladmin-0.4.1-1.src.rpm (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/kmysqladmin-0.4.1-1.src.rpm)

        * kmysqladmin-0.4.1-1.i386.rpm (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/kmysqladmin-0.4.1-1.i386.rpm) An administration tool for the *MySQL*
          server using QT / KDE.  Tested only on Linux.

        *



          Java client using Swing (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-admin-using-java+swing.tar.gz) By Fredy Fischer, <se-afs@dial.eunet.ch>. You
          can always find the latest version
          here (http://www.trash.net/~ffischer/admin/index.html).

        * mysqlwinadmn.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqlwinadmn.zip) Win32 GUI (binary only) to administrate a database,
          by David B. Mansel, <david@zhadum.org>.

        * netadmin.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/netadmin.zip) A
          administrator tool for *MySQL* on Windows 95/98 and Windows
          NT 4.0. Only tested with *MySQL* 3.23.5 - 3.23.7. Written
          using the Tmysql components.

          You can write queries and show tables, indexes, table syntax
          and administrate user,host and database and so on. The is
          still beta and have still some bugs. you can test the program
          with all features. Please send bugs and hints to Marco Suess
          <ms@it-netservice.de>. Original URL
          `http://www.it-netservice.de/pages/software/index.html'.

        * xmysqladmin-1.0.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/xmysqladmin-1.0.tar.gz) A front end to the *MySQL* database engine.  It
          allows reloads, status check, process control, myisamchk,
          grant/revoke privileges, creating databases, dropping
          databases, create, alter, browse and drop tables.  Originally
          by Gilbert Therrien, <gilbert@ican.net> but now in public
          domain and supported by TcX.

        * xmysql-1.9.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/xmysql-1.9.tar.gz)

        * xmysql home page (http://web.wt.net/~dblhack) A front end to
          the *MySQL* database engine. It allows for simple queries and
          table maintenance, as well as batch queries. By Rick
          Mehalick, <dblhack@wt.net>.  Requires
          xforms 0.88 (http://bragg.phys.uwm.edu/xforms) to work.

        * dbMetrix (http://www.tamos.net/sw/dbMetrix) An open source
          client for exploring databases and executing SQL. Supports
          *MySQL*, Oracle, PostgreSQL and mSQL.

        * GtkSQL (http://www.multimania.com/bbrox/GtkSQL) A query tool
          for *MySQL* and PostgreSQL.

        * dbMan (http://dbman.linux.cz/) A query tool written in Perl.
          Uses DBI and Tk.

        *





          Atronic's           *MySQL* client for Win32 (http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Win32/ArtronicWINAdmin.exe).

   * Web clients
        * mysqladmin-atif-1.0.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqladmin-atif-1.0.tar.gz) WWW *MySQL* administrator for the `user,'
          `db' and `host' tables.  By Tim Sailer, modified by Atif
          Ghaffar <aghaffar@artemedia.ch>.

        * mysql-webadmin-1.0a8-rz.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-webadmin-1.0a8-rz.tar.gz) A tool written in PHP-FI to
          administrate *MySQL* databases remotely over the web within a
          Web-Browser. By Peter Kuppelwieser,
          <peter.kuppelwieser@kantea.it>. Updated by Wim Bonis,
          bonis@kiss.de.  Not maintained anymore!

        * mysqladm.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqladm.tar.gz)
          *MySQL* Web Database Administration written in Perl.  By Tim
          Sailer.

        * mysqladm-2.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqladm-2.tar.gz) Updated version of `mysqladm.tar.gz', by High Tide.

        * billowmysql.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/billowmysql.zip)
          Updated version of `mysqladm.tar.gz', by Ying Gao.  You can
          get the newest version from the           home site (http://civeng.com/sqldemo/).

        * myadmin-0.4.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/myadmin-0.4.tar.gz)

        * MyAdmin home page (http://myadmin.cheapnet.net/) A web based
          mysql administrator by Mike Machado.

        *













          phpMyAdmin_2.0.1.tar.gz
          (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/phpMyAdmin_2.0.1.tar.gz) A set
          of PHP3-scripts to adminstrate MySQL over the WWW.

        * phpMyAdmin home page (http://www.htmlwizard.net/phpMyAdmin/)
          A PHP3 tool in the spirit of mysql-webadmin, by Tobias
          Ratschiller, tobias@dnet.it

        * useradm.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/useradm.tar.gz)
          *MySQL* administrator in PHP. By Ofni Thomas
          <othomas@vaidsystems.com>.

   *
     mysql-editor.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-editor.tar.gz) This cgi
     scripts in Perl enables you to edit content of Mysql database. By
     Tomas Zeman.

Web tools
=========

   * mod_mysql_include_1.0.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mod_mysql_include_1.0.tar.gz) Banner handling on non-php pages. By
     Sasha Pachev.

   * `http://www.odbsoft.com/cook/sources.htm' This package has various
     functions for generating html code from an SQL table structure and
     for generating SQL statements (Select, Insert, Update, Delete)
     from an html form. You can build a complete forms interface to an
     SQL database (query, add, update, delete) without any programming!
     By Marc Beneteau, <marc@odbsoft.com>.

   * sqlhtml.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/sqlhtml.tar.gz)
     SQL/HTML is an HTML database manager for *MySQL* using `DBI' 1.06.

   *






     udmsearch-2.2.1.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/udmsearch-2.2.1.tar.gz) A *MySQL*-
     and PHP- based search engine over HTTP. By Alexander I. Barkov
     <bar@izhcom.ru>.

   * wmtcl.doc (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/wmtcl.doc)

   * wmtcl.lex (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/wmtcl.lex) With this you
     can write HTML files with inclusions of TCL code. By
     <vvs@scil.npi.msu.su>.

   * www-sql-0.5.7.lsm (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/www-sql-0.5.7.lsm)

   * www-sql-0.5.7.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/www-sql-0.5.7.tar.gz) A CGI program that parses an HTML file containing
     special tags, parses them and inserts data from a *MySQL* database.

   * genquery.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/genquery.zip) Perl SQL
     database interface package for html.

   * cgi++-0.2.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/cgi++-0.2.tar.gz) A
     CGI wrapper by Sasha Pachev.

   * WebBoard 1.0 (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/webboard-1.0.zip)
     EU-Industries Internet-Message-Board.

   * DBIx-TextIndex-0.02.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/DBIx-TextIndex-0.02.tar.gz) Full-text searching with Perl on
     `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns by Daniel Koch.

Authentication tools
====================

   * ascend-radius-mysql-0.6.4.patch.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/ascend-radius-mysql-0.6.4.patch.gz) This is authentication and logging
     patch using *MySQL* for Ascend-Radius. By
     <takeshi@SoftAgency.co.jp>.

   * icradius 0.10 (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/icradius-0.10.tar.gz)
     icradius readme file (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/icradius.README)

   *

     checkpassword-0.81-mysql-0.6.1.patch.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/checkpassword-0.81-mysql-0.6.1.patch.gz) MySQL authentication patch for
     QMAIL and checkpassword. These are useful for management
     user(mail,pop account) by *MySQL*.  By <takeshi@SoftAgency.co.jp>

   * jradius-diff.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/jradius-diff.gz)
     *MySQL* support for Livingston's Radius 2.01. Authentication and
     Accounting. By Jose de Leon, <jdl@thevision.net>

   * mod_auth_mysql-2.20.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mod_auth_mysql-2.20.tar.gz) Apache authentication module for *MySQL*.
     By Zeev Suraski, <bourbon@netvision.net.il>.

     *Please* register this module at:



     `http://bourbon.netvision.net.il/mysql/mod_auth_mysql/register.html'.
     The registering information is only used for statistical purposes
     and will encourage further development of this module!

   * mod_log_mysql-1.05.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mod_log_mysql-1.05.tar.gz) *MySQL* logging module for Apache. By Zeev
     Suraski, <bourbon@netvision.net.il>.

   * mypasswd-2.0.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mypasswd-2.0.tar.gz) Extra for `mod_auth_mysql'. This is a little tool
     that allows you to add/change user records storing group and/or
     password entries in *MySQL* tables. By Harry Brueckner,
     <brueckner@respublica.de>.

   * mysql-passwd.README (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-passwd.README)

   * mysql-passwd-1.2.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-passwd-1.2.tar.gz) Extra for `mod_auth_mysql'. This is a two-part
     system for use with `mod_auth_mysql'.

   * pam_mysql.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/pam_mysql.tar.gz)
     This module authenticates users via `pam', using *MySQL*.

   * nsapi_auth_mysql.tar (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/nsapi_auth_mysql.tar) Netscape Web Server API (NSAPI) functions to
     authenticate (BASIC) users against *MySQL* tables. By Yuan John
     Jiang.

   * qmail-1.03-mysql-0.6.2.patch.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/qmail-1.03-mysql-0.6.2.patch.gz) Patch for qmail to authenticate users
     from a *MySQL* table.

   *










     pwcheck_mysql-0.1.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/pwcheck_mysql-0.1.tar.gz) An
     authentication module for the Cyrus IMAP server. By Aaron Newsome.

Converters
==========

   * dbf2mysql-1.13.tgz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/dbf2mysql-1.13.tgz) Convert between
     `.dbf' files and *MySQL* tables. By Maarten Boekhold,
     <boekhold@cindy.et.tudelft.nl>, and Michael Widenius.  This
     converter can't handle MEMO fields.

   * dbf2mysql.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/dbf2mysql.zip) Convert
     between FoxPro `.dbf' files and *MySQL* tables on Win32.  By
     Alexander Eltsyn, <ae@nica.ru> or <ae@usa.net>.

   * dump2h-1.20.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/dump2h-1.20.gz)
     Convert from `mysqldump' output to a C header file. By Harry
     Brueckner, <brueckner@mail.respublica.de>.

   * exportsql.txt (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/exportsql.txt) A
     script that is similar to `access_to_mysql.txt', except that this
     one is fully configurable, has better type conversion (including
     detection of `TIMESTAMP' fields), provides warnings and suggestions
     while converting, quotes *all* special characters in text and
     binary data, and so on.  It will also convert to `mSQL' v1 and v2,
     and is free of charge for anyone. See
     `http://www.cynergi.net/prod/exportsql/' for latest version. By
     Pedro Freire, <support@cynergi.net>.  Note: Doesn't work with
     Access2!

   * access_to_mysql.txt (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/access_to_mysql.txt) Paste this function into an Access module of a
     database which has the tables you want to export. See also
     `exportsql'. By Brian Andrews.  Note: Doesn't work with Access2!

   * importsql.txt (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/importsql.txt) A
     script that does the exact reverse of `exportsql.txt'.  That is,
     it imports data from *MySQL* into an Access database via ODBC.
     This is very handy when combined with exportSQL, since it lets you
     use Access for all DB design and administration, and synchronize
     with your actual *MySQL* server either way. Free of charge. See
     `http://www.netdive.com/freebies/importsql/' for any updates.
     Created by Laurent Bossavit of NetDIVE.  *Note:* Doesn't work with
     Access2!

   * /msql2mysqlWrapper 1.0 (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/msql2mysqlWrapper-1.0.tgz) A C wrapper from `mSQL' to *MySQL*. By
     <alfred@sb.net>

   * sqlconv.pl (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/sqlconv.pl) A simple
     script that can be used to copy fields from one *MySQL* table to
     another in bulk. Basically, you can run `mysqldump' and pipe it to
     the `sqlconv.pl' script and the script will parse through the
     `mysqldump' output and will rearrange the fields so they can be
     inserted into a new table. An example is when you want to create a
     new table for a different site you are working on, but the table
     is just a bit different (ie - fields in different order, etc.).
     By Steve Shreeve.

Using MySQL with other products
===============================

   * emacs-sql-mode.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/emacs-sql-mode.tar.gz) Raw port of a SQL mode for XEmacs. Supports
     completion. Original by Peter D. Pezaris <pez@atlantic2.sbi.com>
     and partial *MySQL* port by David Axmark.

   * MyAccess.mda (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MyAccess.mda) MyAccess
     is an AddIn for Access 97 and handles a lot of maintanance work
     for *MySQL* databases.
     MyAccess-readme
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MyAccess-0.90.readme).  By Hubertus
     Hiden.

   * radius-0.3.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/radius-0.3.tar.gz)
     Patches for `radiusd' to make it support *MySQL*. By Wim Bonis,
     <bonis@kiss.de>.

Useful tools
============

   * mysql_watchdog.pl (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql_watchdog.pl)
     Monitor the *MySQL* daemon for possible lockups. By Yermo Lamers,
     <yml@yml.com>.

   * mysqltop.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqltop.tar.gz)
     Sends a query in a fixed time interval to the server and shows the
     resulting table. By Thomas Wana.

   *




















     mysql_structure_dumper.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql_structure_dumper.tar.gz)
     Prints out the structure of the all tables in a database. By
     Thomas Wana.

   * structure_dumper.tgz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql_structure_dumper.tgz) Prints the structure of every table in a
     database. By Thomas Wana.

   * mysqlsync-1.0-alpha.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysqlsync).  A perl script to keep
     remote copies of a *MySQL* database in sync with a central master
     copy. By Mark Jeftovic.  <markjr@easydns.com>

   * MySQLTutor (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MySQLTutor-0.2.tar.gz).
     MySQLTutor. A tutor of *MySQL* for beginners</A>

   * MySQLDB.zip (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MySQLDB.zip) A COM
     library for *MySQL* by Alok Singh.

   * MySQLDB-readme.html (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/MySQLDB-readme.html)

   * mysql_replicate.pl
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql_replicate.pl) Perl program
     that handles replication.  By <elble@icculus.nsg.nwu.edu>

   * DBIx-TextIndex-0.02.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/DBIx-TextIndex-0.02.tar.gz) Perl program that uses reverse indexing to
     handle text searching.  By Daniel Koch.

RPMs for common tools (Most are for RedHat 6.1)
===============================================

   *






























     perl-Data-ShowTable-3.3-2.i386.rpm
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/perl-Data-ShowTable-3.3-2.i386.rpm)

   *












































     perl-Msql-Mysql-modules-1.2210-2.i386.rpm





     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/perl-Msql-Mysql-modules-1.2210-2.i386.rpm)

   *










     php-pg-3.0.13-1.i386.rpm
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/php-pg-3.0.13-1.i386.rpm)

   *
























     php-pg-manual-3.0.13-1.i386.rpm
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/php-pg-manual-3.0.13-1.i386.rpm)

   *






















     php-pg-mysql-3.0.13-1.i386.rpm
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/php-pg-mysql-3.0.13-1.i386.rpm)

   *




















     phpMyAdmin-2.0.5-1.noarch.rpm
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/phpMyAdmin-2.0.5-1.noarch.rpm)

Useful functions
================

   * mysnprintf.c (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysnprintf.c) sprintf()
     function for SQL queries that can escape blobs. By Chunhua Liu.

Uncategorized
=============

   * mysql-bench-0.0.1.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mysql-bench-0.0.1.tar.gz) Some tools to benchmark MySQL. By Sasha
     Pachev.

   * findres.pl (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/findres.pl) Find reserved
     words in tables. By Nem W Schlecht.

   * handicap.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/handicap.tar.gz)
     Performance handicapping system for yachts. Uses PHP. By
     <rhill@stobyn.ml.org>.

   * hylalog-1.0.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/hylalog-1.0.tar.gz) Store `hylafax'
     outgoing faxes in a *MySQL* database. By Sinisa Milivojevic,
     <sinisa@coresinc.com>.

   * mrtg-mysql-1.0.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/mrtg-mysql-1.0.tar.gz) *MySQL* status plotting with MRTG, by Luuk de
     Boer, <luuk@wxs.nl>.

   *

     wuftpd-2.4.2.18-mysql_support.2.tar.gz (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/wuftpd-2.4.2.18-mysql_support.2.tar.gz) Patches to add logging to
     *MySQL* for WU-ftpd. By Zeev Suraski, <bourbon@netvision.net.il>.

   *


































     wu-ftpd-2.6.0-mysql_support.2.tar.gz
     (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/wu-ftpd-2.6.0-mysql_support.2.tar.gz)
     Patches to add logging to *MySQL* for WU-ftpd 2.6.0. By,
     <takeshi@SoftAgency.co.jp>, based on Zeev Suraski wuftpd patches.

   * Old-Versions (http://www.mysql.com/Contrib/Old-Versions) Previous
     versions of things found here that you probably won't be
     interested in.

Contributors to MySQL
*********************

Contributors to the *MySQL* distribution are listed below, in somewhat
random order:

Michael (Monty) Widenius
     Has written the following parts of *MySQL*:
        * All the main code in `mysqld'.

        * New functions for the string library.

        * Most of the `mysys' library.

        * The `ISAM' and `MyISAM' libraries (B-tree index file handlers
          with index compression and different record formats).

        * The `heap' library. A memory table system with our superior
          full dynamic hashing. In use since 1981 and published around
          1984.

        * The `replace' program (look into it, it's COOL!).

        * *MyODBC*, the ODBC driver for Windows95.

        * Fixing bugs in MIT-pthreads to get it to work for *MySQL*. And
          also Unireg, a curses-based application tool with many
          utilities.

        * Porting of `mSQL' tools like `msqlperl', `DBD'/`DBI' and
          `DB2mysql'.

        * Most parts of crash-me and the *MySQL* benchmarks.

David Axmark
        * Coordinator and main writer for the *Reference Manual*,
          including enhancements to `texi2html'. Also automatic website
          updating from this manual.

        * Autoconf, Automake and `libtool' support.

        * The licensing stuff.

        * Parts of all the text files.  (Nowadays only the `README' is
          left. The rest ended up in the manual.)

        * Our Mail master.

        * Lots of testing of new features.

        * Our in-house "free" software lawyer.

        * Mailing list maintainer (who never has the time to do it
          right...)

        * Our original portability code (more than 10 years old now).
          Nowadays only some parts of `mysys' are left.

        * Someone for Monty to call in the middle of the night when he
          just got that new feature to work. :-)

Paul DuBois
     Help with making the Reference Manual correct and understandable.
     That includes rewriting Monty's and David's attempts at English
     into English as other people know it.

Gianmassimo Vigazzola <qwerg@mbox.vol.it> or <qwerg@tin.it>
     The initial port to Win32/NT.

Kim Aldale
     Helped to rewrite Monty's and David's early attempts at English
     into English.

Allan Larsson (The BOSS at TcX)
     For all the time he has allowed Monty to spend on this "maybe
     useful" tool (*MySQL*). Dedicated user (and bug finder) of Unireg
     & *MySQL*.

Per Eric Olsson
     For more or less constructive criticism and real testing of the
     dynamic record format.

Irena Pancirov <irena@mail.yacc.it>
     Win32 port with Borland compiler.  `mysqlshutdown.exe' and
     `mysqlwatch.exe'

David J. Hughes
     For the effort to make a shareware SQL database. We at TcX started
     with `mSQL', but found that it couldn't satisfy our purposes so
     instead we wrote a SQL interface to our application builder
     Unireg.  `mysqladmin' and `mysql' are programs that were largely
     influenced by their `mSQL' counterparts. We have put a lot of
     effort into making the *MySQL* syntax a superset of `mSQL'. Many
     of the APIs ideas are borrowed from `mSQL' to make it easy to port
     free `mSQL' programs to *MySQL*. *MySQL* doesn't contain any code
     from `mSQL'.  Two files in the distribution
     (`client/insert_test.c' and `client/select_test.c') are based on
     the corresponding (non-copyrighted) files in the `mSQL'
     distribution, but are modified as examples showing the changes
     necessary to convert code from `mSQL' to *MySQL*.  (`mSQL' is
     copyrighted David J. Hughes.)

Fred Fish
     For his excellent C debugging and trace library. Monty has made a
     number of smaller improvements to the library (speed and
     additional options).

Richard A. O'Keefe
     For his public domain string library.

Henry Spencer
     For his regex library, used in `WHERE column REGEXP regexp'.

Free Software Foundation
     From whom we got an excellent compiler (`gcc'), the `libc' library
     (from which we have borrowed `strto.c' to get some code working in
     Linux) and the `readline' library (for the `mysql' client).

Free Software Foundation & The XEmacs development team
     For a really great editor/environment used by almost everybody at
     TcX/detron.

Igor Romanenko <igor@frog.kiev.ua>
     `mysqldump' (previously `msqldump', but ported and enhanced by
     Monty).

Tim Bunce, Alligator Descartes
     For the `DBD' (Perl) interface.

Andreas Koenig <a.koenig@mind.de>
     For the Perl interface to *MySQL*.

Eugene Chan <eugene@acenet.com.sg>
     For porting PHP to *MySQL*.

Michael J. Miller Jr. <mke@terrapin.turbolift.com>
     For the first *MySQL* manual. And a lot of spelling/language fixes
     for the FAQ (that turned into the *MySQL* manual a long time ago).

Giovanni Maruzzelli <maruzz@matrice.it>
     For porting iODBC (Unix ODBC).

Chris Provenzano
     Portable user level pthreads. From the copyright: This product
     includes software developed by Chris Provenzano, the University of
     California, Berkeley, and contributors.  We are currently using
     version 1_60_beta6 patched by Monty (see
     `mit-pthreads/Changes-mysql').

Xavier Leroy <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr>
     The author of LinuxThreads (used by *MySQL* on Linux).

Zarko Mocnik <zarko.mocnik@dem.si>
     Sorting for Slovenian language and the `cset.tar.gz' module that
     makes it easier to add other character sets.

"TAMITO" <tommy@valley.ne.jp>
     The `_MB' character set macros and the ujis and sjis character
     sets.

Yves Carlier <Yves.Carlier@rug.ac.be>
     `mysqlaccess', a program to show the access rights for a user.

Rhys Jones <rhys@wales.com> (And GWE Technologies Limited)
     For the JDBC, a module to extract data from *MySQL* with a Java
     client.

Dr Xiaokun Kelvin ZHU <X.Zhu@brad.ac.uk>
     Further development of the JDBC driver and other *MySQL*-related
     Java tools.

James Cooper <pixel@organic.com>
     For setting up a searchable mailing list archive at his site.

Rick Mehalick <Rick_Mehalick@i-o.com>
     For `xmysql', a graphical X client for *MySQL*.

Doug Sisk <sisk@wix.com>
     For providing RPM packages of *MySQL* for RedHat Linux.

Diemand Alexander V. <axeld@vial.ethz.ch>
     For providing RPM packages of *MySQL* for RedHat Linux/Alpha.

Antoni Pamies Olive <toni@readysoft.es>
     For providing RPM versions of a lot of *MySQL* clients for Intel
     and SPARC.

Jay Bloodworth <jay@pathways.sde.state.sc.us>
     For providing RPM versions for *MySQL* 3.21 versions.

Jochen Wiedmann <wiedmann@neckar-alb.de>
     For maintaining the Perl `DBD::mysql' module.

Therrien Gilbert <gilbert@ican.net>, Jean-Marc Pouyot <jmp@scalaire.fr>
     French error messages.

Petr snajdr, <snajdr@pvt.net>
     Czech error messages.

Jaroslaw Lewandowski <jotel@itnet.com.pl>
     Polish error messages.

Miguel Angel Fernandez Roiz
     Spanish error messages.

Roy-Magne Mo <rmo@www.hivolda.no>
     Norwegian error messages and testing of 3.21.#.

Timur I. Bakeyev <root@timur.tatarstan.ru>
     Russian error messages.

<brenno@dewinter.com> && Filippo Grassilli <phil@hyppo.com>
     Italian error messages.

Dirk Munzinger <dirk@trinity.saar.de>
     German error messages.

Billik Stefan <billik@sun.uniag.sk>
     Slovak error messages.

David Sacerdote <davids@secnet.com>
     Ideas for secure checking of DNS hostnames.

Wei-Jou Chen <jou@nematic.ieo.nctu.edu.tw>
     Some support for Chinese(BIG5) characters.

Wei He <hewei@mail.ied.ac.cn>
     A lot of functionality for the Chinese(GBK) character set.

Zeev Suraski <bourbon@netvision.net.il>
     `FROM_UNIXTIME()' time formatting, `ENCRYPT()' functions, and
     `bison' adviser.  Active mailing list member.

Luuk de Boer <luuk@wxs.nl>
     Ported (and extended) the benchmark suite to `DBI'/`DBD'. Have
     been of great help with `crash-me' and running benchmarks. Some new
     date functions. The mysql_setpermissions script.

Jay Flaherty <fty@utk.edu>
     Big parts of the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' section in the manual.

Paul Southworth <pauls@etext.org>, Ray Loyzaga <yar@cs.su.oz.au>
     Proof-reading of the Reference Manual.

Alexis Mikhailov <root@medinf.chuvashia.su>
     User definable functions (UDFs); `CREATE FUNCTION' and `DROP
     FUNCTION'.

Andreas F. Bobak <bobak@relog.ch>
     The `AGGREGATE' extension to UDF functions.

Ross Wakelin <R.Wakelin@march.co.uk>
     Help to set up InstallShield for MySQL-Win32.

Jethro Wright III <jetman@li.net>
     The `libmysql.dll' library.

James Pereria <jpereira@iafrica.com>
     Mysqlmanager, a Win32 GUI tool for administrating *MySQL*.

Curt Sampson <cjs@portal.ca>
     Porting of MIT-pthreads to NetBSD/Alpha and NetBSD 1.3/i386.

Sinisa Milivojevic <sinisa@coresinc.com>
     Compression (with `zlib') to the client/server protocol.  Perfect
     hashing for the lexical analyzer phase.

Antony T. Curtis <antony.curtis@olcs.net>
     Porting of *MySQL* to OS/2.

Martin Ramsch <m.ramsch@computer.org>
     Examples in the *MySQL* Tutorial.

Tim Bunce
     Author of mysqlhotcopy.

Steve Harvey
     For making `mysqlaccess' more secure.

Other contributors, bugfinders and testers: James H. Thompson, Maurizio
Menghini, Wojciech Tryc, Luca Berra, Zarko Mocnik, Wim Bonis, Elmar
Haneke, <jehamby@lightside>, <psmith@BayNetworks.COM>,
<duane@connect.com.au>, Ted Deppner <ted@psyber.com>, Mike Simons,
Jaakko Hyv"atti.

And lots of bug report/patches from the folks on the mailing list.

And a big tribute to those that help us answer questions on the
`mysql@lists.mysql.com' mailing list:

Daniel Koch <dkoch@amcity.com>
     Irix setup.

Luuk de Boer <luuk@wxs.nl>
     Benchmark questions.

Tim Sailer <tps@users.buoy.com>
     `DBD-mysql' questions.

Boyd Lynn Gerber <gerberb@zenez.com>
     SCO related questions.

Richard Mehalick <RM186061@shellus.com>
     `xmysql'-releated questions and basic installation questions.

Zeev Suraski <bourbon@netvision.net.il>
     Apache module configuration questions (log & auth), PHP-related
     questions, SQL syntax related questions and other general
     questions.

Francesc Guasch <frankie@citel.upc.es>
     General questions.

Jonathan J Smith <jsmith@wtp.net>
     Questions pertaining to OS-specifics with Linux, SQL syntax, and
     other things that might be needing some work.

David Sklar <sklar@student.net>
     Using *MySQL* from PHP and Perl.

Alistair MacDonald <A.MacDonald@uel.ac.uk>
     Not yet specified, but is flexible and can handle Linux and maybe
     HP-UX.  Will try to get user to use `mysqlbug'.

John Lyon <jlyon@imag.net>
     Questions about installing *MySQL* on Linux systems, using either
     `.rpm' files, or compiling from source.

Lorvid Ltd. <lorvid@WOLFENET.com>
     Simple billing/license/support/copyright issues.

Patrick Sherrill <patrick@coconet.com>
     ODBC and VisualC++ interface questions.

Randy Harmon <rjharmon@uptimecomputers.com>
     `DBD', Linux, some SQL syntax questions.

MySQL change history
********************

Note that we tend to update the manual at the same time we implement new
things to *MySQL*. If you find a version listed below that you can't
find on the *MySQL* download page (http://www.mysql.com/download.html),
this means that the version has not yet been released!

Changes in release 3.23.x  (Released as alpha)
==============================================

The major difference between release 3.23 and releases 3.22 and 3.21 is
that 3.23 contains a new ISAM library (MyISAM), which is more tuned for
SQL than the old ISAM was.

The 3.23 release is under development, and things will be added at a
fast pace to it.  For the moment we recommend this version only for
users that desperately need a new feature that is found only in this
release (like big file support and machine-independent tables).  (Note
that all new functionality in MySQL 3.23 is extensively tested, but as
this release involves much new code, it's difficult to test everything).

We are not anymore adding any new features that are likely to break any
old code in MySQL 3.23 so this version should stabilise pretty soon and
will soon be declared beta, gamma and release.

Changes in release 3.23.11
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when storing numbers in timestamps.

   * Fix problem with timezones that has half hour offsets.

   * Allow the syntax `UNIQUE INDEX' in `CREATE' statements.

   * `mysqlhotcopy' - fast on-line hot-backup utility for local *MySQL*
     databases. By Tim Bunce.

   * New more secure `mysqlaccess'; Thanks to Steve Harvey for this.

   * Added options `--i-am-a-dummy' and `--safe-updates' to `mysql'.

   * Added variables `select_limit' and `max_join_size' to `mysql'

   * Added sql variables: `SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE' and `SQL_SAFE_UPDATES'

   * Added `READ_LOCAL' lock that doesn't lock the table for concurrent
     inserts.

   * Changed that `LOCK TABLES .. READ' doesn't anymore allow concurrent
     inserts.

   * Added option `--skip-delay-key-write' to mysqld.

   * Fixed security problem in the protocol regarding password checking.

   * `_rowid' can now be used as an alias for an integer type unique
     indexed column.

   * Added back blocking of SIGPIPE when compiling with
     -thread-safe-clients to make things safe for old clients.

Changes in release 3.23.10
--------------------------

   * Fixed bug in 3.23.9 where memory wasn't properly freed when doing
     `LOCK TABLES'.

Changes in release 3.23.9
-------------------------

   * Fixed problem that affected queries that did arithmetic on group
     functions.

   * Fixed problem with timestamps and `INSERT DELAYED'

   * Fixed that `date_column BETWEEN const_date AND const_date' works.

   * Fixed problem when only changing a 0 to `NULL' in a table with
     `BLOB/TEXT' columns.

   * Fixed bug in range optimizer when using many key parts and or on
     the middle key parts:  `WHERE K1=1 and K3=2 and (K2=2 and K4=4 or
     K2=3 and K4=5)'

   * Added command `source' to `mysql' to allow reading of batch files
     inside the `mysql' client.  Original patch by Matthew Vanecek.

   * Fixed critical problem with the `WITH GRANT OPTION' option.

   * Don't give a unnecessary `GRANT' error when using tables from many
     databases in the same query.

   * Added VIO wrapper (needed for SSSL support ; By Andrei Errapart and
     Tõnu Samuel).

   * Fixed optimizer problem on `SELECT' when using many overlapping
     indexes.  *MySQL* should now be able to choose keys even better
     when there is many keys to choose from.

   * Changed optimizer to prefer a range key instead of a ref key when
     the range key can uses more columns than the ref key (which only
     can use columns with =).  For example, the following type of
     queries should now be faster: `SELECT * from key_part_1=const and
     key_part_2 > const2'

   * Fixed bug that a change of all `VARCHAR' columns to `CHAR' columns
     didn't change row type from dynamic to fixed.

   * Disabled floating point exceptions for FreeBSD to fix core dump
     when doing `SELECT floor(pow(2,63))'.

   * Changed `mysqld' startup option `--delay-key-write' to
     `--delay-key-write-for-all-tables'

   * Added `read-next-on-key' to `HEAP' tables.  This should fix all
     problems with `HEAP' tables when using not `UNIQUE' keys.

   * Added print of default arguments options to all clients.

   * Added `--log-slow-queries' to `mysqld' to log all queries that
     take a long time to a separate log file with a time of how long
     the query took.

   * Fixed core dump when doing `WHERE key_column=RAND(...)'

   * Fixed optimization bug in `SELECT .. LEFT JOIN ... key_column IS
     NULL', when `key_column' could contain `NULL' values.

   * Fixed problem with 8-bit characters as separators in `LOAD DATA
     INFILE'.

   *

Changes in release 3.23.8
-------------------------

   * Fixed problem when handling indexfiles larger than 8G.

   * Added latest patches to mit-pthreads for NetBSD.

   * Fixed problem with timezones that are < GMT -11.

   * Fixed a bug when deleting packed keys in `NISAM'.

   * Fixed problem with `ISAM' when doing some `ORDER BY ... DESC'
     queries.

   * Fixed bug when doing a join on a text key which didn't cover the
     whole key.

   * Option `--delay-key-write' didn't enable delayed key writing.

   * Fixed update of `TEXT' column which only involved case changes.

   * Fixed that `INSERT DELAYED' doesn't update timestamps that are
     given.

   * Added function `YEARWEEK()' and options `x', `X', `v' and `V' to
     `DATE_FORMAT()'.

   * Fixed problem with `MAX(indexed_column)' and HEAP tables.

   * Fixed problem with `BLOB NULL' keys and `LIKE' "prefix%".

   * Fixed problem with `MyISAM' and fixed length rows < 5 bytes.

   * Fixed problem that could cause *MySQL* to touch freed memory when
     doing very complicated `GROUP BY' queries.

   * Fixed core dump if you got a crashed table where an `ENUM' field
     value was too big.

Changes in release 3.23.7
-------------------------

   * Fixed workaround under Linux to avoid problems with
     `pthread_mutex_timedwait', which is used with `INSERT DELAYED'.
     *Note Linux::.

   * Fixed that one will get a 'disk full' error message if one gets
     disk full when doing sorting (instead of waiting until we got more
     disk space).

   * Fixed a bug in `MyISAM' with keys > 250 characters.

   * In `MyISAM' one can now do an `INSERT' at the same time as other
     threads are reading from the table.

   * Added variable `max_write_lock_count' to `mysqld' to force a
     `READ' lock after a certain number of `WRITE' locks.

   * Inverted flag `delayed_key_write' on `show variables'.

   * Renamed variable `concurrency' to `thread_concurrency'.

   * The following functions are now multi-byte-safe:
     `LOCATE(substr,str)', `POSITION(substr IN str)',
     `LOCATE(substr,str,pos)', `INSTR(str,substr)', `LEFT(str,len)',
     `RIGHT(str,len)', `SUBSTRING(str,pos,len)', `SUBSTRING(str FROM
     pos FOR len)', `MID(str,pos,len)', `SUBSTRING(str,pos)',
     `SUBSTRING(str FROM pos)', `SUBSTRING_INDEX(str,delim,count)',
     `RTRIM(str)', `TRIM([[BOTH | TRAILING] [remstr] FROM] str)',
     `REPLACE(str,from_str,to_str)', `REVERSE(str)',
     `INSERT(str,pos,len,newstr)', `LCASE(str)', `LOWER(str)',
     `UCASE(str)' and `UPPER(str)';  Patch by Wei He.

   * Fix core dump when releasing a lock from a non existing table.

   * Remove locks on tables before starting to remove duplicates.

   * Added option `FULL' to `SHOW PROCESSLIST'.

   * Added option `--verbose' to `mysqladmin'.

   * Fixed problem when automaticly converting HEAP to MyISAM.

   * Fixed bug in HEAP tables when doing insert + delete + insert +
     scan the table.

   * Fixed bugs on Alpha with `REPLACE()' and `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * Added `mysqld' variable `interactive_timeout'.

   * Changed the argument to `mysql_data_seek()' from `ulong' to
     `ulonglong'.

Changes in release 3.23.6
-------------------------

   * Added `mysqld' option `-O lower_case_table_names={0|1}' to allow
     users to force table names to lower case.

   * Added `SELECT ... INTO DUMPFILE'.

   * Added mysqld option `--ansi' to make some functions `ANSI SQL'
     compatible.

   * Temporary tables now starts with `#sql'.

   * Added quoting of identifiers with ``' (`"' in `--ansi' mode).

   * Changed to use snprintf() when printing floats to avoid some buffer
     overflows on FREEBSD.

   * Made `[floor()' overflow safe on FREEBSD.

   * Added option `--quote-names' to `mysqldump'

   * Fixed bug that one could make a part of a `PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL'.

   * Fixed `encrypt()' to be thread safe and not reuse buffer.

   * Added `mysql_odbc_escape_string()' function to support big5
     characters in MyOBC.

   * Rewrote the table handler to use classes.  This introduces a lot
     of new code, but will make table handling faster and better...

   * Added patch by Sasha for user defined variables.

   * Changed that `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE' (without any length modifiers)
     are not anymore fixed decimal point numbers.

   * Changed the meaning of `FLOAT(X)': Now this is the same as `FLOAT'
     if X <= 24 and a `DOUBLE' if 24 < X <= 53.

   * `DECIMAL(X)' is now an alias for `DECIMAL(X,0)' and `DECIMAL' is
     now an alias for `DECIMAL(10,0)'.  The same goes for `NUMERIC'.

   * Added option `ROW_FORMAT={default | dynamic | static |
     compressed}' to `CREATE_TABLE'.

   * `DELETE FROM table_name' didn't work on temporary tables.

   * Changed function `CHAR_LENGTH()' to be multi-byte character safe.

   * Added function `ORD(string)'.

Changes in release 3.23.5
-------------------------

   * Fixed some Y2K problems in the new date handling in 3.23.

   * Fixed problem with `SELECT DISTINCT ... ORDER BY RAND()'.

   * Added patches by Sergei A. Golubchik for text searching on the
     MyISAM level.

   * Fixed cache overflow problem when using full joins without keys.

   * Fixed some configure issues.

   * Some small changes to make parsing faster.

   * `ALTER TABLE' + adding a column after the last field didn't work.

   * Fixed problem when using an auto_increment column in two keys

   * One can now with MyISAM have the auto_increment part as a sub part:
     `CREATE TABLE foo (a int not null auto_increment, b char(5),
     primary key (b,a))'

   * Fixed bug in MyISAM with packed char keys that could be `NULL.'

   * `AS' on fieldname with `CREATE TABLE table_name SELECT ...' didn't
     work.

   * Allow use of `NATIONAL' and `NCHAR' when defining character
     columns.  This is the same as not using `BINARY'.

   * Don't allow `NULL' columns in a `PRIMARY KEY' (only in `UNIQUE'
     keys).

   * Clear `LAST_INSERT_ID' if in uses this in ODBC: `WHERE
     auto_increment_column IS NULL'.  This seams to fix some problems
     with Access.

   * `SET SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL=0|1' now turns off/on the handling of
     searching after the last inserted row with `WHERE
     auto_increment_column IS NULL'.

   * Added new `mysqld' variable `concurrency' for Solaris.

   * Added option `--relative' to `mysqladmin' to make
     `extended-status' more useful to monitor changes.

   * Fixed bug when using `COUNT(DISTINCT..)' on an empty table.

   * Added support for the Chinese character set GBK.

   * Fixed problem with `LOAD DATA INFILE' and `BLOB' columns.

   * Added bit operator `~' (negation).

   * Fixed problem with `UDF' functions.

Changes in release 3.23.4
-------------------------

   * Inserting a `DATETIME' into a `TIME' column will not anymore try
     to store 'days' in it.

   * Fixed problem with storage of float/double on low endian machines.
     (This affected `SUM()'.)

   * Added connect timeout on TCP/IP connections.

   * Fixed problem with `LIKE' "%" on a index that may have `NULL'
     values.

   * `REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES' didn't revoke all privileges.

   * Allow creation of temporary tables with same name as the original
     table.

   * When granting a user a grant option for a database, he couldn't
     grant privileges to other users.

   * New command: `SHOW GRANTS FOR user' (by Sinisa).

   * New `date_add' syntax:  `date/datetime + INTERVAL # interval_type'.
     By Joshua Chamas.

   * Fixed privilege check for `LOAD DATA REPLACE'.

   * Automatic fixing of broken include files on Solaris 2.7

   * Some configure issues to fix problems with big file system
     detection.

   * `REGEXP' is now case insensitive if you use not binary strings.

Changes in release 3.23.3
-------------------------

     Added patches for MIT-pthreads on NetBSD.

   * Fixed range bug in MyISAM.

   * `ASC' is now the default again for `ORDER BY'.

   * Added `LIMIT' to `UPDATE'.

   * New client function: `mysql_change_user()'.

   * Added character set to `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Added support of `--[whitespace]' comments.

   * Allow `INSERT into tbl_name VALUES ()', that is, you may now
     specify an empty value list to insert a row in which each column
     is set to its default value.

   * Changed `SUBSTRING(text FROM pos)' to conform to ANSI SQL. (Before
     this construct returned the rightmost 'pos' characters).

   * `SUM(..)' with `GROUP BY' returned 0 on some systems.

   * Changed output for `SHOW TABLE STATUS'.

   * Added `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' option to `CREATE TABLE'.

   * Allow `AUTO_INCREMENT' on any key part.

   * Fixed problem with `YEAR(NOW())' and `YEAR(CURDATE())'.

   * Added `CASE' construct.

   * New function `COALESCE()'.

Changes in release 3.23.2
-------------------------

   * Fixed range optimizer bug: `SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
     key_part1 >= const AND (key_part2 = const OR key_part2 = const)'.
     The bug was that some rows could be duplicated in the result.

   * Running `myisamchk' without `-a' updated the index distribution
     wrong.

   * `SET SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=1' gave parse error before.

   * You can now update indexes columns that are used in the `WHERE'
     clause.  `UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1 WHERE KEY > 100'

   * Date handling should now be a bit faster.

   * Added handling of fuzzy dates (dates where day or month is 0):
     (Like: 1999-01-00)

   * Fixed optimization of `SELECT ... WHERE key_part1=const1 AND
     key_part_2=const2 AND key_part1=const4 AND key_part2=const4' ;
     Indextype should be `range' instead of `ref'.

   * Fixed `egcs' 1.1.2 optimizer bug (when using `BLOB's) on Linux
     Alpha.

   * Fixed problem with `LOCK TABLES' combined with `DELETE FROM table'.

   * MyISAM tables now allow keys on `NULL' and `BLOB/TEXT' columns.

   * The following join is now much faster: `SELECT ... FROM t1 LEFT
     JOIN t2 ON ... WHERE t2.not_null_column IS NULL'.

   * `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' can be done on functions.

   * Changed handling of 'const_item' to allow handling of `ORDER BY
     RAND()'.

   * Indexes are now used for `WHERE key_column = function'.

   * Indexes are now used for `WHERE key_column = column_name' even if
     the columns are not identically packed.

   * Indexes are now used for `WHERE column_name IS NULL'.

   * Changed heap tables to be stored in low_byte_first order (to make
     it easy to convert to MyISAM tables)

   * Automatic change of HEAP temporary tables to MyISAM tables in case
     of 'table is full' errors.

   * Added option `--init-file=file_name' to `mysqld'.

   * `COUNT(DISTINCT value,[value,...])'

   * `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE' now creates a temporary table, in its own
     namespace, that is automatically deleted if connection is dropped.

   * New reserved words (required for `CASE'):  `CASE, THEN, WHEN, ELSE
     and END'.

   * New functions `EXPORT_SET()' and `MD5()'.

   * Support for the GB2312 Chinese character set.

Changes in release 3.23.1
-------------------------

   * Fixed some compilation problems.

Changes in release 3.23.0
-------------------------

     A new table handler library (`MyISAM') with a lot of new features.
     *Note Table types::.

   * You can create in-memory `HEAP' tables which are extremely fast for
     lookups.

   * Support for big files (63 bit) on OSes that support big files.

   * New function `LOAD_FILE(filename)' to get the contents of a file
     as a string value.

   * New operator `<=>' which will act as `=' but will return TRUE if
     both arguments are `NULL'.  This is useful for comparing changes
     between tables.

   * Added the ODBC 3.0 `EXTRACT(interval FROM datetime)' function.

   * Columns defined as `FLOAT(X)' is not rounded on storage and may be
     in scientific notation (1.0 E+10) when retrieved.

   * `REPLACE' is now faster than before.

   * Changed `LIKE' character comparison to behave as `='; This means
     that `'e' LIKE ''e'' is now true.

   * `SHOW TABLE STATUS' returns a lot of information about the tables.

   * Added `LIKE' to the `SHOW STATUS' command.

   * Added privilege column to `SHOW COLUMNS'.

   * Added columns `packed' and `comment' to `SHOW INDEX'.

   * Added comments to tables (with `CREATE TABLE ... COMMENT "xxx"').

   * Added `UNIQUE', as in `CREATE TABLE table_name (col int not null
     UNIQUE)'

   * New create syntax: `CREATE TABLE table_name SELECT ....'

   * New create syntax: `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ...'

   * Allow creation of `CHAR(0)' columns.

   * `DATE_FORMAT()' now requires `%' before any format character.

   * `DELAYED' is now a reserved word (sorry about that :( ).

   * An example procedure is added: `analyse', file: `sql_analyse.c'.
     This will describe the data in your query.  Try the following:
          SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE ... PROCEDURE ANALYSE([max elements,[max memory]])

     This procedure is extremely useful when you want to check the data
     in your table!

   * `BINARY' cast to force a string to be compared case sensitively.

   * Added option `--skip-show-database' to `mysqld'.

   * Check if a row has changed in an `UPDATE' now also works with
     `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns.

   * Added the `INNER' join syntax.  *NOTE*:  This made `INNER' an
     reserved word!

   * Added support for netmasks to the hostname in the *MySQL* tables.
     You can specify a netmask using the `IP/NETMASK' syntax.

   * If you compare a `NOT NULL DATE/DATETIME' column with `IS NULL',
     this is changed to a compare against `0' to satisfy some ODBC
     applications.  (By <shreeve@uci.edu>).

   * `NULL IN (...)' now returns `NULL' instead of `0'.  This will
     ensure that `null_column NOT IN (...)' doesn't match `NULL' values.

   * Fix storage of floating point values in `TIME' columns.

   * Changed parsing of `TIME' strings to be more strict.  Now the
     fractional second part is detected (and currently skipped). The
     following formats are supported:
    `[[DAYS] [H]H:]MM:]SS[.fraction]'

    `[[[[[H]H]H]H]MM]SS[.fraction]'
   * Detect (and ignore) second fraction part from `DATETIME'.

   * Added the `LOW_PRIORITY' attribute to `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * The default index name now uses the same case as the used column
     name.

   * Changed default number of connections to 100.

   * Use bigger buffers when using `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * `DECIMAL(x,y)' now works according to ANSI SQL.

   * Added aggregate UDF functions. Thanks to Andreas F. Bobak
     <bobak@relog.ch> for this!

   * `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is now updated for `INSERT INTO ... SELECT'.

   * Some small changes to the join table optimizer to make some joins
     faster.

   * `SELECT DISTINCT' is much faster; It uses the new `UNIQUE'
     functionality in `MyISAM'. One difference compared to *MySQL* 3.22
     is that the output of `DISTINCT' is not sorted anymore.

   * All C client API macros are now functions to make shared libraries
     more reliable. Because of this, you can no longer call
     `mysql_num_fields()' on a `MYSQL' object, you must use
     `mysql_field_count()' instead.

   * Added use of `LIBEWRAP';  Patch by Henning P . Schmiedehausen.

   * Don't allow `AUTO_INCREMENT' for other than numerical columns.

   * Using `AUTO_INCREMENT' will now automatically make the column `NOT
     NULL'.

   * Show `NULL' as the default value for AUTO_INCREMENT columns.

   * Added `SQL_BIG_RESULT';  `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' is now default.

   * Added a shared library RPM. This enchancement was contributed by
     David Fox (dsfox@cogsci.ucsd.edu).

   * Added a `--enable-large-files/--disable-large-files' switch to
     `configure'. See `configure.in' for some systems where this is
     automatically turned off because of broken implementations.

   * Upgraded `readline' to 4.0.

   * New `CREATE TABLE' options: `PACK_KEYS' and `CHECKSUM'.

   * Added `mysqld' option `--default-table-type'.

Changes in release 3.22.x
=========================

The 3.22 version has faster and safer connect code and a lot of new nice
enhancements.  The reason for not including these changes in the 3.21
version is mainly that we are trying to avoid big changes to 3.21 to
keep it as stable as possible.  As there aren't really any MAJOR
changes, upgrading to 3.22 should be very easy and painless.  *Note
Upgrading-from-3.21::.

3.22 should also be used with the new `DBD-mysql' (1.20xx) driver that
can use the new connect protocol!

Changes in release 3.22.32
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when storing numbers in timestamps.

   * Fix problem with timezones that has half hour offsets.

   * `mysqlhotcopy' - fast on-line hot-backup utility for local *MySQL*
     databases. By Tim Bunce.

   * New more secure `mysqlaccess'; Thanks to Steve Harvey for this.

   * Fixed security problem in the protocol regarding password checking.

   * Fixed problem that affected queries that did arithmetic on GROUP
     functions.

   * Fixed a bug in the `ISAM' code when delating rows on tables with
     packed indexes.

   *

Changes in release 3.22.31
--------------------------

   * A few small fixes for the Win32 version

Changes in release 3.22.30
--------------------------

   * Fixed optimizer problem on `SELECT' when using many overlapping
     indexes.

   * Disabled floating point exceptions for FreeBSD to fix core dump
     when doing `SELECT floor(pow(2,63))'.

   * Added print of default arguments options to all clients.

   * Fixed critical problem with the `WITH GRANT OPTION' option.

   * Fixed non-critical Y2K problem when writing short date to log
     files.

Changes in release 3.22.29
--------------------------

   * Upgraded the configure and include files to match the latest 3.23
     version.  This should increase portability and make it easier to
     build shared libraries.

   * Added latest patches to mit-pthreads for NetBSD.

   * Fixed problem with timezones that are < GMT -11.

   * Fixed a bug when deleting packed keys in NISAM.

   * Fixed problem that could cause *MySQL* to touch freed memory when
     doing very complicated `GROUP BY' queries.

   * Fixed core dump if you got a crashed table where an `ENUM' field
     value was too big.

   * Added `mysqlshutdown.exe' and `mysqlwatch.exe' to the Windows
     distribution.

   * Fixed problem when doing `ORDER BY' on a reference key.

   * Fixed that `INSERT DELAYED' doesn't update timestamps that are
     given.

Changes in release 3.22.28
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT JOIN' and `COUNT()' on a column which was
     declared `NULL' + and it had a `DEFAULT' value.

   * Fixed core dump problem when using `CONCAT()' in a `WHERE' clause.

   * Fixed problem with `AVG()' and `STD()' with `NULL' values.

Changes in release 3.22.27
--------------------------

   * Fixed prototype in `my_ctype.h' when using other character sets.

   * Some configure issues to fix problems with big file system
     detection.

   * Fixed problem when sorting on big blob columns.

   * `ROUND()' will now work on Win32.

Changes in release 3.22.26
--------------------------

   * Fixed core dump with empty `BLOB/TEXT' column to `REVERSE()'.

   * Extended `/*! */' with version numbers.

   * Changed `SUBSTRING(text FROM pos)' to conform to ANSI SQL. (Before
     this construct returned the rightmost 'pos' characters).

   * Fixed problem with `LOCK TABLES' combined with `DELETE FROM table'

   * Fixed problem that INSERT ... SELECT didn't use SQL_BIG_TABLES.

   * `SET SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=#' didn't work.

   * Password wasn't updated correctly if privileges didn't change on:
     `GRANT ... IDENTIFIED BY'

   * Fixed range optimizer bug in `SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
     key_part1 >= const AND (key_part2 = const OR key_part2 = const)'

   * Fixed bug in compression key handling in ISAM.

Changes in release 3.22.25
--------------------------

   * Fixed some small problems with the installation.

Changes in release 3.22.24
--------------------------

   * `DATA' is not a reserved word anymore.

   * Fixed optimizer bug with tables with only one row.

   * Fixed bug when using `LOCK TABLES table_name READ; FLUSH TABLES;'

   * Applied some patches for HP-UX.

   * `isamchk' should now work on Win32.

   * Changed `configure' to not use big file handling on Linux as this
     crashes some RedHat 6.0 systems

Changes in release 3.22.23
--------------------------

   * Upgraded to use Autoconf 2.13, Automake 1.4 and `libtool' 1.3.2.

   * Better support for SCO in `configure'.

   * Added option `--defaults-file=###' to option file handling to
     force use of only one specific option file.

   * Extended `CREATE' syntax to ignore `MySQL 3.23' keywords.

   * Fixed deadlock problem when using `INSERT DELAYED' on a table
     locked with `LOCK TABLES'.

   * Fixed deadlock problem when using `DROP TABLE' on a table that was
     locked by another thread.

   * Add logging of `GRANT/REVOKE' commands in the update log.

   * Fixed `isamchk' to detect a new error condition.

   * Fixed bug in `NATURAL LEFT JOIN'.

Changes in release 3.22.22
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem in the C API when you called `mysql_close()'
     directly after `mysql_init()'.

   * Better client error message when you can't open socket.

   * Fixed `delayed_insert_thread' counting when you couldn't create a
     new delayed_insert thread.

   * Fixed bug in `CONCAT()' with many arguments.

   * Added patches for DEC 3.2 and SCO.

   * Fixed path-bug when installing *MySQL* as a service on NT.

   * The *MySQL*-Win32 version is now compiled with VC++ 6.0 instead of
     with VC++ 5.0.

   * New installation setup for *MySQL*-Win32.

Changes in release 3.22.21
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `DELETE FROM TABLE' when table was locked by
     another thread.

   * Fixed bug in `LEFT JOIN' involving empty tables.

   * Changed the `mysql.db' column from `char(32)' to `char(60)'.

   * `MODIFY' and `DELAYED' are not reserved words anymore.

   * Fixed a bug when storing days in a `TIME' column.

   * Fixed a problem with `Host '..' is not allowed to connect to this
     MySQL server' after one had inserted a new *MySQL* user with a
     `GRANT' command.

   * Changed to use `TCP_NODELAY' also on Linux (Should give faster
     TCP/IP connections).

Changes in release 3.22.20
--------------------------

   * Fixed `STD()' for big tables when result should be 0.

   * The update log didn't have newlines on some operating systems.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' had some garbage at end in the update log.

Changes in release 3.22.19
--------------------------

   * Fixed bug in `mysql_install_db' (from 3.22.17).

   * Changed default key cache size to 8M.

   * Fixed problem with queries that needed temporary tables with `BLOB'
     columns.

Changes in release 3.22.18
--------------------------

   * Fixes a fatal problem in 3.22.17 on Linux;  After `shutdown' all
     threads didn't die properly.

   * Added option `-O flush-time=#' to `mysqld'.  This is mostly useful
     on Win32 and tells how often *MySQL* should close all unused
     tables and flush all updated tables to disk.

   * Fixed problem that a `VARCHAR' column compared with `CHAR' column
     didn't use keys efficiently.

Changes in release 3.22.17
--------------------------

   * Fixed a core dump problem when using `--log-update' and connecting
     without a default database.

   * Fixed some `configure' and portability problems.

   * Using `LEFT JOIN' on tables that had circular dependencies caused
     `mysqld' to hang forever.

Changes in release 3.22.16
--------------------------

   * `mysqladmin processlist' could kill the server if a new user
     logged in.

   * `DELETE FROM tbl_name WHERE key_column=col_name' didn't find any
     matching rows.  Fixed.

   * `DATE_ADD(column,...)' didn't work.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' could deadlock with status 'upgrading lock'

   * Extended `ENCRYPT()' to take longer salt strings than 2 characters.

   * `longlong2str' is now much faster than before.  For `Intel x86'
     platforms, this function is written in optimized assembler.

   * Added the `MODIFY' keyword to `ALTER TABLE'.

Changes in release 3.22.15
--------------------------

   * `GRANT' used with `IDENTIFIED BY' didn't take effect until
     privileges were flushed.

   * Name change of some variables in `SHOW STATUS'.

   * Fixed problem with `ORDER BY' with 'only index' optimzation when
     there were multiple key definitions for a used column.

   * `DATE' and `DATETIME' columns are now up to 5 times faster than
     before.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' can be used to let the client do other things
     while the server inserts rows into a table.

   * `LEFT JOIN USING (col1,col2)' didn't work if one used it with
     tables from 2 different databases.

   * `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE' didn't work in the Unix version because of
     a missing file.

   * Fixed problems with `VARCHAR'/`BLOB' on very short rows (< 4
     bytes); error 127 could occur when deleting rows.

   * Updating `BLOB/TEXT' through formulas didn't work for short (< 256
     char) strings.

   * When you did a `GRANT' on a new host, `mysqld' could die on the
     first connect from this host.

   * Fixed bug when one used `ORDER BY' on column name that was the same
     name as an alias.

   * Added `BENCHMARK(loop_count,expression)' function to time
     expressions.

Changes in release 3.22.14
--------------------------

   * Allow empty arguments to `mysqld' to make it easier to start from
     shell scripts.

   * Setting a `TIMESTAMP' column to `NULL' didn't record the timestamp
     value in the update log.

   * Fixed lock handler bug when one did `INSERT INTO TABLE ... SELECT
     ... GROUP BY'.

   * Added a patch for `localtime_r()' on Win32 so that it will not
     crash anymore if your date is > 2039, but instead will return a
     time of all zero.

   * Names for user-defined functions are no longer case sensitive.

   * Added escape of `^Z' (ASCII 26) to `\Z' as `^Z' doesn't work with
     pipes on Win32.

   * `mysql_fix_privileges' adds a new column to the `mysql.func' to
     support aggregate UDF functions in future *MySQL* releases.

Changes in release 3.22.13
--------------------------

   * Saving `NOW()', `CURDATE()' or `CURTIME()' directly in a column
     didn't work.

   * `SELECT COUNT(*) ... LEFT JOIN ...' didn't work with no `WHERE'
     part.

   * Updated `config.guess' to allow *MySQL* to configure on UnixWare
     7.0.x.

   * Changed the implementation of `pthread_cond()' on the Win32
     version.  `get_lock()' now correctly times out on Win32!

Changes in release 3.22.12
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when using `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' in a
     `WHERE' clause.

   * You can now set the password for a user with the `GRANT ... TO user
     IDENTIFIED BY 'password'' syntax.

   * Fixed bug in `GRANT' checking with `SELECT' on many tables.

   * Added missing file `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' to the RPM
     distribution. This is not run by default since it relies on the
     client package.

   * Added option `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' to `SELECT' to force use of fast
     temporary tables when you know that the result set will be small.

   * Allow use of negative real numbers without a decimal point.

   * Day number is now adjusted to maximum days in month if the
     resulting month after `DATE_ADD'/`DATE_SUB()' doesn't have enough
     days.

   * Fix that `GRANT' compares columns in case-insensitive fashion.

   * Fixed a bug in `sql_list.h' that made `ALTER TABLE' dump core in
     some contexts.

   * The hostname in `user@hostname' can now include `.' and `-'
     without quotes in the context of the `GRANT', `REVOKE' and `SET
     PASSWORD FOR ...' statements.

   * Fix for `isamchk' for tables which need big temporary files.

Changes in release 3.22.11
--------------------------

   * *IMPORTANT*: You must run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script
     when you upgrade to this version!  This is needed because of the
     new `GRANT' system. If you don't do this, you will get `Access
     denied' when you try to use `ALTER TABLE', `CREATE INDEX' or `DROP
     INDEX'.

   * `GRANT' to allow/deny users table and column access.

   * Changed `USER()' to return `user@host'

   * Changed the syntax for how to set `PASSWORD' for another user.

   * New command `FLUSH STATUS' that sets most status variables to zero.

   * New status variables: `aborted_threads', `aborted_connects'.

   * New option variable: `connection_timeout'.

   * Added support for Thai sorting (by Pruet Boonma
     <pruet@ds90.intanon.nectec.or.th>).

   * Slovak and japanese error messages.

   * Configuration and portability fixes.

   * Added option `SET SQL_WARNINGS=1' to get a warning count also for
     simple inserts.

   * *MySQL* now uses `SIGTERM' instead of `SIGQUIT' with shutdown to
     work better on FreeBSD.

   * Added option `\G' (print vertically) to `mysql'.

   * `SELECT HIGH_PRIORITY' ... killed `mysqld'.

   * `IS NULL' on a `AUTO_INCREMENT' column in a `LEFT JOIN' didn't
     work as expected.

   * New function `MAKE_SET()'.

Changes in release 3.22.10
--------------------------

   * `mysql_install_db' no longer starts the *MySQL* server!  You
     should start `mysqld' with `safe_mysqld' after installing it!  The
     *MySQL* RPM will however start the server as before.

   * Added `--bootstrap' option to `mysqld' and recoded
     `mysql_install_db' to use it.  This will make it easier to install
     *MySQL* with RPMs.

   * Changed `+', `-' (sign and minus), `*', `/', `%', `ABS()' and
     `MOD()' to be `BIGINT' aware (64-bit safe).

   * Fixed a bug in `ALTER TABLE' that caused `mysqld' to crash.

   * *MySQL* now always reports the conflicting key values when a
     duplicate key entry occurs. (Before this was only reported for
     `INSERT').

   * New syntax: `INSERT INTO tbl_name SET
     col_name=value,col_name=value,...'

   * Most errors in the `.err' log are now prefixed with a time stamp.

   * Added option `MYSQL_INIT_COMMAND' to `mysql_options()' to make a
     query on connect or reconnect.

   * Added option `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE' and
     `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP' to `mysql_options()' to read the
     following parameters from the *MySQL* option files: `port',
     `socket', `compress', `password', `pipe', `timeout', `user',
     `init-command', `host' and `database'.

   * Added `maybe_null' to the UDF structure.

   * Added option `IGNORE' to `INSERT' statemants with many rows.

   * Fixed some problems with sorting of the koi8 character sets; Users
     of koi8 *MUST* run `isamchk -rq' on each table that has an index on
     a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column.

   * New script `mysql_setpermission', by Luuk de Boer, allows one to
     easily create new users with permissions for specific databases.

   * Allow use of hexadecimal strings (0x...) when specifying a
     constant string (like in the column separators with `LOAD DATA
     INFILE').

   * Ported to OS/2 (thanks to Antony T. Curtis
     <antony.curtis@olcs.net>).

   * Added more variables to `SHOW STATUS' and changed format of output
     to be like `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Added `extended-status' command to `mysqladmin' which will show the
     new status variables.

Changes in release 3.22.9
-------------------------

   * `SET SQL_LOG_UPDATE=0' caused a lockup of the server.

   * New SQL command:  `FLUSH [ TABLES | HOSTS | LOGS | PRIVILEGES ] [,
     ...]'

   * New SQL command:  `KILL' `thread_id'.

   * Added casts and changed include files to make *MySQL* easier to
     compile on AIX and DEC OSF1 4.x

   * Fixed conversion problem when using `ALTER TABLE' from a `INT' to
     a short `CHAR()' column.

   * Added `SELECT HIGH_PRIORITY'; This will get a lock for the
     `SELECT' even if there is a thread waiting for another `SELECT' to
     get a `WRITE LOCK'.

   * Moved wild_compare to string class to be able to use `LIKE' on
     `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns with `\0'.

   * Added `ESCAPE' option to `LIKE'.

   * Added a lot more output to `mysqladmin debug'.

   * You can now start `mysqld' on Win32 with the `--flush' option.
     This will flush all tables to disk after each update.  This makes
     things much safer on NT/Win98 but also *MUCH* slower.

Changes in release 3.22.8
-------------------------

   * Czech character sets should now work much better.  You must also
     install


     `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/Downloads/Patches/czech-3.22.8-patch'.
     This patch should also be installed if you are using a character
     set with uses `my_strcoll()'!  The patch should always be safe to
     install (for any system), but as this patch changes ISAM internals
     it's not yet in the default distribution.

   * `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' didn't work with group functions.

   * `mysql' will now also try to reconnect on `USE DATABASE' commands.

   * Fix problem with `ORDER BY' and `LEFT JOIN' and `const' tables.

   * Fixed problem with `ORDER BY' if the first `ORDER BY' column was a
     key and the rest of the `ORDER BY' columns wasn't part of the key.

   * Fixed a big problem with `OPTIMIZE TABLE'.

   * *MySQL* clients on NT will now by default first try to connect with
     named pipes and after this with TCP/IP.

   * Fixed a problem with `DROP TABLE' and `mysqladmin shutdown' on
     Win32 (a fatal bug from 3.22.6).

   * Fixed problems with `TIME columns' and negative strings.

   * Added an extra thread signal loop on shutdown to avoid some error
     messages from the client.

   * *MySQL* now uses the next available number as extension for the
     update log file.

   * Added patches for UNIXWARE 7.

Changes in release 3.22.7
-------------------------

   * Added `LIMIT' clause for the `DELETE' statement.

   * You can now use the `/*! ... */' syntax to hide *MySQL*-specific
     keywords when you write portable code.  *MySQL* will parse the code
     inside the comments as if the surrounding `/*!' and `*/' comment
     characters didn't exist.

   * `OPTIMIZE TABLE tbl_name' can now be used to reclaim disk space
     after many deletes.  Currently, this uses `ALTER TABLE' to
     re-generate the table, but in the future it will use an integrated
     `isamchk' for more speed.

   * Upgraded `libtool' to get the configure more portable.

   * Fixed slow `UPDATE' and `DELETE' operations when using `DATETIME'
     or `DATE' keys.

   * Changed optimizer to make it better at deciding when to do a full
     join and when using keys.

   * You can now use `mysqladmin proc' to display information about
     your own threads. Only users with the *Process_priv* privilege can
     get information about all threads.

   * Added handling of formats `YYMMDD', `YYYYMMDD', `YYMMDDHHMMSS' for
     numbers when using `DATETIME' and `TIMESTAMP' types. (Formerly
     these formats only worked with strings.)

   * Added connect option `CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE' to allow use of spaces
     after function names and before `(' (Powerbuilder requires this).
     This will make all function names reserved words.

   * Added the `--log-long-format' option to `mysqld' to enable
     timestamps and INSERT_ID's in the update log.

   * Added `--where' option to `mysqldump' (patch by Jim Faucette).

   * The lexical analyzer now uses "perfect hashing" for faster parsing
     of SQL statements.

Changes in release 3.22.6
-------------------------

   * Faster `mysqldump'.

   * For the `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement, you can now use the new
     `LOCAL' keyword to read the file from the client.  `mysqlimport'
     will automatically use `LOCAL' when importing with the TCP/IP
     protocol.

   * Fixed small optimize problem when updating keys.

   * Changed makefiles to support shared libraries.

   * *MySQL*-NT can now use named pipes, which means that you can now
     use *MySQL*-NT without having to install TCP/IP.

Changes in release 3.22.5
-------------------------

   * All table lock handing is changed to avoid some very subtle
     deadlocks when using `DROP TABLE', `ALTER TABLE', `DELETE FROM
     TABLE' and `mysqladmin flush-tables' under heavy usage.  Changed
     locking code to get better handling of locks of different types.

   * Updated `DBI' to 1.00 and `DBD' to 1.2.0.

   * Added a check that the error message file contains error messages
     suitable for the current version of `mysqld'. (To avoid errors if
     you accidentally try to use an old error message file.)

   * All count structures in the client (`affected_rows()',
     `insert_id()',...) are now of type `BIGINT' to allow 64-bit values
     to be used.  This required a minor change in the *MySQL* protocol
     which should affect only old clients when using tables with
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' values > 24M.

   * The return type of `mysql_fetch_lengths()' has changed from `uint
     *' to `ulong *'. This may give a warning for old clients but
     should work on most machines.

   * Change `mysys' and `dbug' libraries to allocate all thread
     variables in one struct.  This makes it easier to make a threaded
     `libmysql.dll' library.

   * Use the result from `gethostname()' (instead of `uname()') when
     constructing `.pid' file names.

   * New better compressed server/client protocol.

   * `COUNT()', `STD()' and `AVG()' are extended to handle more than 4G
     rows.

   * You can now store values in the range `-838:59:59' <= x <=
     `838:59:59' in a `TIME' column.

   * *WARNING: INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE!!* If you set a `TIME' column to too
     short a value, *MySQL* now assumes the value is given as: `[[[D
     ]HH:]MM:]SS' instead of `HH[:MM[:SS]]'.

   * `TIME_TO_SEC()' and `SEC_TO_TIME()' can now handle negative times
     and hours up to 32767.

   * Added new option `SET OPTION SQL_LOG_UPDATE={0|1}' to allow users
     with the *process* privilege to bypass the update log.  (Modified
     patch from Sergey A Mukhin <violet@rosnet.net>.)

   * Fixed fatal bug in `LPAD()'.

   * Initialize line buffer in `mysql.cc' to make `BLOB' reading from
     pipes safer.

   * Added `-O max_connect_errors=#' option to `mysqld'.  Connect
     errors are now reset for each correct connection.

   * Increased the default value of `max_allowed_packet' to `1M' in
     `mysqld'.

   * Added `--low-priority-updates' option to `mysqld', to give
     table-modifying operations (`INSERT', `REPLACE', `UPDATE',
     `DELETE') lower priority than retrievals.  You can now use
     `{INSERT | REPLACE | UPDATE | DELETE} LOW_PRIORITY ...' You can
     also use `SET OPTION SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES={0|1}' to change the
     priority for one thread.  One side effect is that `LOW_PRIORITY'
     is now a reserved word. :(

   * Add support for `INSERT INTO table ... VALUES(...),(...),(...)',
     to allow inserting multiple rows with a single statement.

   * `INSERT INTO tbl_name' is now also cached when used with `LOCK
     TABLES'.  (Previously only `INSERT ... SELECT' and `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' were cached.)

   * Allow `GROUP BY' functions with `HAVING':
          mysql> SELECT col FROM table GROUP BY col HAVING COUNT(*)>0;

   * `mysqld' will now ignore trailing `;' characters in queries. This
     is to make it easier to migrate from some other SQL servers that
     require the trailing `;'.

   * Fix for corrupted fixed-format output generated by `SELECT INTO
     OUTFILE'.

   * *WARNING: INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE!!* Added Oracle `GREATEST()' and
     `LEAST()' functions.  You must now use these instead of the
     `MAX()' and `MIN()' functions to get the largest/smallest value
     from a list of values. These can now handle `REAL', `BIGINT' and
     string (`CHAR' or `VARCHAR') values.

   * *WARNING: INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE!!* `DAYOFWEEK()' had offset 0 for
     Sunday. Changed the offset to 1.

   * Give an error for queries that mix `GROUP BY' columns and fields
     when there is no `GROUP BY' specification.

   * Added `--vertical' option to `mysql', for printing results in
     vertical mode.

   * Index-only optimization; some queries are now resolved using only
     indexes.  Until *MySQL* 4.0, this works only for numeric columns.
     *Note *MySQL* indexes: MySQL indexes.

   * Lots of new benchmarks.

   * A new C API chapter and lots of other improvements in the manual.

Changes in release 3.22.4
-------------------------

   * Added `--tmpdir' option to `mysqld', for specifying the location
     of the temporary file directory.

   * *MySQL* now automatically changes a query from an ODBC client:
          SELECT ... FROM table WHERE auto_increment_column IS NULL
     to:
          SELECT ... FROM table WHERE auto_increment_column == LAST_INSERT_ID()
     This allows some ODBC programs (Delphi, Access) to retrieve the
     newly inserted row to fetch the `AUTO_INCREMENT' id.

   * `DROP TABLE' now waits for all users to free a table before
     deleting it.

   * Fixed small memory leak in the new connect protocol.

   * New functions `BIN()', `OCT()', `HEX()' and `CONV()' for
     converting between different number bases.

   * Added function `SUBSTRING()' with 2 arguments.

   * If you created a table with a record length smaller than 5, you
     couldn't delete rows from the table.

   * Added optimization to remove const reference tables from `ORDER
     BY' and `GROUP BY'.

   * `mysqld' now automatically disables system locking on Linux and
     Win32, and for systems that use MIT-pthreads.  You can force the
     use of locking with the `--enable-locking' option.

   * Added `--console' option to `mysqld', to force a console window
     (for error messages) when using Win32.

   * Fixed table locks for Win32.

   * Allow `$' in identifiers.

   * Changed name of user-specific configuration file from `my.cnf' to
     `.my.cnf' (Unix only).

   * Added `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' functions.

Changes in release 3.22.3
-------------------------

   * Fixed a lock problem (bug in *MySQL* 3.22.1) when closing
     temporary tables.

   * Added missing `mysql_ping()' to the client library.

   * Added `--compress' option to all *MySQL* clients.

   * Changed `byte' to `char' in `mysql.h' and `mysql_com.h'.

Changes in release 3.22.2
-------------------------

   * Searching on multiple constant keys that matched more than 30% of
     the rows didn't always use the best possible key.

   * New functions `<<', `>>', `RPAD()' and `LPAD()'.

   * You can now save default options (like passwords) in a
     configuration file (`my.cnf').

   * Lots of small changes to get `ORDER BY' to work when no records
     are found when using fields that are not in `GROUP BY' (*MySQL*
     extension).

   * Added `--chroot' option to `mysqld', to start `mysqld' in a chroot
     environment (by Nikki Chumakov <nikkic@cityline.ru>).

   * Trailing spaces are now ignored when comparing case-sensitive
     strings; this should fix some problems with ODBC and flag 512!

   * Fixed a core-dump bug in the range optimizer.

   * Added `--one-thread' option to `mysqld', for debugging with
     LinuxThreads (or `glibc').  (This replaces the `-T32' flag)

   * Added `DROP TABLE IF EXISTS' to prevent an error from occurring if
     the table doesn't exist.

   * `IF' and `EXISTS' are now reserved words (they would have to be
     sooner or later).

   * Added lots of new options to `mysqldump'.

   * Server error messages are now in `mysqld_error.h'.

   * The server/client protocol now supports compression.

   * All bug fixes from *MySQL* 3.21.32.

Changes in release 3.22.1
-------------------------

   * Added new C API function `mysql_ping()'.

   * Added new API functions `mysql_init()' and `mysql_options()'.  You
     now MUST call `mysql_init()' before you call
     `mysql_real_connect()'.  You don't have to call `mysql_init()' if
     you only use `mysql_connect()'.

   * Added `mysql_options(...,MYSQL_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT,...)' so you
     can set a timeout for connecting to a server.

   * Added `--timeout' option to `mysqladmin', as a test of
     `mysql_options()'.

   * Added `AFTER column' and `FIRST' options to `ALTER TABLE ... ADD
     columns'.  This makes it possible to add a new column at some
     specific location within a row in an existing table.

   * `WEEK()' now takes an optional argument to allow handling of weeks
     when the week starts on Monday (some European countries).  By
     default, `WEEK()' assumes the week starts on Sunday.

   * `TIME' columns weren't stored properly (bug in *MySQL* 3.22.0).

   * `UPDATE' now returns information about how many rows were matched
     and updated, and how many "warnings" occurred when doing the
     update.

   * Fixed incorrect result from `FORMAT(-100,2)'.

   * `ENUM' and `SET' columns were compared in binary (case-sensitive)
     fashion; changed to be case insensitive.

Changes in release 3.22.0
-------------------------

   * New (backward compatible) connect protocol that allows you to
     specify the database to use when connecting, to get much faster
     connections to a specific database.

     The `mysql_real_connect()' call is changed to:

          mysql_real_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host, const char *user,
                             const char *passwd, const char *db, uint port,
                             const char *unix_socket, uint client_flag)

   * Each connection is handled by its own thread, rather than by the
     master `accept()' thread.  This fixes permanently the telnet bug
     that was a topic on the mail list some time ago.

   * All TCP/IP connections are now checked with backward resolution of
     the hostname to get better security. `mysqld' now has a local
     hostname resolver cache so connections should actually be faster
     than before, even with this feature.

   * A site automatically will be blocked from future connections if
     someone repeatedly connects with an "improper header" (like when
     one uses telnet).

   * You can now refer to tables in different databases with references
     of the form `tbl_name@db_name' or `db_name.tbl_name'.  This makes
     it possible to give a user read access to some tables and write
     access to others simply by keeping them in different databases!

   * Added `--user' option to `mysqld', to allow it to run as another
     Unix user (if it is started as the Unix `root' user).

   * Added caching of users and access rights (for faster access rights
     checking)

   * Normal users (not anonymous ones) can change their password with
     `mysqladmin password 'new_password''.  This uses encrypted
     passwords that are not logged in the normal *MySQL* log!

   * All important string functions are now coded in assembler for x86
     Linux machines.  This gives a speedup of 10% in many cases.

   * For tables that have many columns, the column names are now hashed
     for much faster column name lookup (this will speed up some
     benchmark tests a lot!)

   * Some benchmarks are changed to get better individual timing.
     (Some loops were so short that a specific test took < 2 seconds.
     The loops have been changed to take about 20 seconds to make it
     easier to compare different databases. A test that took 1-2
     seconds before now takes 11-24 seconds, which is much better)

   * Re-arranged `SELECT' code to handle some very specific queries
     involving group functions (like `COUNT(*)') without a `GROUP BY'
     but with `HAVING'. The following now works:
          mysql> SELECT count(*) as C FROM table HAVING C > 1;

   * Changed the protocol for field functions to be faster and avoid
     some calls to `malloc()'.

   * Added `-T32' option to `mysqld', for running all queries under the
     main thread.  This makes it possible to debug `mysqld' under Linux
     with `gdb'!

   * Added optimization of `not_null_column IS NULL' (needed for some
     Access queries).

   * Allow `STRAIGHT_JOIN' to be used between two tables to force the
     optimizer to join them in a specific order.

   * String functions now return `VARCHAR' rather than `CHAR' and the
     column type is now `VARCHAR' for fields saved as `VARCHAR'.  This
     should make the *MyODBC* driver better, but may break some old
     *MySQL* clients that don't handle `FIELD_TYPE_VARCHAR' the same
     way as `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR'.

   * `CREATE INDEX' and `DROP INDEX' are now implemented through `ALTER
     TABLE'.  `CREATE TABLE' is still the recommended (fast) way to
     create indexes.

   * Added `--set-variable' option `wait_timeout' to `mysqld'.

   * Added time column to `mysqladmin processlist' to show how long a
     query has taken or how long a thread has slept.

   * Added lots of new variables to `show variables' and some new to
     `show status'.

   * Added new type `YEAR'. `YEAR' is stored in 1 byte with allowable
     values of 0, and 1901 to 2155.

   * Added new `DATE' type that is stored in 3 bytes rather than 4
     bytes.  All new tables are created with the new date type if you
     don't use the `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed bug in record caches; for some queries, you could get `Error
     from table handler: #' on some operating systems.

   * Added `--enable-assembler' option to `configure', for x86 machines
     (tested on Linux + `gcc').  This will enable assembler functions
     for the most important string functions for more speed!

Changes in release 3.21.x
=========================

Changes in release 3.21.33
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when sending `SIGHUP' to `mysqld'; `mysqld' core
     dumped when starting from boot on some systems.

   * Fixed problem with losing a little memory for some connections.

   * `DELETE FROM tbl_name' without a `WHERE' condition is now done the
     long way when you use `LOCK TABLES' or if the table is in use, to
     avoid race conditions.

   * `INSERT INTO TABLE (timestamp_column) VALUES (NULL);' didn't set
     timestamp.

Changes in release 3.21.32
--------------------------

   * Fixed some possible race conditions when doing many reopen/close
     on the same tables under heavy load!  This can happen if you
     execute `mysqladmin refresh' often. This could in some very rare
     cases corrupt the header of the index file and cause error 126 or
     138.

   * Fixed fatal bug in `refresh()' when running with the
     `--skip-locking' option.  There was a "very small" time gap after
     a `mysqladmin refresh' when a table could be corrupted if one
     thread updated a table while another thread did `mysqladmin
     refresh' and another thread started a new update ont the same
     table before the first thread had finished.  A refresh (or
     `--flush-tables') will now not return until all used tables are
     closed!

   * `SELECT DISTINCT' with a `WHERE' clause that didn't match any rows
     returned a row in some contexts (bug only in 3.21.31).

   * `GROUP BY' + `ORDER BY' returned one empty row when no rows where
     found.

   * Fixed a bug in the range optimizer that wrote `Use_count: Wrong
     count for ...' in the error log file.

Changes in release 3.21.31
--------------------------

   * Fixed a sign extension problem for the `TINYINT' type on Irix.

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT("constant_string",function)'.

   * Fixed problem with `FIND_IN_SET()'.

   * `LEFT JOIN' core dumped if the second table is used with a constant
     `WHERE/ON' expression that uniquely identifies one record.

   * Fixed problems with `DATE_FORMAT()' and incorrect dates.
     `DATE_FORMAT()' now ignores `'%'' to make it possible to extend it
     more easily in the future.

Changes in release 3.21.30
--------------------------

   * `mysql' now returns an exit code > 0 if the query returned an
     error.

   * Saving of command line history to file in `mysql' client.  By
     Tommy Larsen <tommy@mix.hive.no>.

   * Fixed problem with empty lines that were ignored in `mysql.cc'.

   * Save the pid of the signal handler thread in the pid file instead
     of the pid of the main thread.

   * Added patch by <tommy@valley.ne.jp> to support Japanese characters
     SJIS and UJIS.

   * Changed `safe_mysqld' to redirect startup messages to
     `'hostname'.err' instead of `'hostname'.log' to reclaim file space
     on `mysqladmin refresh'.

   * `ENUM' always had the first entry as default value.

   * `ALTER TABLE' wrote two entries to the update log.

   * `sql_acc()' now closes the `mysql' grant tables after a reload to
     save table space and memory.

   * Changed `LOAD DATA' to use less memory with tables and `BLOB'
     columns.

   * Sorting on a function which made a division / 0 produced a wrong
     set in some cases.

   * Fixed `SELECT' problem with `LEFT()' when using the czech character
     set.

   * Fixed problem in `isamchk'; it couldn't repair a packed table in a
     very unusual case.

   * `SELECT' statements with `&' or `|' (bit functions) failed on
     columns with `NULL' values.

   * When comparing a field = field, where one of the fields was a part
     key, only the length of the part key was compared.

Changes in release 3.21.29
--------------------------

   * `LOCK TABLES' + `DELETE from tbl_name' never removed locks
     properly.

   * Fixed problem when grouping on an `OR' function.

   * Fixed permission problem with `umask()' and creating new databases.

   * Fixed permission problem on result file with `SELECT ... INTO
     OUTFILE ...'

   * Fixed problem in range optimizer (core dump) for a very complex
     query.

   * Fixed problem when using `MIN(integer)' or `MAX(integer)' in
     `GROUP BY'.

   * Fixed bug on Alpha when using integer keys. (Other keys worked on
     Alpha).

   * Fixed bug in `WEEK("XXXX-xx-01")'.

Changes in release 3.21.28
--------------------------

   * Fixed socket permission (clients couldn't connect to Unix socket
     on Linux).

   * Fixed bug in record caches; for some queries, you could get `Error
     from table handler: #' on some operating systems.

Changes in release 3.21.27
--------------------------

   * Added user level lock functions `GET_LOCK(string,timeout)',
     `RELEASE_LOCK(string)'.

   * Added `opened_tables' to `show status'.

   * Changed connect timeout to 3 seconds to make it somewhat harder
     for crackers to kill `mysqld' through telnet + TCP/IP.

   * Fixed bug in range optimizer when using `WHERE key_part_1 >=
     something AND key_part_2 <= something_else'.

   * Changed `configure' for detection of FreeBSD 3.0 9803xx and above

   * `WHERE' with string_column_key = constant_string didn't always find
     all rows if the column had many values differing only with
     characters of the same sort value (like e and 'e).

   * Strings keys looked up with 'ref' were not compared in
     case-sensitive fashion.

   * Added `umask()' to make log files non-readable for normal users.

   * Ignore users with old (8-byte) password on startup if not using
     `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld'.

   * `SELECT' which matched all key fields returned the values in the
     case of the matched values, not of the found values. (Minor
     problem.)

Changes in release 3.21.26
--------------------------

   * `FROM_DAYS(0)' now returns "0000-00-00".

   * In `DATE_FORMAT()', PM and AM were swapped for hours 00 and 12.

   * Extended the default maximum key size to 256.

   * Fixed bug when using `BLOB'/`TEXT' in `GROUP BY' with many tables.

   * An `ENUM' field that is not declared `NOT NULL' has `NULL' as the
     default value.  (Previously, the default value was the first
     enumeration value.)

   * Fixed bug in the join optimizer code when using many part keys on
     the same key:  `INDEX (Organization,Surname(35),Initials(35))'.

   * Added some tests to the table order optimizer to get some cases
     with `SELECT ... FROM many_tables' much faster.

   * Added a retry loop around `accept()' to possibly fix some problems
     on some Linux machines.

Changes in release 3.21.25
--------------------------

   * Changed `typedef 'string'' to `typedef 'my_string'' for better
     portability.

   * You can now kill threads that are waiting on a disk full condition.

   * Fixed some problems with UDF functions.

   * Added long options to `isamchk'. Try `isamchk --help'.

   * Fixed a bug when using 8 bytes long (alpha); `filesort()' didn't
     work.  Affects `DISTINCT', `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' on 64-bit
     processors.

Changes in release 3.21.24
--------------------------

   * Dynamic loadable functions. Based on source from Alexis Mikhailov.

   * You couldn't delete from a table if no one had done a `SELECT' on
     the table.

   * Fixed problem with range optimizer with many `OR' operators on key
     parts inside each other.

   * Recoded `MIN()' and `MAX()' to work properly with strings and
     `HAVING'.

   * Changed default umask value for new files from `0664' to `0660'.

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT JOIN' and constant expressions in the `ON'
     part.

   * Added Italian error messages from <brenno@dewinter.com>.

   * `configure' now works better on OSF1 (tested on 4.0D).

   * Added hooks to allow `LIKE' optimization with international
     character support.

   * Upgraded `DBI' to 0.93.

Changes in release 3.21.23
--------------------------

   * The following symbols are now reserved words: `TIME', `DATE',
     `TIMESTAMP', `TEXT', `BIT', `ENUM', `NO', `ACTION', `CHECK',
     `YEAR', `MONTH', `DAY', `HOUR', `MINUTE', `SECOND', `STATUS',
     `VARIABLES'.

   * Setting a `TIMESTAMP' to `NULL' in `LOAD DATA INFILE ...' didn't
     set the current time for the `TIMESTAMP'.

   * Fix `BETWEEN' to recognize binary strings. Now `BETWEEN' is case
     sensitive.

   * Added `--skip-thread-priority' option to `mysqld', for systems
     where `mysqld''s thread scheduling doesn't work properly (BSDI
     3.1).

   * Added ODBC functions `DAYNAME()' and `MONTHNAME()'.

   * Added function `TIME_FORMAT()'.  This works like `DATE_FORMAT()',
     but takes a time string (`'HH:MM:DD'') as argument.

   * Fixed unlikely(?) key optimizer bug when using `OR's of key parts
     inside `AND's.

   * Added command `variables' to `mysqladmin'.

   * A lot of small changes to the binary releases.

   * Fixed a bug in the new protocol from *MySQL* 3.21.20.

   * Changed `ALTER TABLE' to work with Win32 (Win32 can't rename open
     files).  Also fixed a couple of small bugs in the Win32 version.

   * All standard *MySQL* clients are now ported to MySQL-Win32.

   * *MySQL* can now be started as a service on NT.

Changes in release 3.21.22
--------------------------

   * Starting with this version, all *MySQL* distributions will be
     configured, compiled and tested with `crash-me' and the benchmarks
     on the following platforms: SunOS 5.6 sun4u, SunOS 5.5.1 sun4u,
     SunOS 4.14 sun4c, SunOS 5.6 i86pc, Irix 6.3 mips5k, HP-UX 10.20
     hppa, AIX 4.2.1 ppc, OSF1 V4.0 alpha, FreeBSD 2.2.2 i86pc and BSDI
     3.1 i386.

   * Fix `COUNT(*)' problems when the `WHERE' clause didn't match any
     records.  (Bug from 3.21.17.)

   * Removed that `NULL = NULL' is true.  Now you must use `IS NULL' or
     `IS NOT NULL' to test whether or not a value is `NULL'.  (This is
     according to ANSI SQL but may break old applications that are
     ported from `mSQL'.)  You can get the old behavior by compiling
     with `-DmSQL_COMPLIANT'.

   * Fixed bug that core dumped when using many `LEFT OUTER JOIN'
     clauses.

   * Fixed bug in `ORDER BY' on string formula with possible `NULL'
     values.

   * Fixed problem in range optimizer when using <= on sub index.

   * Added functions `DAYOFYEAR()', `DAYOFMONTH()', `MONTH()',
     `YEAR()', `WEEK()', `QUARTER()', `HOUR()', `MINUTE()', `SECOND()'
     and `FIND_IN_SET()'.

   * Added command `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Added support of "long constant strings" from ANSI SQL:
          mysql> SELECT 'first ' 'second';       -> 'first second'

   * Upgraded mSQL-Mysql-modules to 1.1825.

   * Upgraded `mysqlaccess' to 2.02.

   * Fixed problem with Russian character set and `LIKE'.

   * Ported to OpenBSD 2.1.

   * New Dutch error messages.

Changes in release 3.21.21a
---------------------------

   * Configure changes for some operating systems.

Changes in release 3.21.21
--------------------------

   * Fixed optimizer bug when using `WHERE data_field = date_field2 AND
     date_field2 = constant'.

   * Added command `SHOW STATUS'.

   * Removed `manual.ps' from the source distribution to make it
     smaller.

Changes in release 3.21.20
--------------------------

   * Changed the maximum table name and column name lengths from 32 to
     64.

   * Aliases can now be of "any" length.

   * Fixed `mysqladmin stat' to return the right number of queries.

   * Changed protocol (downward compatible) to mark if a column has the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute or is a `TIMESTAMP'. This is needed for
     the new Java driver.

   * Added Hebrew sorting order by Zeev Suraski.

   * Solaris 2.6: Fixed `configure' bugs and increased maximum table
     size from 2G to 4G.

Changes in release 3.21.19
--------------------------

   * Upgraded `DBD' to 1823. This version implements `mysql_use_result'
     in `DBD-Mysql'.

   * Benchmarks updated for empress (by Luuk).

   * Fixed a case of slow range searching.

   * Configure fixes (`Docs' directory).

   * Added function `REVERSE()' (by Zeev Suraski).

Changes in release 3.21.18
--------------------------

   * Issue error message if client C functions are called in wrong
     order.

   * Added automatic reconnect to the `libmysql.c' library. If a write
     command fails, an automatic reconnect is done.

   * Small sort sets no longer use temporary files.

   * Upgraded `DBI' to 0.91.

   * Fixed a couple of problems with `LEFT OUTER JOIN'.

   * Added `CROSS JOIN' syntax. `CROSS' is now a reserved word.

   * Recoded `yacc'/`bison' stack allocation to be even safer and to
     allow *MySQL* to handle even bigger expressions.

   * Fixed a couple of problems with the update log.

   * `ORDER BY' was slow when used with key ranges.

Changes in release 3.21.17
--------------------------

   * Changed documentation string of `--with-unix-socket-path' to avoid
     confusion.

   * Added ODBC and ANSI SQL style `LEFT OUTER JOIN'.

   * The following are new reserved words: `LEFT', `NATURAL', `USING'.

   * The client library now uses the value of the environment variable
     `MYSQL_HOST' as the default host if it's defined.

   * `SELECT col_name, SUM(expr)' now returns `NULL' for `col_name'
     when there are matching rows.

   * Fixed problem with comparing binary strings and `BLOB's with ASCII
     characters over 127.

   * Fixed lock problem: when freeing a read lock on a table with
     multiple read locks, a thread waiting for a write lock would have
     been given the lock.  This shouldn't affect data integrity, but
     could possibly make `mysqld' restart if one thread was reading
     data that another thread modified.

   * `LIMIT offset,count' didn't work in `INSERT ... SELECT'.

   * Optimized key block caching. This will be quicker than the old
     algorithm when using bigger key caches.

Changes in release 3.21.16
--------------------------

   * Added ODBC 2.0 & 3.0 functions `POWER()', `SPACE()', `COT()',
     `DEGREES()', `RADIANS()', `ROUND(2 arg)' and `TRUNCATE()'.

   * *WARNING: INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE!!* `LOCATE()' parameters were
     swapped according to ODBC standard. Fixed.

   * Added function `TIME_TO_SEC()'.

   * In some cases, default values were not used for `NOT NULL' fields.

   * Timestamp wasn't always updated properly in `UPDATE SET ...'
     statements.

   * Allow empty strings as default values for `BLOB' and `TEXT', to be
     compatible with `mysqldump'.

Changes in release 3.21.15
--------------------------

   * *WARNING: INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE!!* `mysqlperl' is now from
     Msql-Mysql-modules. This means that `connect()' now takes `host',
     `database', `user', `password' arguments! The old version took
     `host', `database', `password', `user'.

   * Allow `DATE '1997-01-01'', `TIME '12:10:10'' and `TIMESTAMP
     '1997-01-01 12:10:10'' formats required by ANSI SQL.  *WARNING:
     INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE!!* This has the unfortunate side-effect that
     you no longer can have columns named `DATE', `TIME' or
     `TIMESTAMP'. :( Old columns can still be accessed through
     `tablename.columnname'!)

   * Changed Makefiles to hopefully work better with BSD systems. Also,
     `manual.dvi' is now included in the distribution to avoid having
     stupid `make' programs trying to rebuild it.

   * `readline' library upgraded to version 2.1.

   * A new sortorder german-1. That is a normal ISO-Latin1 with a
     german sort order.

   * Perl `DBI'/`DBD' is now included in the distribution. `DBI' is now
     the recommended way to connect to *MySQL* from Perl.

   * New portable benchmark suite with `DBD', with test results from
     `mSQL' 2.0.3, *MySQL*, PostgreSQL 6.2.1 and Solid server 2.2.

   * `crash-me' is now included with the benchmarks; This is a Perl
     program designed to find as many limits as possible in a SQL
     server. Tested with `mSQL', PostgreSQL, Solid and *MySQL*.

   * Fixed bug in range-optimizer that crashed *MySQL* on some queries.

   * Table and column name completion for `mysql' command line tool, by
     Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans.

   * Added new command `REPLACE' that works like `INSERT' but replaces
     conflicting records with the new record. `REPLACE INTO TABLE ...
     SELECT ...' works also.

   * Added new commands `CREATE DATABASE db_name' and `DROP DATABASE
     db_name'.

   * Added `RENAME' option to `ALTER TABLE': `ALTER TABLE name RENAME
     AS new_name'.

   * `make_binary_distribution' now includes `libgcc.a' in
     `libmysqlclient.a'. This should make linking work for people who
     don't have `gcc'.

   * Changed `net_write()' to `my_net_write()' because of a name
     conflict with Sybase.

   * New function `DAYOFWEEK()' compatible with ODBC.

   * Stack checking and `bison' memory overrun checking to make *MySQL*
     safer with weird queries.

Changes in release 3.21.14b
---------------------------

   * Fixed a couple of small `configure' problems on some platforms.

Changes in release 3.21.14a
---------------------------

   * Ported to SCO Openserver 5.0.4  with FSU Pthreads.

   * HP-UX 10.20 should work.

   * Added new function `DATE_FORMAT()'.

   * Added `NOT IN'.

   * Added automatic removal of 'ODBC function conversions': `{fn now()
     }'

   * Handle ODBC 2.50.3 option flags.

   * Fixed comparison of `DATE' and `TIME' values with `NULL'.

   * Changed language name from germany to german to be consistent with
     the other language names.

   * Fixed sorting problem on functions returning a `FLOAT'.
     Previously, the values were converted to `INT's before sorting.

   * Fixed slow sorting when sorting on key field when using
     `key_column=constant'.

   * Sorting on calculated `DOUBLE' values sorted on integer results
     instead.

   * `mysql' no longer needs a database argument.

   * Changed the place where `HAVING' should be. According to ANSI, it
     should be after `GROUP BY' but before `ORDER BY'. *MySQL* 3.20
     incorrectly had it last.

   * Added Sybase command `USE DATABASE' to start using another
     database.

   * Added automatic adjusting of number of connections and table cache
     size if the maximum number of files that can be opened is less
     than needed.  This should fix that `mysqld' doesn't crash even if
     you haven't done a `ulimit -n 256' before starting `mysqld'.

   * Added lots of limit checks to make it safer when running with too
     little memory or when doing weird queries.

Changes in release 3.21.13
--------------------------

   * Added retry of interrupted reads and clearing of `errno'.  This
     makes Linux systems much safer!

   * Fixed locking bug when using many aliases on the same table in the
     same `SELECT'.

   * Fixed bug with `LIKE' on number key.

   * New error message so you can check whether the connection was lost
     while the command was running or whether the connection was down
     from the start.

   * Added `--table' option to `mysql' to print in table format.  Moved
     time and row information after query result.  Added automatic
     reconnect of lost connections.

   * Added `!=' as a synonym for `<>'.

   * Added function `VERSION()' to make easier logs.

   * New multi-user test `tests/fork_test.pl' to put some strain on the
     thread library.

Changes in release 3.21.12
--------------------------

   * Fixed `ftruncate()' call in MIT-pthreads. This made `isamchk'
     destroy the `.ISM' files on (Free)BSD 2.x systems.

   * Fixed broken `__P_' patch in MIT-pthreads.

   * Many memory overrun checks. All string functions now return `NULL'
     if the returned string should be longer than `max_allowed_packet'
     bytes.

   * Changed the name of the `INTERVAL' type to `ENUM', because
     `INTERVAL' is used in ANSI SQL.

   * In some cases, doing a `JOIN' + `GROUP' + `INTO OUTFILE', the
     result wasn't grouped.

   * `LIKE' with `'_'' as last character didn't work. Fixed.

   * Added extended ANSI SQL `TRIM()' function.

   * Added `CURTIME()'.

   * Added `ENCRYPT()' function by Zeev Suraski.

   * Fixed better `FOREIGN KEY' syntax skipping. New reserved words:
     `MATCH', `FULL', `PARTIAL'.

   * `mysqld' now allows IP number and hostname to the `--bind-address'
     option.

   * Added `SET OPTION CHARACTER SET cp1251_koi8' to enable conversions
     of data to/from cp1251_koi8.

   * Lots of changes for Win95 port. In theory, this version should now
     be easily portable to Win95.

   * Changed the `CREATE COLUMN' syntax of `NOT NULL' columns to be
     after the `DEFAULT' value, as specified in the ANSI SQL standard.
     This will make `mysqldump' with `NOT NULL' and default values
     incompatible with *MySQL* 3.20.

   * Added many function name aliases so the functions can be used with
     ODBC or ANSI SQL92 syntax.

   * Fixed syntax of `ALTER TABLE tbl_name ALTER COLUMN col_name SET
     DEFAULT NULL'.

   * Added `CHAR' and `BIT' as synonyms for `CHAR(1)'.

   * Fixed core dump when updating as a user who has only *select*
     privilege.

   * `INSERT ... SELECT ... GROUP BY' didn't work in some cases. An
     `Invalid use of group function' error occurred.

   * When using `LIMIT', `SELECT' now always uses keys instead of record
     scan.  This will give better performance on `SELECT' and a `WHERE'
     that matches many rows.

   * Added Russian error messages.

Changes in release 3.21.11
--------------------------

   * Configure changes.

   * *MySQL* now works with the new thread library on BSD/OS 3.0.

   * Added new group functions `BIT_OR()' and `BIT_AND()'.

   * Added compatibility functions `CHECK' and `REFERENCES'.  `CHECK'
     is now a reserved word.

   * Added `ALL' option to `GRANT' for better compatibility. (`GRANT'
     is still a dummy function.)

   * Added partly-translated dutch messages.

   * Fixed bug in `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' with `NULL' columns.

   * Added function `last_insert_id()' to retrieve last `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     value.  This is intended for clients to ODBC that can't use the
     `mysql_insert_id()' API function, but can be used by any client.

   * Added `--flush-logs' option to `mysqladmin'.

   * Added command `STATUS' to `mysql'.

   * Fixed problem with `ORDER BY'/`GROUP BY' because of bug in `gcc'.

   * Fixed problem with `INSERT ... SELECT ... GROUP BY'.

Changes in release 3.21.10
--------------------------

   * New `mysqlaccess'.

   * `CREATE' now supports all ODBC types and the `mSQL' `TEXT' type.
     All ODBC 2.5 functions are also supported (added `REPEAT'). This
     provides better portability.

   * Added text types `TINYTEXT', `TEXT', `MEDIUMTEXT' and `LONGTEXT'.
     These are actually `BLOB'types, but all searching is done in
     case-insensitive fashion.

   * All old `BLOB' fields are now `TEXT' fields.  This only changes
     that all searching on strings is done in case-sensitive fashion.
     You must do an `ALTER TABLE' and change the field type to `BLOB'
     if you want to have tests done in case-sensitive fashion.

   * Fixed some `configure' issues.

   * Made the locking code a bit safer. Fixed very unlikely deadlock
     situation.

   * Fixed a couple of bugs in the range optimizer. Now the new range
     benchmark `test-select' works.

Changes in release 3.21.9
-------------------------

   * Added `--enable-unix-socket=pathname' option to `configure'.

   * Fixed a couple of portability problems with include files.

   * Fixed bug in range calculation that could return empty set when
     searching on multiple key with only one entry (very rare).

   * Most things ported to FSU Pthreads, which should allow *MySQL* to
     run on SCO. *Note SCO::.

Changes in release 3.21.8
-------------------------

   * Works now in Solaris 2.6.

   * Added handling of calculation of `SUM()' functions.  For example,
     you can now use `SUM(column)/COUNT(column)'.

   * Added handling of trigometric functions: `PI()', `ACOS()',
     `ASIN()', `ATAN()', `COS()', `SIN()' and `TAN()'.

   * New languages: norwegian, norwegian-ny and portuguese.

   * Fixed parameter bug in `net_print()' in `procedure.cc'.

   * Fixed a couple of memory leaks.

   * Now allow also the old `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' syntax.

   * Fixed bug with `GROUP BY' and `SELECT' on key with many values.

   * `mysql_fetch_lengths()' sometimes returned incorrect lengths when
     you used `mysql_use_result()'. This affected at least some cases of
     `mysqldump --quick'.

   * Fixed bug in optimization of `WHERE const op field'.

   * Fixed problem when sorting on `NULL' fields.

   * Fixed a couple of 64-bit (Alpha) problems.

   * Added `--pid-file=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added date formatting to `FROM_UNIXTIME()', originally by Zeev
     Suraski.

   * Fixed bug in `BETWEEN' in range optimizer (Did only test = of the
     first argument).

   * Added machine-dependent files for MIT-pthreads i386-SCO. There is
     probably more to do to get this to work on SCO 3.5.

Changes in release 3.21.7
-------------------------

   * Changed `Makefile.am' to take advantage of Automake 1.2.

   * Added the beginnings of a benchmark suite.

   * Added more secure password handling.

   * Added new client function `mysql_errno()', to get the error number
     of the error message. This makes error checking in the client much
     easier.  This makes the new server incompatible with the 3.20.x
     server when running without `--old-protocol'.  The client code is
     backward compatible.  More information can be found in the
     `README' file!

   * Fixed some problems when using very long, illegal names.

Changes in release 3.21.6
-------------------------

   * Fixed more portability issues (incorrect `sigwait' and `sigset'
     defines).

   * `configure' should now be able to detect the last argument to
     `accept()'.

Changes in release 3.21.5
-------------------------

   * Should now work with FreeBSD 3.0 if used with
     `FreeBSD-3.0-libc_r-1.0.diff', which can be found at
     `http://www.mysql.com/Download/Patches'.

   * Added new option `-O tmp_table_size=#' to `mysqld'.

   * New function `FROM_UNIXTIME(timestamp)' which returns a date
     string in 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:DD' format.

   * New function `SEC_TO_TIME(seconds)' which returns a string in
     'HH:MM:SS' format.

   * New function `SUBSTRING_INDEX()', originally by Zeev Suraski.

Changes in release 3.21.4
-------------------------

   * Should now configure and compile on OSF1 4.0 with the DEC compiler.

   * Configuration and compilation on BSD/OS 3.0 works, but due to some
     bugs in BSD/OS 3.0, `mysqld' doesn't work on it yet.

   * Configuration and compilation on FreeBSD 3.0 works, but I couldn't
     get `pthread_create' to work.

Changes in release 3.21.3
-------------------------

   * Added reverse check lookup of hostnames to get better security.

   * Fixed some possible buffer overflows if filenames that are too
     long are used.

   * `mysqld' doesn't accept hostnames that start with digits followed
     by a `'.'', because the hostname may look like an IP number.

   * Added `--skip-networking' option to `mysqld', to only allow socket
     connections.  (This will not work with MIT-pthreads!)

   * Added check of too long table names for alias.

   * Added check if database name is okay.

   * Added check if too long table names.

   * Removed incorrect `free()' that killed the server on `CREATE
     DATABASE' or `DROP DATABASE'.

   * Changed some `mysqld' `-O' options to better names.

   * Added `-O join_cache_size=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added `-O max_join_size=#' option to `mysqld', to be able to set a
     limit how big queries (in this case big = slow) one should be able
     to handle without specifying `SET OPTION SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1'.  A #
     = is about 10 examined records. The default is "unlimited".

   * When comparing a `TIME', `DATE', `DATETIME' or `TIMESTAMP' column
     to a constant, the constant is converted to a time value before
     performing the comparison.  This will make it easier to get ODBC
     (particularly Access97) to work with the above types. It should
     also make dates easier to use and the comparisons should be
     quicker than before.

   * Applied patch from Jochen Wiedmann that allows `query()' in
     `mysqlperl' to take a query with `\0' in it.

   * Storing a timestamp with a 2-digit year (`YYMMDD') didn't work.

   * Fix that timestamp wasn't automatically updated if set in an
     `UPDATE' clause.

   * Now the automatic timestamp field is the FIRST timestamp field.

   * `SELECT * INTO OUTFILE', which didn't correctly if the outfile
     already existed.

   * `mysql' now shows the thread ID when starting or doing a reconnect.

   * Changed the default sort buffer size from 2M to 1M.

Changes in release 3.21.2
-------------------------

   * The range optimizer is coded, but only 85% tested. It can be
     enabled with `--new', but it crashes core a lot yet...

   * More portable. Should compile on AIX and alpha-digital.  At least
     the `isam' library should be relatively 64-bit clean.

   * New `isamchk' which can detect and fix more problems.

   * New options for `isamlog'.

   * Using new version of Automake.

   * Many small portability changes (from the AIX and alpha-digital
     port) Better checking of pthread(s) library.

   * czech error messages by <snajdr@pvt.net>.

   * Decreased size of some buffers to get fewer problems on systems
     with little memory.  Also added more checks to handle "out of
     memory" problems.

   * `mysqladmin': you can now do `mysqladmin kill 5,6,7,8' to kill
     multiple threads.

   * When the maximum connection limit is reached, one extra connection
     by a user with the *PROCESS_ACL* privilege is granted.

   * Added `-O backlog=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * Increased maximum packet size from 512K to 1024K for client.

   * Almost all of the function code is now tested in the internal test
     suite.

   * `ALTER TABLE' now returns warnings from field conversions.

   * Port changed to 3306 (got it reserved from ISI).

   * Added a fix for Visual FoxBase so that any schema name from a table
     specification is automatically removed.

   * New function `ASCII()'.

   * Removed function `BETWEEN(a,b,c)'. Use the standard ANSI synax
     instead: `expr BETWEEN expr AND expr'.

   * *MySQL* no longer has to use an extra temporary table when sorting
     on functions or `SUM()' functions.

   * Fixed bug that you couldn't use `tbl_name.field_name' in `UPDATE'.

   * Fixed `SELECT DISTINCT' when using 'hidden group'. For example:
          mysql> SELECT DISTINCT MOD(some_field,10) FROM test
                     GROUP BY some_field;
     Note: `some_field' is normally in the `SELECT' part. ANSI SQL
     should require it.

Changes in release 3.21.0
-------------------------

   * New reserved words used: `INTERVAL', `EXPLAIN', `READ', `WRITE',
     `BINARY'.

   * Added ODBC function `CHAR(num,...)'.

   * New operator `IN'. This uses a binary search to find a match.

   * New command `LOCK TABLES tbl_name [AS alias] {READ|WRITE} ...'

   * Added `--log-update' option to `mysqld', to get a log suitable for
     incremental updates.

   * New command `EXPLAIN SELECT ...' to get information about how the
     optimizer will do the join.

   * For easier client code, the client should no longer use
     `FIELD_TYPE_TINY_BLOB', `FIELD_TYPE_MEDIUM_BLOB',
     `FIELD_TYPE_LONG_BLOB' or `FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING' (as previously
     returned by `mysql_list_fields').  You should instead only use
     `FIELD_TYPE_BLOB' or `FIELD_TYPE_STRING'.  If you want exact
     types, you should use the command `SHOW FIELDS'.

   * Added varbinary syntax: `0x######' which can be used as a string
     (default) or a number.

   * `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR' is renamed to `FIELD_TYPE_TINY'.

   * Changed all fields to C++ classes.

   * Removed FORM struct.

   * Fields with `DEFAULT' values no longer need to be `NOT NULL'.

   * New field types:
    `ENUM'
          A string which can take only a couple of defined values. The
          value is stored as a 1-3 byte number that is mapped
          automatically to a string.  This is sorted according to
          string positions!

    `SET'
          A string which may have one or many string values separated
          with ','.  The string is stored as a 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- or 8-byte
          number where each bit stands for a specific set member.  This
          is sorted according to the unsigned value of the stored
          packed number.

   * Now all function calculation is done with `double' or `long long'.
     This will provide the full 64-bit range with bit functions and fix
     some conversions that previously could result in precision losses.
     One should avoid using `unsigned long long' columns with full
     64-bit range (numbers bigger than 9223372036854775807) because
     calculations are done with `signed long long'.

   * `ORDER BY' will now put `NULL' field values first. `GROUP BY' will
     also work with `NULL' values.

   * Full `WHERE' with expressions.

   * New range optimizer that can resolve ranges when some keypart
     prefix is constant. Example:
          mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name
                     WHERE key_part_1="customer"
                     AND key_part_2>=10 AND key_part_2<=10;

Changes in release 3.20.x
=========================

Changes from 3.20.18 to 3.20.32b are not documented here since the 3.21
release branched here. And the relevant changes are also documented as
changes to the 3.21 version.

Changes in release 3.20.18
--------------------------

   * Added `-p#' (remove `#' directories from path) to `isamlog'.  All
     files are written with a relative path from the database directory
     Now `mysqld' shouldn't crash on shutdown when using the
     `--log-isam' option.

   * New `mysqlperl' version. It is now compatible with `msqlperl-0.63'.

   * New `DBD' module available at `http://www.mysql.com/Contrib' site.

   * Added group function `STD()' (standard deviation).

   * The `mysqld' server is now compiled by default without debugging
     information.  This will make the daemon smaller and faster.

   * Now one usually only has to specify the `--basedir' option to
     `mysqld'. All other paths are relative in a normal installation.

   * `BLOB' columns sometimes contained garbage when used with a
     `SELECT' on more than one table and `ORDER BY'.

   * Fixed that calculations that are not in `GROUP BY' work as expected
     (ANSI SQL extension).  Example:
          mysql> SELECT id,id+1 FROM table GROUP BY id;

   * The test of using `MYSQL_PWD' was reversed. Now `MYSQL_PWD' is
     enabled as default in the default release.

   * Fixed conversion bug which caused `mysqld' to core dump with
     Arithmetic error on Sparc-386.

   * Added `--unbuffered' option to `mysql', for new `mysqlaccess'.

   * When using overlapping (unnecessary) keys and join over many
     tables, the optimizer could get confused and return 0 records.

Changes in release 3.20.17
--------------------------

   * You can now use `BLOB' columns and the functions `IS NULL' and `IS
     NOT NULL' in the `WHERE' clause.

   * All communication packets and row buffers are now allocated
     dynamically on demand. The default value of `max_allowed_packet'
     is now 64K for the server and 512K for the client. This is mainly
     used to catch incorrect packets that could trash all memory. The
     server limit may be changed when it is started.

   * Changed stack usage to use less memory.

   * Changed `safe_mysqld' to check for running daemon.

   * The `ELT()' function is renamed to `FIELD()'.  The new `ELT()'
     function returns a value based on an index: `FIELD()' is the
     inverse of `ELT()' Example: `ELT(2,"A","B","C")' returns `"B"'.
     `FIELD("B","A","B","C")' returns `2'.

   * `COUNT(field)', where `field' could have a `NULL' value, now works.

   * A couple of bugs fixed in `SELECT ... GROUP BY'.

   * Fixed memory overrun bug in `WHERE' with many unoptimizable brace
     levels.

   * Fixed some small bugs in the grant code.

   * If hostname isn't found by `get_hostname', only the IP is checked.
     Previously, you got `Access denied'.

   * Inserts of timestamps with values didn't always work.

   * `INSERT INTO ... SELECT ... WHERE' could give the error
     `Duplicated field'.

   * Added some tests to `safe_mysqld' to make it "safer".

   * `LIKE' was case sensitive in some places and case insensitive in
     others.  Now `LIKE' is always case insensitive.

   * `mysql.cc': Allow `'#'' anywhere on the line.

   * New command `SET OPTION SQL_SELECT_LIMIT=#'. See the FAQ for more
     details.

   * New version of the `mysqlaccess' script.

   * Change `FROM_DAYS()' and `WEEKDAY()' to also take a full
     `TIMESTAMP' or `DATETIME' as argument. Before they only took a
     number of type `YYYYMMDD' or `YYMMDD'.

   * Added new function `UNIX_TIMESTAMP(timestamp_column)'.

Changes in release 3.20.16
--------------------------

   * More changes in MIT-pthreads to get them safer. Fixed also some
     link bugs at least in SunOS.

   * Changed `mysqld' to work around a bug in MIT-pthreads. This makes
     multiple small `SELECT' operations 20 times faster. Now
     `lock_test.pl' should work.

   * Added `mysql_FetchHash(handle)' to `mysqlperl'.

   * The `mysqlbug' script is now distributed built to allow for
     reporting bugs that appear during the build with it.

   * Changed `libmysql.c' to prefer `getpwuid()' instead of `cuserid()'.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT' optimizer when using many tables with the
     same column used as key to different tables.

   * Added new latin2 and Russian KOI8 character tables.

   * Added support for a dummy `GRANT' command to satisfy Powerbuilder.

Changes in release 3.20.15
--------------------------

   * Fixed fatal bug `packets out of order' when using MIT-pthreads.

   * Removed possible loop when a thread waits for command from client
     and `fcntl()' fails. Thanks to Mike Bretz for finding this bug.

   * Changed alarm loop in `mysqld.cc' because shutdown didn't always
     succeed in Linux.

   * Removed use of `termbits' from `mysql.cc'.  This conflicted with
     `glibc' 2.0.

   * Fixed some syntax errors for at least BSD and Linux.

   * Fixed bug when doing a `SELECT' as superuser without a database.

   * Fixed bug when doing `SELECT' with group calculation to outfile.

Changes in release 3.20.14
--------------------------

   * If one gives `-p' or `--password' option to `mysql' without an
     argument, the user is solicited for the password from the tty.

   * Added default password from `MYSQL_PWD' (by Elmar Haneke).

   * Added command `kill' to `mysqladmin' to kill a specific *MySQL*
     thread.

   * Sometimes when doing a reconnect on a down connection this
     succeeded first on second try.

   * Fixed adding an `AUTO_INCREMENT' key with `ALTER_TABLE'.

   * `AVG()' gave too small value on some `SELECT's with `GROUP BY' and
     `ORDER BY'.

   * Added new `DATETIME' type (by Giovanni Maruzzelli
     <maruzz@matrice.it>).

   * Fixed that define `DONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS' works.

   * Changed to use a thread to handle alarms instead of signals on
     Solaris to avoid race conditions.

   * Fixed default length of signed numbers. (George Harvey
     <georgeh@pinacl.co.uk>.)

   * Allow anything for `CREATE INDEX'.

   * Add prezeros when packing numbers to `DATE', `TIME' and
     `TIMESTAMP'.

   * Fixed a bug in `OR' of multiple tables (gave empty set).

   * Added many patches to MIT-pthreads. This fixes at least one lookup
     bug.

Changes in release 3.20.13
--------------------------

   * Added ANSI SQL94 `DATE' and `TIME' types.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT' with `AND'-`OR' levels.

   * Added support for Slovenian characters. The `Contrib' directory
     contains source and instructions for adding other character sets.

   * Fixed bug with `LIMIT' and `ORDER BY'.

   * Allow `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' on items that aren't in the
     `SELECT' list.  (Thanks to Wim Bonis <bonis@kiss.de>, for pointing
     this out.)

   * Allow setting of timestamp values in `INSERT'.

   * Fixed bug with `SELECT ... WHERE ... = NULL'.

   * Added changes for `glibc' 2.0. To get `glibc' to work, you should
     add the `gibc-2.0-sigwait-patch' before compiling `glibc'.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' when changing a `NOT NULL' field to
     allow `NULL' values.

   * Added some ANSI92 synonyms as field types to `CREATE TABLE'.
     `CREATE TABLE' now allows `FLOAT(4)' and `FLOAT(8)' to mean
     `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE'.

   * New utility program `mysqlaccess' by <Yves.Carlier@rug.ac.be>.
     This program shows the access rights for a specific user and the
     grant rows that determine this grant.

   * Added `WHERE const op field' (by <bonis@kiss.de>).

Changes in release 3.20.11
--------------------------

   * When using `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE', all temporary tables are ISAM
     instead of HEAP to allow big dumps.

   * Changed date functions to be string functions. This fixed some
     "funny" side effects when sorting on dates.

   * Extended `ALTER TABLE' according to SQL92.

   * Some minor compability changes.

   * Added `--port' and `--socket' options to all utility programs and
     `mysqld'.

   * Fixed MIT-pthreads `readdir_r()'. Now `mysqladmin create database'
     and `mysqladmin drop database' should work.

   * Changed MIT-pthreads to use our `tempnam()'. This should fix the
     "sort aborted" bug.

   * Added sync of records count in `sql_update'. This fixed slow
     updates on first connection. (Thanks to Vaclav Bittner for the
     test.)

Changes in release 3.20.10
--------------------------

   * New insert type: `INSERT INTO ... SELECT ...'

   * `MEDIUMBLOB' fixed.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' and `BLOB's.

   * `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' now creates the file in the current
     database directory.

   * `DROP TABLE' now can take a list of tables.

   * Oracle synonym `DESCRIBE' (`DESC').

   * Changes to `make_binary_distribution'.

   * Added some comments to installation instructions about
     `configure''s C++ link test.

   * Added `--without-perl' option to `configure'.

   * Lots of small portability changes.

Changes in release 3.20.9
-------------------------

   * `ALTER TABLE' didn't copy null bit. As a result, fields that were
     allowed to have `NULL' values were always `NULL'.

   * `CREATE' didn't take numbers as `DEFAULT'.

   * Some compatibility changes for SunOS.

   * Removed `config.cache' from old distribution.

Changes in release 3.20.8
-------------------------

   * Fixed bug with `ALTER TABLE' and multi-part keys.

Changes in release 3.20.7
-------------------------

   * New commands: `ALTER TABLE', `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' and `LOAD
     DATA INFILE'.

   * New function: `NOW()'.

   * Added new field *file_priv* to `mysql/user' table.

   * New script `add_file_priv' which adds the new field *file_priv* to
     the `user' table. This script must be executed if you want to use
     the new `SELECT ... INTO' and `LOAD DATA INFILE ...' commands with
     a version of *MySQL* earlier than 3.20.7.

   * Fixed bug in locking code, which made `lock_test.pl' test fail.

   * New files `NEW' and `BUGS'.

   * Changed `select_test.c' and `insert_test.c' to include `config.h'.

   * Added command `status' to `mysqladmin' for short logging.

   * Increased maximum number of keys to 16 and maximum number of key
     parts to 15.

   * Use of sub keys. A key may now be a prefix of a string field.

   * Added `-k' option to `mysqlshow', to get key information for a
     table.

   * Added long options to `mysqldump'.

Changes in release 3.20.6
-------------------------

   * Portable to more systems because of MIT-pthreads, which will be
     used automatically if `configure' cannot find a `-lpthreads'
     library.

   * Added GNU-style long options to almost all programs. Test with
     `program --help'.

   * Some shared library support for Linux.

   * The FAQ is now in `.texi' format and is available in `.html',
     `.txt' and `.ps' formats.

   * Added new SQL function `RAND([init])'.

   * Changed `sql_lex' to handle `\0' unquoted, but the client can't
     send the query through the C API, because it takes a str pointer.
     You must use `mysql_real_query()' to send the query.

   * Added API function `mysql_get_client_info()'.

   * `mysqld' now uses the `N_MAX_KEY_LENGTH' from `nisam.h' as the
     maximum allowed key length.

   * The following now works:
          mysql> SELECT filter_nr,filter_nr FROM filter ORDER BY filter_nr;
     Previously, this resulted in the error: `Column: 'filter_nr' in
     order clause is ambiguous'.

   * `mysql' now outputs `'\0'', `'\t'', `'\n'' and `'\\'' when
     encountering ASCII 0, tab, newline or `'\'' while writing
     tab-separated output.  This is to allow printing of binary data in
     a portable format.  To get the old behavior, use `-r' (or `--raw').

   * Added german error messages (60 of 80 error messages translated).

   * Added new API function `mysql_fetch_lengths(MYSQL_RES *)', which
     returns an array of of column lengths (of type `uint').

   * Fixed bug with `IS NULL' in `WHERE' clause.

   * Changed the optimizer a little to get better results when
     searching on a key part.

   * Added `SELECT' option `STRAIGHT_JOIN' to tell the optimizer that
     it should join tables in the given order.

   * Added support for comments starting with `'--'' in `mysql.cc'
     (Postgres syntax).

   * You can have `SELECT' expressions and table columns in a `SELECT'
     which are not used in the group part. This makes it efficient to
     implement lookups.  The column that is used should be a constant
     for each group because the value is calculated only once for the
     first row that is found for a group.
          mysql> SELECT id,lookup.text,sum(*) FROM test,lookup
                   WHERE test.id=lookup.id GROUP BY id;

   * Fixed bug in `SUM(function)' (could cause a core dump).

   * Changed `AUTO_INCREMENT' placement in the SQL query:
          INSERT into table (auto_field) values (0);
     inserted 0, but it should insert an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.

   * `mysqlshow.c': Added number of records in table. Had to change the
     client code a little to fix this.

   * `mysql' now allows doubled `''' or `""' within strings for
     embedded `'' or `"'.

   * New math functions: `EXP()', `LOG()', `SQRT()', `ROUND()',
     `CEILING()'.

Changes in release 3.20.3
-------------------------

   * The `configure' source now compiles a thread-free client library
     `-lmysqlclient'. This is the only library that needs to be linked
     with client applications.  When using the binary releases, you must
     link with `-lmysql -lmysys -ldbug -lstrings' as before.

   * New `readline' library from `bash-2.0'.

   * LOTS of small changes to `configure' and makefiles (and related
     source).

   * It should now be possible to compile in another directory using
     `VPATH'. Tested with GNU Make 3.75.

   * `safe_mysqld' and `mysql.server' changed to be more compatible
     between the source and the binary releases.

   * `LIMIT' now takes one or two numeric arguments.  If one argument
     is given, it indicates the maximum number of rows in a result. If
     two arguments are given, the first argument indicates the offset
     of the first row to return, the second is the maximum number of
     rows.  With this it's easy to do a poor man's next page/previous
     page WWW application.

   * Changed name of SQL function `FIELDS()' to `ELT()'.  Changed SQL
     function `INTERVALL()' to `INTERVAL()'.

   * Made `SHOW COLUMNS' a synonym for `SHOW FIELDS'.  Added
     compatibility syntax `FRIEND KEY' to `CREATE TABLE'. In *MySQL*,
     this creates a non-unique key on the given columns.

   * Added `CREATE INDEX' and `DROP INDEX' as compatibility functions.
     In *MySQL*, `CREATE INDEX' only checks if the index exists and
     issues an error if it doesn't exist. `DROP INDEX' always succeeds.

   * `mysqladmin.c': added client version to version information.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `sql_acl' (core on new connection).

   * Removed `host', `user' and `db' tables from database `test' in the
     distribution.

   * `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR' can now be signed (-128 - 127) or unsigned (0 -
     255) Previously, it was always unsigned.

   * Bug fixes in `CONCAT()' and `WEEKDAY()'.

   * Changed a lot of source to get `mysqld' to be compiled with SunPro
     compiler.

   * SQL functions must now have a `'('' immediately after the function
     name (no intervening space).  For example, `'user('' is regarded
     as beginning a function call, and `'user ('' is regarded as an
     identifier `user' followed by a `'('', not as a function call.

Changes in release 3.20.0
-------------------------

   * The source distribution is done with `configure' and Automake.  It
     will make porting much easier.  The `readline' library is included
     in the distribution.

   * Separate client compilation: the client code should be very easy
     to compile on systems which don't have threads.

   * The old Perl interface code is automatically compiled and
     installed.  Automatic compiling of `DBD' will follow when the new
     `DBD' code is ported.

   * Dynamic language support: `mysqld' can now be started with Swedish
     or English (default) error messages.

   * New functions: `INSERT()', `RTRIM()', `LTRIM()' and `FORMAT()'.

   * `mysqldump' now works correctly for all field types (even
     `AUTO_INCREMENT'). The format for `SHOW FIELDS FROM tbl_name' is
     changed so the `Type' column contains information suitable for
     `CREATE TABLE'.  In previous releases, some `CREATE TABLE'
     information had to be patched when recreating tables.

   * Some parser bugs from 3.19.5 (`BLOB' and `TIMESTAMP') are
     corrected.  `TIMESTAMP' now returns different date information
     depending on its create length.

   * Changed parser to allow a database, table or field name to start
     with a number or `'_''.

   * All old C code from Unireg changed to C++ and cleaned up. This
     makes the daemon a little smaller and easier to understand.

   * A lot of small bug fixes done.

   * New `INSTALL' files (not final version) and some info regarding
     porting.

Changes in release 3.19.x
=========================

Changes in release 3.19.5
-------------------------

   * Some new functions, some more optimization on joins.

   * Should now compile clean on Linux (2.0.x).

   * Added functions `DATABASE()', `USER()', `POW()', `LOG10()' (needed
     for ODBC).

   * In a `WHERE' with an `ORDER BY' on fields from only one table, the
     table is now preferred as first table in a multi-join.

   * `HAVING' and `IS NULL' or `IS NOT NULL' now works.

   * A group on one column and a sort on a group function (`SUM()',
     `AVG()'...) didn't work together. Fixed.

   * `mysqldump': Didn't send password to server.

Changes in release 3.19.4
-------------------------

   * Fixed horrible locking bug when inserting in one thread and reading
     in another thread.

   * Fixed one-off decimal bug.  1.00 was output as 1.0.

   * Added attribute `'Locked'' to process list as info if a query is
     locked by another query.

   * Fixed full magic timestamp. Timestamp length may now be 14, 12,
     10, 8, 6, 4 or 2 bytes.

   * Sort on some numeric functions could sort incorrectly on last
     number.

   * `IF(arg,syntax_error,syntax_error)' crashed.

   * Added functions `CEILING()', `ROUND()', `EXP()', `LOG()' and
     `SQRT()'.

   * Enhanced `BETWEEN' to handle strings.

Changes in release 3.19.3
-------------------------

   * Fixed `SELECT' with grouping on `BLOB' columns not to return
     incorrect `BLOB' info. Grouping, sorting and distinct on `BLOB'
     columns will not yet work as expected (probably it will group/sort
     by the first 7 characters in the `BLOB'). Grouping on formulas
     with a fixed string size (use `MID()' on a `BLOB') should work.

   * When doing a full join (no direct keys) on multiple tables with
     `BLOB' fields, the `BLOB' was garbage on output.

   * Fixed `DISTINCT' with calculated columns.

Known errors and design deficiencies in MySQL
*********************************************

   * You cannot build in another directory when using MIT-pthreads.
     Since this requires changes to MIT-pthreads, we are not likely to
     fix this.

   * `BLOB' values can't "reliably" be used in `GROUP BY' or `ORDER BY'
     or `DISTINCT'. Only the first `max_sort_length' bytes (default
     1024) are used when comparing `BLOB'bs in these cases.  This can
     be changed with the `-O max_sort_length' option to `mysqld'. A
     workaround for most cases is to use a substring: `SELECT DISTINCT
     LEFT(blob,2048) FROM tbl_name'.

   * Calculation is done with `BIGINT' or `DOUBLE' (both are normally
     64 bits long). It depends on the function which precision one
     gets. The general rule is that bit functions are done with `BIGINT'
     precision, `IF', and `ELT()' with `BIGINT' or `DOUBLE' precision
     and the rest with `DOUBLE' precision.  One should try to avoid
     using bigger unsigned long long values than 63 bits
     (9223372036854775807) for anything else than bit fields!

   * All string columns, except `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns, automatically
     have all trailing spaces removed when retrieved. For `CHAR' types
     this is okay, and may be regarded as a feature according to ANSI
     SQL92. The bug is that in *MySQL*, `VARCHAR' columns are treated
     the same way.

   * You can only have up to 255 `ENUM' and `SET' columns in one table.

   * `safe_mysqld' re-directs all messages from `mysqld' to the
     `mysqld' log.  One problem with this is that if you execute
     `mysqladmin refresh' to close and reopen the log, `stdout' and
     `stderr' are still redirected to the old log.  If you use `--log'
     extensively, you should edit `safe_mysqld' to log to
     `'hostname'.err' instead of `'hostname'.log' so you can easily
     reclaim the space for the old log by deleting the old one and
     executing `mysqladmin refresh'.

   * In the `UPDATE' statement, columns are updated from left to right.
     If you refer to a updated column, you will get the updated value
     instead of the original value. For example:
          mysql> UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1,KEY=KEY+1
     will update `KEY' with `2' instead of with `1'.

   * You can't use temporary tables more than once in the same query.

          select * from temporary_table, temporary_table as t2;

The following is known bugs in earlier versions of *MySQL*:

   * Before *MySQL* 3.23.2 an `UPDATE' that updated a key with a
     `WHERE' on the same key may have failed because the key was used to
     search for records and the same row may have been found multiple
     times:

          UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1 WHERE KEY > 100;

     A workaround is to use:

          mysql> UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1 WHERE KEY+0 > 100;

     This will work because *MySQL* will not use index on expressions in
     the `WHERE' clause.

   * Before *MySQL* 3.23, all numeric types where treated as fixed-point
     fields. That means you had to specify how many decimals a
     floating-point field shall have. All results were returned with
     the correct number of decimals.

For platform-specific bugs, see the sections about compiling and
porting.

List of things we want to add to MySQL in the future (The TODO)
***************************************************************

Everything in this list is in the order it will be done.  If you want to
affect the priority order, please register a license or support us and
tell us what you want to have done more quickly. *Note Licensing and
Support::.

Things that must done in the real near future
=============================================

   * One way replication

   * Transactions

   * Subqueries. `select id from t where grp in (select grp from g
     where u > 100)'

   * Allow `mysqld' to support many character sets at the same time.

   * If you perform an `ALTER TABLE' on a table that is symlinked to
     another disk, create temporary tables on this disk.

   * `RENAME table as table, table as table [,...]'

   * FreeBSD and MIT-pthreads;  Do sleeping threads take CPU?

   * Allow join on key parts (optimization issue).

   * Entry for `DECRYPT()'.

   * Remember `FOREIGN' key definitions in the `.frm' file.

   * Server side cursors.

   * Allow users to change startup options.

   * Allow SQL variables in `LIMIT', like in `LIMIT @a,@b'.

   * Don't add automatic `DEFAULT' values to columns.  Give an error
     when using an `INSERT' that doesn't contain a column that doesn't
     have a `DEFAULT'.

   * Caching of queries and results. This should be done as a separated
     module that examines each query and if this is query is in the
     cache the cached result should be returned.  When one updates a
     table one should remove as few queries as possible from the cache.
     This should give a big speed bost on machines with much RAM where
     queries are often repeated (like WWW applications).  One idea
     would be to only cache queries of type: `SELECT CACHED ....'

   * Fix `libmysql.c' to allow two `mysql_query()' commands in a row
     without reading results or give a nice error message when one does
     this.

   * Optimize `BIT' type to take 1 bit (now `BIT' takes 1 char).

   * Check why MIT-pthreads `ctime()' doesn't work on some FreeBSD
     systems.

   * Check if locked threads take any CPU.

   * Add `ORDER BY' to update. This would be handy with functions like:
     `generate_id(start,step)'.

   * Add an `IMAGE' option to `LOAD DATA INFILE' to not update
     `TIMESTAMP' and `AUTO_INCREMENT' fields.

   * Make `LOAD DATA INFILE' understand a syntax like:
          LOAD DATA INFILE 'file_name.txt' INTO TABLE tbl_name
          TEXT_FIELDS (text_field1, text_field2, text_field3)
          SET table_field1=concatenate(text_field1, text_field2), table_field3=23
          IGNORE text_field3

   * Add true `VARCHAR' support (There is already support for this in
     MyISAM).

   * Automatic output from `mysql' to netscape.

   * `LOCK DATABASES'. (with various options)

   * `NATURAL JOIN'.

   * Change sort to allocate memory in "hunks" to get better memory
     utilization.

   * `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' types can't read exponential numbers;
     `Field_decimal::store(const char *from,uint len)' must be recoded
     to fix this.

   * Fix `mysql.cc' to do fewer `malloc()' calls when hashing field
     names.

   * Functions: ADD_TO_SET(value,set) and REMOVE_FROM_SET(value,set)

   * Add use of `t1 JOIN t2 ON ...' and `t1 JOIN t2 USING ...'
     Currently, you can only use this syntax with `LEFT JOIN'.

   * Add full support for `unsigned long long' type.

   * Function `CASE'.

   * Many more variables for `show status'.  Counts for:
     `INSERT'/`DELETE'/`UPDATE' statements. Records reads and updated.
     Selects on 1 table and selects with joins.  Mean number of tables
     in select. Key buffer read/write hits (logical and real).  `ORDER
     BY', `GROUP BY', temporary tables created.

   * If you abort `mysql' in the middle of a query, you should open
     another connection and kill the old running query.  Alternatively,
     an attempt should be made to detect this in the server.

   * Add a handler interface for table information so you can use it as
     a system table. This would be a bit slow if you requested
     information about all tables, but very flexible.  `SHOW INFO FROM
     tbl_name' for basic table information should be implemented.

   * Add support for UNICODE.

   * `NATURAL JOIN'.

   * Oracle like `CONNECT BY PRIOR ...' to search hierarchy structures.

   * `RENAME DATABASE'

   * `mysqladmin copy database new-database'.

   * Processlist should show number of queries/thread.

   * `IGNORE' option to the `UPDATE' statement (this will delete all
     rows that gets a dupplicate key error while updating).

   * Change the format of `DATETIME' to store fractions of seconds.

   * Add all missing ANSI92 and ODBC 3.0 types.

   * Change table names from empty strings to `NULL' for calculated
     columns.

   * Don't use 'Item_copy_string' on numerical values to avoid
     number->string->number conversion in case of: `SELECT
     COUNT(*)*(id+0) FROM table_name GROUP BY id'

Things that have to be done sometime
====================================

   * Implement function: `get_changed_tables(timeout,table1,table2,...)'

   * Implement function: `LAST_UPDATED(tbl_name)'

   * Atomic updates; This includes a language that one can even use for
     a set of stored procedures.

   * `update items,month set items.price=month.price where
     items.id=month.id;'

   * Change reading through tables to use memmap when possible. Now only
     compressed tables use memmap.

   * Add a new privilege *'Show_priv'* for `SHOW' commands.

   * Make the automatic timestamp code nicer.  Add timestamps to the
     update log with `SET TIMESTAMP=#;'

   * Use read/write mutex in some places to get more speed.

   * Full foreign key support. One probably wants to implement a
     procedural language first.

   * Simple views (first on one table, later on any expression).

   * Automatically close some tables if a table, temporary table or
     temporary files gets error 23 (not enough open files).

   * When one finds a field=#, change all occurrences of field to #.
     Now this is only done for some simple cases.

   * Change all const expressions with calculated expressions if
     possible.

   * Optimize key = expression. At the moment only key = field or key =
     constant are optimized.

   * Join some of the copy functions for nicer code.

   * Change `sql_yacc.yy' to an inline parser to reduce its size and get
     better error messages (5 days).

   * Change the parser to use only one rule per different number of
     arguments in function.

   * Use of full calculation names in the order part. (For ACCESS97)

   * `UNION', `MINUS', `INTERSECT' and `FULL OUTER JOIN'.  (Currently
     only `LEFT OUTER JOIN' is supported)

   * Allow `UNIQUE' on fields that can be `NULL'.

   * `SQL_OPTION MAX_SELECT_TIME=#' to put a time limit on a query.

   * Make the update log to a database.

   * Negative `LIMIT' to retrieve data from the end.

   * Alarm around client connect/read/write functions.

   * Make a `mysqld' version which isn't multithreaded (3-5 days).

   * Please note the changes to `safe_mysqld': according to FSSTND
     (which Debian tries to follow) PID files should go into
     `/var/run/<progname>.pid' and log files into `/var/log'. It would
     be nice if you could put the "DATADIR" in the first declaration of
     "pidfile" and "log", so the placement of these files can be
     changed with a single statement.

   * Better dynamic record layout to avoid fragmentation.

   * `UPDATE SET blob=read_blob_from_file('my_gif') where id=1;'

   * Allow a client to request logging.

   * Add use of `zlib()' for `gzip'-ed files to `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * Fix sorting and grouping of `BLOB' columns (partly solved now).

   * Stored procedures.  This is currently not regarded to be very
     important as stored procedures are not very standardized yet.
     Another problem is that true stored procedures make it much harder
     for the optimizer and in many cases the result is slower than
     before We will, on the other hand, add a simple (atomic) update
     language that can be used to write loops and such in the *MySQL*
     server.

   * Change to use semaphores when counting threads.  One should first
     implement a semaphore library to MIT-pthreads.

   * Don't assign a new `AUTO_INCREMENT' value when one sets a column
     to 0.  Use `NULL' instead.

   * Add full support for `JOIN' with parentheses.

   * Reuse threads for system with a lot of connections.

Time is given according to amount of work, not real time. TcX's main
business is the use of *MySQL* not the development of it. But since TcX
is a very flexible company, we have put a lot of resources into the
development of *MySQL*.

Some things we don't have any plans to do
=========================================

   * Nothing;  In the long run we plan to be fully ANSI 92 / ANSI 99
     compliant.

Comments on porting to other systems
************************************

A working Posix thread library is needed for the server. On Solaris 2.5
we use SUN PThreads (the native thread support in 2.4 and earlier
versions are not good enough) and on Linux we use LinuxThreads by Xavier
Leroy, <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr>.

The hard part of porting to a new Unix variant without good native
thread support is probably to port MIT-pthreads. See
`mit-pthreads/README' and Programming POSIX Threads (http://www.humanfactor.com/pthreads/).

The *MySQL* distribution includes a patched version of Provenzano's
Pthreads from MIT (see
MIT Pthreads web page (http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/proven/pthreads.html)). This can be used for some operating systems that do not have
POSIX threads.

It is also possible to use another user level thread package named FSU
Pthreads (see
FSU Pthreads home page (http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~mueller/pthreads.html)). This implementation is being used for the SCO port.

See the `thr_lock.c' and `thr_alarm.c' programs in the `mysys'
directory for some tests/examples of these problems.

Both the server and the client need a working C++ compiler (we use `gcc'
and have tried SparcWorks). Another compiler that is known to work is
the Irix `cc'.

To compile only the client use `./configure --without-server'.

There is currently no support for only compiling the server. Nor is it
likly to be added unless someone has a good reason for it.

If you want/need to change any `Makefile' or the configure script you
must get Automake and Autoconf. We have used the `automake-1.2' and
`autoconf-2.12' distributions.

All steps needed to remake everything from the most basic files.

     /bin/rm */.deps/*.P
     /bin/rm -f config.cache
     aclocal
     autoheader
     aclocal
     automake
     autoconf
     ./configure --with-debug --prefix='your installation directory'
     
     # The makefiles generated above need GNU make 3.75 or newer.
     # (called gmake below)
     gmake clean all install init-db

If you run into problems with a new port, you may have to do some
debugging of *MySQL*!  *Note Debugging server::.

*Note:* Before you start debugging `mysqld', first get the test
programs `mysys/thr_alarm' and `mysys/thr_lock' to work.  This will
ensure that your thread installation has even a remote chance to work!

Debugging a MySQL server
========================

If you are using some functionality that is very new in *MySQL*, you
can try to run mysqld with the `--skip-new' (which will disable all
new, potentially unsafe functionality) or with `--safe-mode' which
disables a lot of optimization that may cause problems.  *Note
Crashing::.

If `mysqld' doesn't want to start, you should check that you don't have
any `my.cnf' file that interferes with your setup!  You can check your
`my.cnf' arguments with `mysqld --print-defaults' and avoid using them
by starting with `mysqld --no-defaults ...'.

If you have some very specific problem, you can always try to debug
*MySQL*.  To do this you must configure *MySQL* with the option
`--with-debug'.  You can check whether or not *MySQL* was compiled with
debugging by doing: `mysqld --help'.  If the `--debug' flag is listed
with the options then you have debugging enabled.  `mysqladmin ver'
also lists the `mysqld' version as `mysql ... -debug' in this case.

If you are using gcc or egcs, the recommended configure line is:

     CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O6" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O6 -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-debug

This will avoid problems with the libstdc++ library and with C++
exceptions (many compilers has problems with C++ exceptions in threaded
code).

If `mysqld' stops crashing when you compile it with `--with-debug', you
have probably found a compiler bug or a timing bug within *MySQL*.  In
this case you can try to add `-g' to the `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS'
variables above and not use  `--with-debug'. If `mysqld' now dies, you
can at least attach to it with gdb or use gdb on the core file to find
out what happened.

If you can cause the `mysqld' server to crash quickly, you can try to
create a trace file of this:

Start the `mysqld' server with a trace log in `/tmp/mysql.trace'.  The
log file will get very *BIG*.

`mysqld --debug --log'

or you can start it with

`mysqld --debug=d,info,error,query,general,where:O,/tmp/mysql.trace'

which only prints information with the most interesting tags.

When you configure *MySQL* for debugging you automatically enable a lot
of extra safety check functions that monitor the health of `mysqld'.
If they find something "unexpected," an entry will be written to
`stderr', which `safe_mysqld' directs to the error log!  This also
means that if you are having some unexpected problems with *MySQL* and
are using a source distribution, the first thing you should do is to
configure *MySQL* for debugging!  (The second thing, of course, is to
send mail to <mysql@lists.mysql.com> and ask for help.  Please use the
`mysqlbug' script for all bug reports or questions regarding the
*MySQL* version you are using!

On most system you can also start `mysqld' from `gdb' to get more
information if `mysqld' crashes.

With some `gdb' versions on Linux you must use `run --one-thread' if
you want to be able to debug `mysqld' threads.  In this case you can
only have one thread active at a time.

If you are using gdb 4.17.x on Linux, you should install a `.gdb' file,
with the following information, in your current directory:

     set print sevenbit off
     handle SIGUSR1 nostop noprint
     handle SIGUSR2 nostop noprint
     handle SIGWAITING nostop noprint
     handle SIGLWP nostop noprint
     handle SIGPIPE nostop
     handle SIGALRM nostop
     handle SIGHUP nostop
     handle SIGTERM nostop noprint

Here follows an example how to debug mysqld:

     shell> gdb /usr/local/libexec/mysqld
     gdb> run
     ...
     back   # Do this when mysqld crashes
     info locals
     up
     info locals
     up
     ...
     (until you get some information about local variables)
     
     quit

Include the above output in a mail generated with `mysqlbug' and mail
this to `mysql@lists.mysql.com'.

If `mysqld' hangs you can try to use some system tools like `strace' or
`/usr/proc/bin/pstack' to examine where `mysqld' has hanged.

If `mysqld' starts to eat up CPU or memory or if it "hangs", you can
use `mysqladmin processlist status' to find out if someone is executing
some query that takes a long time.  It may be a good idea to run
`mysqladmin -i10 processlist status' in some window if you are
experiencing performance problems or problems when new clients can't
connect.

If `mysqld' dies or hangs, you should start `mysqld' with `--log'.
When `mysqld' dies again, you can check in the log file for the query
that killed `mysqld'.  Note that before starting `mysqld' with `--log'
you should check all your tables with `myisamchk'.  *Note Maintenance::.

If you are using a log file, `mysqld --log', you should check the
'hostname' log files, that you can find in the database directory, for
any queries that could cause a problem. Try the command `EXPLAIN' on
all `SELECT' statements that takes a long time to ensure that mysqld
are using indexes properly. *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN. You should also
test complicated queries that didn't complete within the `mysql'
command line tool.

If you find the text `mysqld restarted' in the error log file (normally
named `hostname.err') you have probably found a query that causes
`mysqld' to fail.  If this happens you should check all your tables with
`myisamchk' (*note Maintenance::.), and test the queries in the *MySQL*
log files if someone doesn't work.  If you find such a query, try first
upgrading to the newest *MySQL* version.  If this doesn't help and you
can't find anything in the `mysql' mail archive, you should report the
bug to <mysql@lists.mysql.com>.  Links to mail archives are available
at the online *MySQL* documentation page
(http://www.mysql.com/doc.html).

If you get corrupted tables or if `mysqld' always fails after some
update commands, you can test if this bug is reproducible by doing the
following:

   * Stop the mysqld daemon (with `mysqladmin shutdown')

   * Check all tables with `myisamchk -s database/*.MYI'.  Repair any
     wrong tables with `myisamchk -r database/table.MYI'.

   * Start `mysqld' with `--log-update'

   * When you have got a crashed table, stop the `mysqld server'.

   * Restore the backup.

   * Restart the `mysqld' server *without* `--log-update'

   * Re-execute the commands with `mysql < update-log'.  The update log
     is saved in the *MySQL* database directory with the name
     `your-hostname.#'.

   * If the tables are now again corrupted, you have found reproducible
     bug in the `ISAM' code!  FTP the tables and the update log to
     `ftp://www.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret' and we will fix this as
     soon as possible!

The command `mysqladmin debug' will dump some information about locks
in use, used memory and query usage to the mysql log file. This may
help solve some problems.  This command also provides some useful
information even if you haven't compiled *MySQL* for debugging!

If the problem is that some tables are getting slower and slower you
should try to optimize the table with `OPTIMIZE TABLE' or `myisamchk'.
*Note Maintenance::. You should also check the slow queries with
`EXPLAIN'.

You should also read the OS-specific section in this manual for
problems that may be unique to your environment.  *Note Source install
system issues::.

If you are using the Perl `DBI' interface, you can turn on debugging
information by using the `trace' method or by setting the `DBI_TRACE'
environment variable.  *Note Perl `DBI' Class: Perl DBI Class.

Debugging a MySQL client
========================

To be able to debug a *MySQL* client with the integrated debug package,
you should configure *MySQL* with `--with-debug'.  *Note configure
options::.

Before running a client, you should set the `MYSQL_DEBUG' environment
variable:

     shell> MYSQL_DEBUG=d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace
     shell> export MYSQL_DEBUG

This causes clients to generate a trace file in `/tmp/client.trace'.

If you have problems with your own client code, you should attempt to
connect to the server and run your query using a client that is known to
work.  Do this by running `mysql' in debugging mode (assuming you have
compiled *MySQL* with debugging on):

     shell> mysql --debug=d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace

This will provide useful information in case you mail a bug report.
*Note Bug reports::.

If your client crashes at some 'legal' looking code, you should check
that your `mysql.h' include file matches your mysql library file.  A
very common mistake is to use an old `mysql.h' file from an old *MySQL*
installation with new *MySQL* library.

Comments about RTS threads
==========================

I have tried to use the RTS thread packages with *MySQL* but stumbled
on the following problems:

They use old version of a lot of POSIX calls and it is very tedious to
make wrappers for all functions. I am inclined to think that it would
be easier to change the thread libraries to the newest POSIX
specification.

Some wrappers are already written. See `mysys/my_pthread.c' for more
info.

At least the following should be changed:

`pthread_get_specific' should use one argument.  `sigwait' should take
two arguments.  A lot of functions (at least `pthread_cond_wait',
`pthread_cond_timedwait') should return the error code on error. Now
they return -1 and set `errno'.

Another problem is that user-level threads use the `ALRM' signal and
this aborts a lot of functions (`read', `write', `open'...).  *MySQL*
should do a retry on interrupt on all of these but it is not that easy
to verify it.

The biggest unsolved problem is the following:

To get thread-level alarms I changed `mysys/thr_alarm.c' to wait between
alarms with `pthread_cond_timedwait()', but this aborts with error
`EINTR'.  I tried to debug the thread library as to why this happens,
but couldn't find any easy solution.

If someone wants to try *MySQL* with RTS threads I suggest the
following:

   * Change functions *MySQL* uses from the thread library to POSIX.
     This shouldn't take that long.

   * Compile all libraries with the `-DHAVE_rts_threads'.

   * Compile `thr_alarm'.

   * If there are some small differences in the implementation, they
     may be fixed by changing `my_pthread.h' and `my_pthread.c'.

   * Run `thr_alarm'. If it runs without any "warning", "error" or
     aborted messages, you are on the right track. Here follows a
     successful run on Solaris:
          Main thread: 1
          Tread 0 (5) started
          Thread: 5  Waiting
          process_alarm
          Tread 1 (6) started
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 1 (1) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 2 (2) sec
          Thread: 6  Simulation of no alarm needed
          Thread: 6  Slept for 0 (3) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 4 (4) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 5  Slept for 10 (10) sec
          Thread: 5  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 5 (5) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          
          ...
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 5  Slept for 0 (1) sec
          end

Differences between different thread packages
=============================================

*MySQL* is very dependent on the thread package used. So when choosing
a good platform for *MySQL*, the thread package is very important.

There are at least three types of thread packages:

   * User threads in a single process. Thread switching is managed with
     alarms and the threads library manages all non-thread-safe
     functions with locks. Read, write and select operations are
     usually managed with a thread-specific select that switches to
     another thread if the running threads have to wait for data.  If
     the user thread packages are integrated in the standard libs
     (FreeBSD and BSDI threads) the thread package requires less
     overhead than thread packages that have to map all unsafe calls
     (MIT-pthreads, FSU Pthreads and RTS threads).  In some
     environments (for example, SCO), all system calls are thread-safe
     so the mapping can be done very easily (FSU Pthreads on SCO).
     Downside: All mapped calls take a little time and it's quite
     tricky to be able to handle all situations. There are usually also
     some system calls that are not handled by the thread package (like
     MIT-pthreads and sockets). Thread scheduling isn't always optimal.

   * User threads in separate processes. Thread switching is done by the
     kernel and all data are shared between threads.  The thread package
     manages the standard thread calls to allow sharing data between
     threads.  LinuxThreads is using this method.  Downside: Lots of
     processes. Thread creating is slow. If one thread dies the rest
     are usually left hanging and you must kill them all before
     restarting. Thread switching is somewhat expensive.

   * Kernel threads. Thread switching is handled by the thread library
     or the kernel and is very fast. Everything is done in one process,
     but on some systems, `ps' may show the different threads. If one
     thread aborts the whole process aborts. Most system calls are
     thread-safe and should require very little overhead.  Solaris,
     HP-UX, AIX and OSF1 have kernel threads.

In some systems kernel threads are managed by integrating user level
threads in the system libraries. In such cases, the thread switching
can only be done by the thread library and the kernel isn't really
"thread aware".

Description of MySQL regular expression syntax
**********************************************

A regular expression (regex) is a powerful way of specifying a complex
search.

*MySQL* uses regular Henry Spencer's inplementation of regular
expressions. And that is aimed to conform to POSIX 1003.2. *MySQL* uses
the extended version.

This is a simplistic reference that skips the details. To get more exact
information, see Henry Spencer's `regex(7)' manual page that is
included in the source distribution. *Note Credits::.

A regular expression describes a set of strings. The simplest regexp is
one that has no special characters in it. For example, the regexp
`hello' matches `hello' and nothing else.

Nontrivial regular expressions use certain special constructs so that
they can match more than one string. For example, the regexp
`hello|word' matches either the string `hello' or the string `word'.

As a more complex example, the regexp `B[an]*s' matches any of the
strings `Bananas', `Baaaaas', `Bs' and any other string starting with a
`B', ending with an `s', and containing any number of `a' or `n'
characters in between.

A regular expression may use any of the following special
characters/constructs:
`^'
     Match the beginning of a string.
          mysql> select "fo\nfo" REGEXP "^fo$";           -> 0
          mysql> select "fofo" REGEXP "^fo";              -> 1

`$'
     Match the end of a string.
          mysql> select "fo\no" REGEXP "^fo\no$";         -> 1
          mysql> select "fo\no" REGEXP "^fo$";            -> 0

`.'
     Match any character (including newline).
          mysql> select "fofo" REGEXP "^f.*";             -> 1
          mysql> select "fo\nfo" REGEXP "^f.*";           -> 1

`a*'
     Match any sequence of zero or more `a' characters.
          mysql> select "Ban" REGEXP "^Ba*n";             -> 1
          mysql> select "Baaan" REGEXP "^Ba*n";           -> 1
          mysql> select "Bn" REGEXP "^Ba*n";              -> 1

`a+'
     Match any sequence of one or more `a' characters.
          mysql> select "Ban" REGEXP "^Ba+n";             -> 1
          mysql> select "Bn" REGEXP "^Ba+n";              -> 0

`a?'
     Match either zero or one `a' character.
          mysql> select "Bn" REGEXP "^Ba?n";              -> 1
          mysql> select "Ban" REGEXP "^Ba?n";             -> 1
          mysql> select "Baan" REGEXP "^Ba?n";            -> 0

`de|abc'
     Match either of the sequences `de' or `abc'.
          mysql> select "pi" REGEXP "pi|apa";             -> 1
          mysql> select "axe" REGEXP "pi|apa";            -> 0
          mysql> select "apa" REGEXP "pi|apa";            -> 1
          mysql> select "apa" REGEXP "^(pi|apa)$";        -> 1
          mysql> select "pi" REGEXP "^(pi|apa)$";         -> 1
          mysql> select "pix" REGEXP "^(pi|apa)$";        -> 0

`(abc)*'
     Match zero or more instances of the sequence `abc'.
          mysql> select "pi" REGEXP "^(pi)*$";            -> 1
          mysql> select "pip" REGEXP "^(pi)*$";           -> 0
          mysql> select "pipi" REGEXP "^(pi)*$";          -> 1

`{1}'
`{2,3}'
     The is a more general way of writing regexps that match many
     occurrences of the previous atom.
    `a*'
          Can be written as `a{0,}'.

    `a+'
          Can be written as `a{1,}'.

    `a?'
          Can be written as `a{0,1}'.  To be more precise, an atom
     followed by a bound containing one integer `i' and no comma
     matches a sequence of exactly `i' matches of the atom. An atom
     followed by a bound containing one integer `i' and a comma matches
     a sequence of `i' or more matches of the atom.  An atom followed
     by a bound containing two integers `i' and `j' matches a sequence
     of `i' through `j' (inclusive) matches of the atom.

     Both arguments must `0 >= value <= RE_DUP_MAX (default 255)'.  If
     there are two arguments, the second must be greater than or equal
     to the first.

`[a-dX]'
`[^a-dX]'
     Matches any character which is (or is not, if ^ is used) either
     `a', `b', `c', `d' or `X'. To include a literal `]' character, it
     must immediately follow the opening bracket `['.  To include a
     literal `-' character, it must be written first or last. So
     `[0-9]' matches any decimal digit. Any character that does not have
     a defined meaning inside a `[]' pair has no special meaning and
     matches only itself.
          mysql> select "aXbc" REGEXP "[a-dXYZ]";         -> 1
          mysql> select "aXbc" REGEXP "^[a-dXYZ]$";       -> 0
          mysql> select "aXbc" REGEXP "^[a-dXYZ]+$";      -> 1
          mysql> select "aXbc" REGEXP "^[^a-dXYZ]+$";     -> 0
          mysql> select "gheis" REGEXP "^[^a-dXYZ]+$";    -> 1
          mysql> select "gheisa" REGEXP "^[^a-dXYZ]+$";   -> 0

`[[.characters.]]'
     The sequence of characters of that collating element. The sequence
     is a single element of the bracket expression's list. A bracket
     expression containing a multi-character collating element can thus
     match more than one character, e.g., if the collating sequence
     includes a `ch' collating element, then the regular expression
     `[[.ch.]]*c' matches the first five characters of `chchcc'.

`[=character_class=]'
     An equivalence class, standing for the sequences of characters of
     all collating elements equivalent to that one, including itself.

     For example, if `o' and `(+)' are the members of an equivalence
     class, then `[[=o=]]', `[[=(+)=]]', and `[o(+)]' are all
     synonymous. An equivalence class may not be an endpoint of a range.

`[:character_class:]'
     Within a bracket expression, the name of a character class
     enclosed in `[:' and `:]' stands for the list of all characters
     belonging to that class. Standard character class names are:

     alnum                  digit                  punct                  
     alpha                  graph                  space                  
     blank                  lower                  upper                  
     cntrl                  print                  xdigit                 

     These stand for the character classes defined in the `ctype(3)'
     manual page. A locale may provide others. A character class may
     not be used as an endpoint of a range.
          mysql> select "justalnums" REGEXP "[[:alnum:]]+";       -> 1
          mysql> select "!!" REGEXP "[[:alnum:]]+";               -> 0

`[[:<:]]'
`[[:>:]]'
     These match the null string at the beginning and end of a word
     respectively.  A word is defined as a sequence of word characters
     which is neither preceded nor followed by word characters. A word
     character is an alnum character (as defined by `ctype(3)') or an
     underscore (`_').
          mysql> select "a word a" REGEXP "[[:<:]]word[[:>:]]";      -> 1
          mysql> select "a xword a" REGEXP "[[:<:]]word[[:>:]]";     -> 0

     mysql> select "weeknights" REGEXP "^(wee|week)(knights|nights)$"; -> 1

What is Unireg?
***************

Unireg is our tty interface builder, but it uses a low level connection
to our ISAM (which is used by *MySQL*) and because of this it is very
quick. It has existed since 1979 (on Unix in C since ~1986).

Unireg has the following components:

   * One table viewer with updates/browsing.

   * Multi table viewer (with one scrolling region).

   * Table creator. (With lots of column tags you can't create with
     *MySQL*) This is WYSIWYG (for a tty). You design a screen and
     Unireg prompts for the column specification.

   * Report generator.

   * A lot of utilities (quick export/import of tables to/from text
     files, analysis of table contents...).

   * Powerful multi-table updates (which we use a lot) with a BASIC-like
     language with LOTS of functions.

   * Dynamic languages (at present in Swedish and Finnish). If somebody
     wants an English version there are a few files that would have to
     be translated.

   * The ability to run updates interactively or in a batch.

   * Emacs-like key definitions with keyboard macros.

   * All this in a binary of 800K.

   * The `convform' utility. Converts `.frm' and text files between
     different character sets.

   * The `myisampack' utility. Packs a ISAM table (makes it 50-80%
     smaller). The table can be read by *MySQL* like an ordinary table.
     Only one record has to be decompressed  per access. Cannot handle
     `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns or updates (yet).

We update most of our production databases with the Unireg interface and
serve web pages through *MySQL* (and in some extreme cases the Unireg
report generator).

Unireg takes about 3M of disk space and works on at least the following
platforms: SunOS 4.x, Solaris, Linux, HP-UX, ICL Unix, DNIX, SCO and
MS-DOS.

Unireg is currently only available in Swedish and Finnish.

The price tag for Unireg is 10,000 Swedish kr (about $1500 US), but this
includes support. Unireg is distributed as a binary. (But all the ISAM
sources can be found in *MySQL*). Usually we compile the binary for the
customer at their site.

All new development is concentrated to *MySQL*.

The MySQL server license for non Microsoft operating systems
************************************************************

                      *MySQL FREE PUBLIC LICENSE*

                      (Version 4, March 5, 1995)

    Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 TcX AB & Monty Program KB & Detron HB

       Stockholm SWEDEN, Helsingfors FINLAND and Uppsala SWEDEN

                         All rights reserved.

NOTE: This license is not the same as any of the GNU Licenses published
by the Free Software Foundation. Its terms are substantially different
from those of the GNU Licenses. If you are familiar with the GNU
Licenses, please read this license with extra care.

This License applies to the computer program known as "MySQL".  The
"Program", below, refers to such program, and a "work based on the
Program" means either the Program or any derivative work of the Program,
as defined in the United States Copyright Act of 1976, such as a
translation or a modification. The Program is a copyrighted work whose
copyright is held by TcX Datakonsult AB and Monty Program KB and Detron
HB.

This License does not apply when running "MySQL" on any Microsoft
operating system. Microsoft operating systems include all versions of
Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows.

BY MODIFYING OR DISTRIBUTING THE PROGRAM (OR ANY WORK BASED ON THE
PROGRAM), YOU INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE TO DO SO, AND ALL
ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTING OR MODIFYING THE
PROGRAM OR WORKS BASED ON IT. NOTHING OTHER THAN THIS LICENSE GRANTS
YOU PERMISSION TO MODIFY OR DISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM OR ITS DERIVATIVE
WORKS. THESE ACTIONS ARE PROHIBITED BY LAW. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT MODIFY OR DISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM.

  1. Licenses.

     Licensor hereby grants you the following rights, provided that you
     comply with all of the restrictions set forth in this License and
     provided, further, that you distribute an unmodified copy of this
     License with the Program:

       a. You may copy and distribute literal (i.e., verbatim) copies
          of the Program's source code as you receive it throughout the
          world, in any medium.

       b. You may modify the Program, create works based on the Program
          and distribute copies of such throughout the world, in any
          medium.

  2. Restrictions.

     This license is subject to the following restrictions:
       a. Distribution of the Program or any work based on the Program
          by a commercial organization to any third party is prohibited
          if any payment is made in connection with such distribution,
          whether directly (as in payment for a copy of the Program) or
          indirectly (as in payment for some service related to the
          Program, or payment for some product or service that includes
          a copy of the Program "without charge"; these are only
          examples, and not an exhaustive enumeration of prohibited
          activities). However, the following methods of distribution
          involving payment shall not in and of themselves be a
          violation of this restriction:

            A. Posting the Program on a public access information
               storage and retrieval service for which a fee is
               received for retrieving information (such as an on-line
               service), provided that the fee is not content-dependent
               (i.e., the fee would be the same for retrieving the same
               volume of information consisting of random data).

            B. Distributing the Program on a CD-ROM, provided that the
               files containing the Program are reproduced entirely and
               verbatim on such CD-ROM, and provided further that all
               information on such CD-ROM be redistributable for
               non-commercial purposes without charge.

       b. Activities other than copying, distribution and modification
          of the Program are not subject to this License and they are
          outside its scope.  Functional use (running) of the Program
          is not restricted, and any output produced through the use of
          the Program is subject to this license only if its contents
          constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having
          been made by running the Program).

       c. You must meet all of the following conditions with respect to
          the distribution of any work based on the Program:
            A. If you have modified the Program, you must cause your
               work to carry prominent notices stating that you have
               modified the Program's files and the date of any change;

            B. You must cause any work that you distribute or publish,
               that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the
               Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole
               and at no charge to all third parties under the terms of
               this License;

            C. If the modified program normally reads commands
               interactively when run, you must cause it, at each time
               the modified program commences operation, to print or
               display an announcement including an appropriate
               copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty
               (or else, saying that you provide a warranty). Such
               notice must also state that users may redistribute the
               Program only under the conditions of this License and
               tell the user how to view the copy of this License
               included with the Program. (Exception: if the Program
               itself is interactive but does not normally print such
               an announcement, your work based on the Program is not
               required to print an announcement.);

            D. You must accompany any such work based on the Program
               with the complete corresponding machine-readable source
               code, delivered on a medium customarily used for
               software interchange. The source code for a work means
               the preferred form of the work for making modifications
               to it.  For an executable work, complete source code
               means all the source code for all modules it contains,
               plus any associated interface definition files, plus the
               scripts used to control compilation and installation of
               the executable code. However, the source code
               distributed need not include anything that is normally
               distributed (in either source or binary form) with the
               major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
               operating system on which the executable runs, unless
               that component itself accompanies the executable code;

            E. If you distribute any written or printed material at all
               with the Program or any work based on the Program, such
               material must include either a written copy of this
               License, or a prominent written indication that the
               Program or the work based on the Program is covered by
               this License and written instructions for printing
               and/or displaying the copy of the License on the
               distribution medium;

            F. You may not impose any further restrictions on the
               recipient's exercise of the rights granted herein.

               If distribution of executable or object code is made by
               offering the equivalent ability to copy from a
               designated place, then offering equivalent ability to
               copy the source code from the same place counts as
               distribution of the source code, even though third
               parties are not compelled to copy the source code along
               with the object code.

  3. Reservation of Rights.

     No rights are granted to the Program except as expressly set forth
     herein. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the
     Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any
     attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the
     Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights
     under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or
     rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses
     terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

  4. Other Restrictions.

     If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
     certain countries for any reason, Licensor may add an explicit
     geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so
     that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus
     excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation
     as if written in the body of this License.

  5. Limitations.

     THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY. THERE IS
     NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,
     INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
     MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
     NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
     QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
     PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY
     SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

     IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
     WRITING WILL LICENSOR, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
     REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
     DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
     CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
     THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA
     BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD
     PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
     PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
     THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

The MySQL license for Microsoft operating systems
*************************************************

       *MySQL shareware license for Microsoft operating systems*

                    (Version 1, September 4, 1998)

       Copyright (C) 1998 TcX AB & Monty Program KB & Detron HB

       Stockholm SWEDEN, Helsingfors FINLAND and Uppsala SWEDEN

                         All rights reserved.

This License applies to the computer program known as "MySQL".

This License applies when running MySQL on any Microsoft operating
system.  Microsoft operating systems include all versions of Microsoft
Windows NT and Microsoft Windows.

YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE
USING, COPYING OR DISTRIBUTING MySQL. BY USING, COPYING AND DISTRIBUTING
MySQL, YOU INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE TO DO SO, AND ALL
ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USING, COPYING AND DISTRIBUTING MySQL OR
WORKS BASED ON IT.  NOTHING OTHER THAN THIS LICENSE GRANTS YOU
PERMISSION TO USE, COPY OR DISTRIBUTE MySQL OR ITS DERIVATIVE WORKS.
THESE ACTIONS ARE PROHIBITED BY LAW. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS
AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT USE, COPY OR DISTRIBUTE MySQL.

  1. Evaluation and License Registration.

     This is an evaluation version of MySQL for Win32. Subject to the
     terms below, you are hereby licensed to use MySQL for evaluation
     purposes without charge for a period of 30 days. If you use MySQL
     after the 30 day evaluation period the registration and purchase
     of a MySQL license is required.

     The price for a MySQL license is currently 200 US dollars and email
     support starts from 200 US dollars/year. Quantity discounts are
     available. If you pay by credit card, the currency is EURO (The
     European Unions common currency) so the prices will differ
     slightly.

     The easiest way to register or find options about how to pay for
     MySQL is to use the license form at TcX's secure server at
     `https://www.mysql.com/license.htmy'. This can be used also when
     paying with credit card over the Internet.

     Other applicable methods for paying are SWIFT payments, cheques and
     credit cards.

     Payment should be made to:

          Postgirot Bank AB
          105 06 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
          
          TCX DataKonsult AB
          BOX 6434
          11382 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
          
          SWIFT address: PGSI SESS
          Account number: 96 77 06 - 3

     Specify: license and/or support and your name and email address.

     In Europe and Japan, EuroGiro (that should be cheaper) can be used
     to the same account.

     If you want to pay by cheque make it payable to "Monty Program KB"
     and mail it to the address below.

          TCX DataKonsult AB
          BOX 6434
          11382 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
     For more information about commercial licensing, please contact:

          David Axmark
          Kungsgatan 65 B
          753 21 UPPSALA
          SWEDEN
          Voice Phone +46-18-10 22 80     GMT 9-21. Swedish and English spoken
          Fax +46-8-729 69 05             Email *much* preferred.
          E-Mail: mysql-licensing@mysql.com

     For more about the license prices and commercial support, like
     email support, please refer to the MySQL manual. *Note Cost::.
     *Note Support::.

     The use of MySQL or any work based on MySQL after the 30-day
     evaluation period is in violation of international copyright laws.

  2. Registered version of MySQL.

     After you have purchased a MySQL license we will send you a
     receipt by paper mail. You are allowed to use MySQL or any work
     based on MySQL after the 30-days evaluation period. The use of
     MySQL is, however, restricted to one physical computer, but there
     are no restrictions on concurrent uses of MySQL or the number of
     MySQL servers run on the computer.

     We will also email you an address and password for a
     password-protected WWW page that always has the newest MySQL-Win32
     version. Our current policy is that a user with the MySQL license
     can get free upgrades. The best way to ensure that you get the
     best possible support is to purchase commercial support!

  3. Registration for use in education and university or
     government-sponsored research.

     You may obtain a MySQL license for the use in education and
     university or government-sponsored research for free. In that
     case, send a detailed application for licensing MySQL for such use
     to the email address <mysql-licensing@mysql.com>.

     The following information is required in the application:
        * The name of the school or institute.

        * A short description of the school or institute and of the
          type of education, resarch or other functions it provides.

        * A detailed report of the use of MySQL in the institution.

     In this case you will be provided with a license that entitles you
     to use MySQL in a specified manner.

  4. Distribution.

     Provided that you verify that you are distributing an evaluation or
     educational/research version of MySQL you are hereby licensed to
     make as many literal (i.e., verbatim) copies of the evaluation
     version of MySQL and documentation as you wish.

  5. Restrictions.

     The client code of MySQL is in the Public Domain or under the GPL
     (for example the code for readline) license.  You are not allowed
     to modify, recompile, translate or create derivative works based
     upon any part of the server code of MySQL.

  6. Reservation of Rights.

     No rights are granted to MySQL except as expressly set forth
     herein.  You may not copy or distribute MySQL except as expressly
     provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy or
     distribute MySQL is void, and will automatically terminate your
     rights under this License.  However, parties who have received
     copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their
     licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full
     compliance.

  7. Other Restrictions.

     If the distribution and/or use of MySQL is restricted in certain
     countries for any reason, the Licensor may add an explicit
     geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so
     that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus
     excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation
     as if written in the body of this License.

  8. Limitations.

     MySQL IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY. THERE IS NO
     WARRANTY FOR MySQL, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT
     NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
     FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD
     PARTY RIGHTS. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF
     MySQL IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD MySQL PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE
     COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

     IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
     WRITING WILL THE LICENSOR, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY
     AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE MySQL AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
     DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
     CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
     MySQL (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING
     RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR
     A FAILURE OF MySQL TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF
     SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
     SUCH DAMAGES.

SQL command, type and function index
************************************

* Menu:

* ! (logical NOT):                       Logical functions.
* != (not equal):                        Comparison functions.
* ":                                     Legal names.
* % (modulo):                            Mathematical functions.
* % (wildcard character):                String syntax.
* & (bitwise AND):                       Bit functions.
* && (logical AND):                      Logical functions.
* () (parentheses):                      Grouping functions.
* * (multiplication):                    Arithmetic functions.
* + (addition):                          Arithmetic functions.
* - (subtraction):                       Arithmetic functions.
* - (unary minus):                       Mathematical functions.
* .my.cnf file <1>:                      Access denied.
* .my.cnf file <2>:                      Multiple servers.
* .my.cnf file <3>:                      Connecting.
* .my.cnf file <4>:                      Password security.
* .my.cnf file <5>:                      Win32 vs. Unix.
* .my.cnf file:                          Option files.
* .mysql_history file:                   Programs.
* .pid (process ID) file:                Maintenance regimen.
* / (division):                          Arithmetic functions.
* /etc/passwd <1>:                       SELECT.
* /etc/passwd:                           Security.
* < (less than):                         Comparison functions.
* << (left shift):                       Bit functions.
* <= (less than or equal):               Comparison functions.
* <=> (Equal to):                        Comparison functions.
* <> (not equal):                        Comparison functions.
* = (equal):                             Comparison functions.
* > (greater than):                      Comparison functions.
* >= (greater than or equal):            Comparison functions.
* >> (right shift):                      Bit functions.
* \" (double quote):                     String syntax.
* \' (single quote):                     String syntax.
* \0 (ASCII 0):                          String syntax.
* \\ (escape):                           String syntax.
* \b (backspace):                        String syntax.
* \n (newline):                          String syntax.
* \r (carriage return):                  String syntax.
* \t (tab):                              String syntax.
* _ (wildcard character):                String syntax.
* `:                                     Legal names.
* ABS():                                 Mathematical functions.
* ACOS():                                Mathematical functions.
* ADDDATE():                             Date and time functions.
* addition (+):                          Arithmetic functions.
* alias:                                 Problems with NULL.
* ALTER TABLE:                           Silent column changes.
* AND, bitwise:                          Bit functions.
* AND, logical:                          Logical functions.
* Arithmetic functions:                  Arithmetic functions.
* ASCII():                               String functions.
* ASIN():                                Mathematical functions.
* ATAN():                                Mathematical functions.
* ATAN2():                               Mathematical functions.
* AUTO_INCREMENT, using with DBI:        Perl DBI Class.
* AVG():                                 Group by functions.
* backspace (\b):                        String syntax.
* BENCHMARK():                           Miscellaneous functions.
* BETWEEN ... AND:                       Comparison functions.
* BIGINT:                                Column types.
* BIN():                                 String functions.
* BINARY:                                Casts.
* Bit functions:                         Arithmetic functions.
* BIT_AND():                             Group by functions.
* BIT_COUNT():                           Bit functions.
* BIT_OR():                              Group by functions.
* BLOB <1>:                              Column types.
* BLOB:                                  CHAR.
* carriage return (\r):                  String syntax.
* CASE:                                  Control flow functions.
* Casts:                                 String comparison functions.
* CC environment variable <1>:           configure options.
* CC environment variable:               Compilation problems.
* CEILING():                             Mathematical functions.
* CFLAGS environment variable:           Compilation problems.
* CHAR <1>:                              Column types.
* CHAR:                                  String types.
* CHAR VARYING:                          Column types.
* CHAR():                                String functions.
* CHAR_LENGTH():                         String functions.
* CHARACTER:                             Column types.
* CHARACTER VARYING:                     Column types.
* CHARACTER_LENGTH():                    String functions.
* ChopBlanks DBI method:                 Perl DBI Class.
* COALESCE():                            Comparison functions.
* Comment syntax:                        DROP INDEX.
* Comparison operators:                  Logical functions.
* CONCAT():                              String functions.
* connect() DBI method:                  Perl DBI Class.
* Control flow functions:                Casts.
* CONV():                                String functions.
* COS():                                 Mathematical functions.
* COT():                                 Mathematical functions.
* COUNT():                               Group by functions.
* COUNT(DISTINCT):                       Group by functions.
* CREATE DATABASE:                       Group by functions.
* CREATE FUNCTION:                       Comments.
* CREATE INDEX:                          GRANT.
* CREATE TABLE:                          DROP DATABASE.
* CROSS JOIN:                            SELECT.
* CURDATE():                             Date and time functions.
* CURRENT_DATE:                          Date and time functions.
* CURRENT_TIME:                          Date and time functions.
* CURRENT_TIMESTAMP:                     Date and time functions.
* CURTIME():                             Date and time functions.
* CXX environment variable <1>:          Compilation problems.
* CXX environment variable:              configure options.
* CXXFLAGS environment variable <1>:     configure options.
* CXXFLAGS environment variable:         Compilation problems.
* data_sources() DBI method:             Perl DBI Class.
* DATABASE():                            Miscellaneous functions.
* DATE <1>:                              Y2K issues.
* DATE:                                  Column types.
* Date and time functions:               String functions.
* DATE_ADD():                            Date and time functions.
* DATE_FORMAT():                         Date and time functions.
* DATE_SUB():                            Date and time functions.
* DATETIME <1>:                          Y2K issues.
* DATETIME:                              Column types.
* DAYNAME():                             Date and time functions.
* DAYOFMONTH():                          Date and time functions.
* DAYOFWEEK():                           Date and time functions.
* DAYOFYEAR():                           Date and time functions.
* DBI->connect():                        Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->data_sources():                   Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->disconnect:                       Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->do():                             Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->execute:                          Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->fetchall_arrayref:                Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->fetchrow_array:                   Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->fetchrow_arrayref:                Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->fetchrow_hashref:                 Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->finish:                           Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->prepare():                        Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->quote:                            String syntax.
* DBI->quote():                          Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->rows:                             Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->trace <1>:                        Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->trace:                            Debugging server.
* DBI->{ChopBlanks}:                     Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{insertid}:                       Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{is_blob}:                        Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{is_key}:                         Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{is_not_null}:                    Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{is_num}:                         Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{is_pri_key}:                     Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{length}:                         Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{max_length}:                     Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{NAME}:                           Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{NULLABLE}:                       Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{NUM_OF_FIELDS}:                  Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{table}:                          Perl DBI Class.
* DBI->{type}:                           Perl DBI Class.
* DBI_TRACE environment variable <1>:    Debugging server.
* DBI_TRACE environment variable:        Perl DBI Class.
* DECIMAL:                               Column types.
* DECODE():                              Miscellaneous functions.
* DEGREES():                             Mathematical functions.
* DELAYED:                               INSERT.
* DELETE:                                DROP TABLE.
* DESC:                                  EXPLAIN.
* DESCRIBE:                              EXPLAIN.
* disconnect DBI method:                 Perl DBI Class.
* DISTINCT <1>:                          Selecting columns.
* DISTINCT:                              Group by functions.
* division (/):                          Arithmetic functions.
* do() DBI method:                       Perl DBI Class.
* DOUBLE:                                Column types.
* DOUBLE PRECISION:                      Column types.
* double quote (\"):                     String syntax.
* DROP DATABASE:                         CREATE DATABASE.
* DROP FUNCTION:                         Comments.
* DROP INDEX:                            CREATE INDEX.
* DROP TABLE:                            OPTIMIZE TABLE.
* DUMPFILE:                              SELECT.
* ELT():                                 String functions.
* ENCODE():                              Miscellaneous functions.
* ENCRYPT():                             Miscellaneous functions.
* ENUM <1>:                              BLOB.
* ENUM:                                  Column types.
* Environment variable, CC <1>:          configure options.
* Environment variable, CC:              Compilation problems.
* Environment variable, CFLAGS:          Compilation problems.
* Environment variable, CXX <1>:         configure options.
* Environment variable, CXX:             Compilation problems.
* Environment variable, CXXFLAGS <1>:    Compilation problems.
* Environment variable, CXXFLAGS:        configure options.
* Environment variable, DBI_TRACE <1>:   Perl DBI Class.
* Environment variable, DBI_TRACE:       Debugging server.
* Environment variable, HOME:            Programs.
* Environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH <1>: Perl support problems.
* Environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH <2>: Linux.
* Environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH:     Solaris.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_DEBUG <1>: Programs.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_DEBUG:     Debugging client.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_HISTFILE:  Programs.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_HOST:      Connecting.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_PWD <1>:   Connecting.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_PWD:       Programs.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT <1>: mysql_install_db.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT <2>: Programs.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT:  Multiple servers.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT <1>: mysql_install_db.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT <2>: Programs.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT <3>: mysql_install_db.
* Environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT: Multiple servers.
* Environment variable, PATH:            Installing binary.
* Environment variable, TMPDIR:          mysql_install_db.
* Environment variable, TZ <1>:          Using DATE.
* Environment variable, TZ <2>:          FreeBSD.
* Environment variable, TZ:              BSDI2.
* Environment variable, UMASK:           File permissions.
* Environment variable, USER:            Connecting.
* Environment variables, CXX:            Compilation problems.
* equal (=):                             Comparison functions.
* escape (\\):                           String syntax.
* execute DBI method:                    Perl DBI Class.
* EXP():                                 Mathematical functions.
* EXPLAIN:                               SHOW.
* EXPORT_SET():                          String functions.
* EXTRACT(type FROM date):               Date and time functions.
* fetchall_arrayref DBI method:          Perl DBI Class.
* fetchrow_array DBI method:             Perl DBI Class.
* fetchrow_arrayref DBI method:          Perl DBI Class.
* fetchrow_hashref DBI method:           Perl DBI Class.
* FIELD():                               String functions.
* FILE:                                  String functions.
* FIND_IN_SET():                         String functions.
* finish DBI method:                     Perl DBI Class.
* FLOAT:                                 Column types.
* FLOAT(M,D):                            Column types.
* FLOAT(precision):                      Column types.
* FLOAT(precision) [ZEROFILL]:           Column types.
* FLOOR():                               Mathematical functions.
* FLUSH:                                 USE.
* FORMAT():                              Miscellaneous functions.
* FROM_DAYS():                           Date and time functions.
* FROM_UNIXTIME():                       Date and time functions.
* Functions, arithmetic:                 Arithmetic functions.
* Functions, bit:                        Arithmetic functions.
* Functions, control flow:               Casts.
* Functions, date and time:              String functions.
* Functions, GROUP BY:                   Miscellaneous functions.
* Functions, logical:                    Bit functions.
* Functions, mathematical:               Control flow functions.
* Functions, miscellaneous:              Date and time functions.
* Functions, string:                     Mathematical functions.
* Functions, string comparison:          Comparison functions.
* Functions, user-defined:               Comments.
* GET_LOCK():                            Miscellaneous functions.
* GRANT:                                 SET OPTION.
* greater than (>):                      Comparison functions.
* greater than or equal (>=):            Comparison functions.
* GREATEST():                            Mathematical functions.
* GROUP BY functions:                    Miscellaneous functions.
* HEX():                                 String functions.
* Hexadecimal values:                    Number syntax.
* HOME environment variable:             Programs.
* host.frm, problems finding:            Post-installation.
* HOUR():                                Date and time functions.
* IF():                                  Control flow functions.
* IFNULL():                              Control flow functions.
* IN:                                    Comparison functions.
* INNER JOIN:                            SELECT.
* INSERT:                                JOIN.
* INSERT DELAYED:                        INSERT.
* INSERT():                              String functions.
* insertid DBI method:                   Perl DBI Class.
* INSTR():                               String functions.
* INT:                                   Column types.
* INTEGER:                               Column types.
* INTERVAL():                            Comparison functions.
* IS NOT NULL:                           Comparison functions.
* IS NULL:                               Comparison functions.
* IS NULL, and indexes:                  MySQL indexes.
* is_blob DBI method:                    Perl DBI Class.
* is_key DBI method:                     Perl DBI Class.
* is_not_null DBI method:                Perl DBI Class.
* is_num DBI method:                     Perl DBI Class.
* is_pri_key DBI method:                 Perl DBI Class.
* ISNULL():                              Comparison functions.
* JOIN:                                  SELECT.
* KILL:                                  FLUSH.
* LAST_INSERT_ID():                      Commit-rollback.
* LAST_INSERT_ID([expr]):                Miscellaneous functions.
* LCASE():                               String functions.
* LD_RUN_PATH environment variable <1>:  Perl support problems.
* LD_RUN_PATH environment variable <2>:  Solaris.
* LD_RUN_PATH environment variable:      Linux.
* LEAST():                               Mathematical functions.
* LEFT JOIN:                             SELECT.
* LEFT OUTER JOIN:                       SELECT.
* LEFT():                                String functions.
* length DBI method:                     Perl DBI Class.
* LENGTH():                              String functions.
* less than (<):                         Comparison functions.
* less than or equal (<=):               Comparison functions.
* LIKE:                                  String comparison functions.
* LIKE, and indexes:                     MySQL indexes.
* LIKE, and wildcards:                   MySQL indexes.
* LOAD DATA INFILE <1>:                  Problems with NULL.
* LOAD DATA INFILE:                      REPLACE.
* LOCATE():                              String functions.
* LOCK TABLES:                           DESCRIBE.
* LOG():                                 Mathematical functions.
* LOG10():                               Mathematical functions.
* Logical functions:                     Bit functions.
* LONGBLOB:                              Column types.
* LONGTEXT:                              Column types.
* LOWER():                               String functions.
* LPAD():                                String functions.
* LTRIM():                               String functions.
* MAKE_SET():                            String functions.
* Mathematical functions:                Control flow functions.
* MAX():                                 Group by functions.
* max_length DBI method:                 Perl DBI Class.
* MD5():                                 Miscellaneous functions.
* MEDIUMBLOB:                            Column types.
* MEDIUMINT:                             Column types.
* MEDIUMTEXT:                            Column types.
* MID():                                 String functions.
* MIN():                                 Group by functions.
* minus, unary (-):                      Mathematical functions.
* MINUTE():                              Date and time functions.
* Miscellaneous functions:               Date and time functions.
* MOD():                                 Mathematical functions.
* modulo (%):                            Mathematical functions.
* MONTH():                               Date and time functions.
* MONTHNAME():                           Date and time functions.
* multiplication (*):                    Arithmetic functions.
* my_ulonglong C type:                   C API datatypes.
* my_ulonglong values, printing:         C API datatypes.
* MYSQL C type:                          C API datatypes.
* mysql_affected_rows():                 C API functions.
* mysql_change_user():                   mysql_connect.
* mysql_close():                         mysql_affected_rows.
* mysql_connect():                       mysql_close.
* mysql_create_db():                     mysql_change_user.
* mysql_data_seek():                     mysql_create_db.
* MYSQL_DEBUG environment variable <1>:  Programs.
* MYSQL_DEBUG environment variable:      Debugging client.
* mysql_debug():                         mysql_data_seek.
* mysql_drop_db():                       mysql_debug.
* mysql_dump_debug_info():               mysql_drop_db.
* mysql_eof():                           mysql_dump_debug_info.
* mysql_errno():                         mysql_eof.
* mysql_error():                         mysql_errno.
* mysql_escape_string() <1>:             mysql_error.
* mysql_escape_string():                 String syntax.
* mysql_fetch_field():                   mysql_escape_string.
* mysql_fetch_field_direct():            mysql_fetch_fields.
* mysql_fetch_fields():                  mysql_fetch_field.
* mysql_fetch_lengths():                 mysql_fetch_field_direct.
* mysql_fetch_row():                     mysql_fetch_lengths.
* MYSQL_FIELD C type:                    C API datatypes.
* mysql_field_count() <1>:               mysql_list_tables.
* mysql_field_count():                   mysql_fetch_row.
* MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET C type:             C API datatypes.
* mysql_field_seek():                    mysql_field_count.
* mysql_field_tell():                    mysql_field_seek.
* mysql_free_result():                   mysql_field_tell.
* mysql_get_client_info():               mysql_free_result.
* mysql_get_host_info():                 mysql_get_client_info.
* mysql_get_proto_info():                mysql_get_host_info.
* mysql_get_server_info():               mysql_get_proto_info.
* MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable:   Programs.
* MYSQL_HOST environment variable:       Connecting.
* mysql_info() <1>:                      INSERT.
* mysql_info() <2>:                      LOAD DATA.
* mysql_info() <3>:                      mysql_get_server_info.
* mysql_info() <4>:                      UPDATE.
* mysql_info():                          ALTER TABLE.
* mysql_init():                          mysql_info.
* mysql_insert_id() <1>:                 Commit-rollback.
* mysql_insert_id():                     mysql_init.
* mysql_kill():                          mysql_insert_id.
* mysql_list_dbs():                      mysql_kill.
* mysql_list_fields():                   mysql_list_dbs.
* mysql_list_processes():                mysql_list_fields.
* mysql_list_tables():                   mysql_list_processes.
* mysql_num_fields():                    mysql_list_tables.
* mysql_num_rows():                      mysql_num_fields.
* mysql_options():                       mysql_num_rows.
* mysql_ping():                          mysql_options.
* MYSQL_PWD environment variable <1>:    Programs.
* MYSQL_PWD environment variable:        Connecting.
* mysql_query():                         mysql_ping.
* mysql_real_connect():                  mysql_query.
* mysql_real_query():                    mysql_real_connect.
* mysql_reload():                        mysql_real_query.
* MYSQL_RES C type:                      C API datatypes.
* MYSQL_ROW C type:                      C API datatypes.
* mysql_row_seek():                      mysql_reload.
* mysql_row_tell():                      mysql_row_seek.
* mysql_select_db():                     mysql_row_tell.
* mysql_shutdown():                      mysql_select_db.
* mysql_stat():                          mysql_shutdown.
* mysql_store_result():                  mysql_stat.
* MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable <1>: mysql_install_db.
* MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable <2>: Multiple servers.
* MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable:   Programs.
* mysql_thread_id():                     mysql_store_result.
* MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable <1>: mysql_install_db.
* MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable <2>: Programs.
* MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable:  Multiple servers.
* mysql_use_result():                    mysql_thread_id.
* NAME DBI method:                       Perl DBI Class.
* NATIONAL CHAR:                         Column types.
* NATURAL LEFT JOIN:                     SELECT.
* NATURAL LEFT OUTER JOIN:               SELECT.
* NCHAR:                                 Column types.
* newline (\n):                          String syntax.
* not equal (!=):                        Comparison functions.
* not equal (<>):                        Comparison functions.
* NOT IN:                                Comparison functions.
* NOT LIKE:                              String comparison functions.
* NOT REGEXP:                            String comparison functions.
* NOT, logical:                          Logical functions.
* NOW():                                 Date and time functions.
* NUL:                                   String syntax.
* NULL:                                  Case sensitivity.
* NULL value:                            Hexadecimal values.
* NULLABLE DBI method:                   Perl DBI Class.
* NUM_OF_FIELDS DBI method:              Perl DBI Class.
* NUMERIC:                               Column types.
* OCT():                                 String functions.
* OCTET_LENGTH():                        String functions.
* OPTIMIZE TABLE:                        ALTER TABLE.
* OR, bitwise:                           Bit functions.
* OR, logical:                           Logical functions.
* ORD():                                 String functions.
* parentheses ( and ):                   Grouping functions.
* PASSWORD() <1>:                        Passwords.
* PASSWORD() <2>:                        Ignoring user.
* PASSWORD() <3>:                        Miscellaneous functions.
* PASSWORD():                            Connection access.
* PATH environment variable:             Installing binary.
* PERIOD_ADD():                          Date and time functions.
* PERIOD_DIFF():                         Date and time functions.
* PI():                                  Mathematical functions.
* POSITION():                            String functions.
* POW():                                 Mathematical functions.
* POWER():                               Mathematical functions.
* prepare() DBI method:                  Perl DBI Class.
* PROCESSLIST:                           SHOW.
* QUARTER():                             Date and time functions.
* quote() DBI method:                    Perl DBI Class.
* Quoting of identifiers:                Legal names.
* RADIANS():                             Mathematical functions.
* RAND():                                Mathematical functions.
* REAL:                                  Column types.
* REGEXP:                                String comparison functions.
* RELEASE_LOCK():                        Miscellaneous functions.
* REPEAT():                              String functions.
* REPLACE:                               INSERT.
* REPLACE():                             String functions.
* return (\r):                           String syntax.
* REVERSE():                             String functions.
* REVOKE:                                SET OPTION.
* RIGHT():                               String functions.
* RLIKE:                                 String comparison functions.
* ROUND():                               Mathematical functions.
* rows DBI method:                       Perl DBI Class.
* RPAD():                                String functions.
* RTRIM():                               String functions.
* SEC_TO_TIME():                         Date and time functions.
* SECOND():                              Date and time functions.
* SELECT:                                DELETE.
* SELECT, optimizing:                    SHOW.
* SESSION_USER():                        Miscellaneous functions.
* SET <1>:                               Column types.
* SET:                                   ENUM.
* SET OPTION:                            LOCK TABLES.
* SHOW COLUMNS:                          KILL.
* SHOW DATABASES:                        KILL.
* SHOW FIELDS:                           KILL.
* SHOW GRANTS:                           KILL.
* SHOW INDEX:                            KILL.
* SHOW KEYS:                             KILL.
* SHOW PROCESSLIST:                      KILL.
* SHOW STATUS:                           KILL.
* SHOW TABLE STATUS:                     KILL.
* SHOW TABLES:                           KILL.
* SHOW VARIABLES:                        KILL.
* SIGN():                                Mathematical functions.
* SIN():                                 Mathematical functions.
* single quote (\'):                     String syntax.
* SMALLINT:                              Column types.
* SOUNDEX():                             String functions.
* SPACE():                               String functions.
* SQRT():                                Mathematical functions.
* STD():                                 Group by functions.
* STDDEV():                              Group by functions.
* STRAIGHT_JOIN:                         SELECT.
* STRCMP():                              String comparison functions.
* String comparison functions:           Comparison functions.
* String functions:                      Mathematical functions.
* SUBDATE():                             Date and time functions.
* SUBSTRING():                           String functions.
* SUBSTRING_INDEX():                     String functions.
* subtraction (-):                       Arithmetic functions.
* SUM():                                 Group by functions.
* SYSDATE():                             Date and time functions.
* SYSTEM_USER():                         Miscellaneous functions.
* tab (\t):                              String syntax.
* table DBI method:                      Perl DBI Class.
* table_cache:                           Server parameters.
* TAN():                                 Mathematical functions.
* TEXT <1>:                              Column types.
* TEXT:                                  CHAR.
* Threads:                               SHOW.
* TIME <1>:                              Column types.
* TIME:                                  DATETIME.
* TIME_FORMAT():                         Date and time functions.
* TIME_TO_SEC():                         Date and time functions.
* TIMESTAMP <1>:                         Column types.
* TIMESTAMP:                             Y2K issues.
* TINYBLOB:                              Column types.
* TINYINT:                               Column types.
* TINYTEXT:                              Column types.
* TMPDIR environment variable:           mysql_install_db.
* TO_DAYS():                             Date and time functions.
* trace DBI method <1>:                  Perl DBI Class.
* trace DBI method:                      Debugging server.
* TRIM():                                String functions.
* TRUNCATE():                            Mathematical functions.
* type DBI method:                       Perl DBI Class.
* Types:                                 Column types.
* TZ environment variable <1>:           BSDI2.
* TZ environment variable <2>:           Using DATE.
* TZ environment variable:               FreeBSD.
* UCASE():                               String functions.
* UDF functions:                         Comments.
* ulimit:                                Not enough file handles.
* UMASK environment variable:            File permissions.
* unary minus (-):                       Mathematical functions.
* UNIX_TIMESTAMP():                      Date and time functions.
* UNLOCK TABLES:                         DESCRIBE.
* UPDATE:                                LOAD DATA.
* UPPER():                               String functions.
* USE:                                   UPDATE.
* USER environment variable:             Connecting.
* USER():                                Miscellaneous functions.
* User-defined functions:                Comments.
* VARCHAR <1>:                           Column types.
* VARCHAR:                               String types.
* VERSION():                             Miscellaneous functions.
* WEEK():                                Date and time functions.
* WEEKDAY():                             Date and time functions.
* Wildcard character (%):                String syntax.
* Wildcard character (_):                String syntax.
* YEAR <1>:                              Column types.
* YEAR:                                  TIME.
* YEAR():                                Date and time functions.
* | (bitwise OR):                        Bit functions.
* || (logical OR):                       Logical functions.
* ~:                                     Bit functions.

Concept Index
*************

* Menu:

* *MySQL* binary distribution:           Which OS.
* *MySQL* mailing lists:                 Useful Links.
* *MySQL* source distribution:           Which OS.
* *MySQL* version <1>:                   Installing.
* *MySQL* version:                       Manual conventions.
* *MySQL*, how to pronounce:             What-is.
* *MySQL*, what it is:                   Introduction.
* Adding native functions:               UDF compiling.
* Adding user-definable functions:       Adding functions.
* Alias names, case sensitivity:         Name case sensitivity.
* Aliases, for expressions:              Group by functions.
* Aliases, for tables:                   SELECT.
* Aliases, in GROUP BY clauses:          Group by functions.
* Aliases, in ORDER BY clauses:          Group by functions.
* Aliases, on expressions:               SELECT.
* Anonymous user <1>:                    Default privileges.
* Anonymous user <2>:                    Request access.
* Anonymous user:                        Connection access.
* ANSI SQL, differences from:            GRANT.
* Arithmetic expressions:                Arithmetic functions.
* AUTO_INCREMENT, and NULL values:       Problems with NULL.
* Backups:                               Replication.
* Big5 Chinese character encoding:       Timezone problems.
* BLOB columns, default values:          BLOB.
* BLOB columns, indexing:                CREATE TABLE.
* BLOB, inserting binary data:           String syntax.
* Bug reports:                           Asking questions.
* C++ compiler cannot create executables: Compilation problems.
* Case sensitivity, in access checking:  Privileges.
* Case sensitivity, in searches:         Timezone problems.
* Case sensitivity, in string comparisons: String comparison functions.
* Case sensitivity, of alias names:      Name case sensitivity.
* Case sensitivity, of column names:     Name case sensitivity.
* Case sensitivity, of database names <1>: Name case sensitivity.
* Case sensitivity, of database names:   Extensions to ANSI.
* Case sensitivity, of table names <1>:  Extensions to ANSI.
* Case sensitivity, of table names:      Name case sensitivity.
* Casts:                                 Logical functions.
* cc1plus problems:                      Compilation problems.
* Checking tables for errors:            Crash recovery.
* Chinese:                               Timezone problems.
* Choosing table types:                  Delete speed.
* Choosing types:                        SET.
* Choosing version:                      Which OS.
* Client programs, building:             Linux-RPM.
* Column names, case sensitivity:        Name case sensitivity.
* Command line history:                  Programs.
* Commands out of sync:                  Full table.
* Compatibility, between MySQL versions <1>: Upgrade.
* Compatibility, between MySQL versions: Upgrading-from-3.22.
* Compatibility, with ANSI SQL:          Upgrading-to-arch.
* Compatibility, with mSQL:              String comparison functions.
* Compatibility, with ODBC <1>:          Legal names.
* Compatibility, with ODBC <2>:          News-3.21.15.
* Compatibility, with ODBC <3>:          Column types.
* Compatibility, with ODBC <4>:          JOIN.
* Compatibility, with ODBC <5>:          Comparison functions.
* Compatibility, with ODBC:              CREATE TABLE.
* Compatibility, with Oracle <1>:        Extensions to ANSI.
* Compatibility, with Oracle <2>:        Group by functions.
* Compatibility, with Oracle:            DESCRIBE.
* Compatibility, with PostgreSQL:        Extensions to ANSI.
* Compatibility, with Sybase:            USE.
* Configuration files:                   Access denied.
* configure, running after prior invocation: Compilation problems.
* Constant table <1>:                    Where optimizations.
* Constant table:                        EXPLAIN.
* Contact information:                   Payment information.
* Copyright:                             Licensing policy.
* Costs, licensing and support:          Web server.
* Database mirroring:                    Update log.
* Database names, case sensitivity <1>:  Name case sensitivity.
* Database names, case sensitivity:      Extensions to ANSI.
* Database replication <1>:              Update log.
* Database replication:                  Common problems.
* Date and Time types:                   Numeric types.
* db table, sorting:                     Request access.
* DBI Perl module:                       DBI with DBD.
* Default options:                       Automatic start.
* Default values, BLOB and TEXT columns: BLOB.
* Disk full:                             Cannot find table.
* Downloading:                           Installing.
* Environment variables <1>:             Tools.
* Environment variables <2>:             Connecting.
* Environment variables <3>:             Option files.
* Environment variables:                 Access denied.
* Expression aliases:                    SELECT.
* Expressions, aliases for:              Group by functions.
* fatal signal 11:                       Compilation problems.
* Foreign keys:                          ALTER TABLE.
* FreeBSD troubleshooting:               Compilation problems.
* Full disk:                             Cannot find table.
* Functions for SELECT and WHERE clauses: Other-vendor column types.
* Functions, native, adding:             UDF compiling.
* Functions, user-definable, adding:     Adding functions.
* General Information:                   Top.
* Getting *MySQL*:                       Installing.
* Grant tables, sorting <1>:             Request access.
* Grant tables, sorting:                 Connection access.
* GROUP BY, aliases in:                  Group by functions.
* Grouping of expressions:               Grouping functions.
* HEAP table type:                       Table size.
* History file:                          Programs.
* host table, sorting:                   Request access.
* How to pronounce *MySQL*:              What-is.
* In memory tables:                      Compressed format.
* Indexes <1>:                           GRANT.
* Indexes:                               Choosing types.
* Indexes, and BLOB columns:             CREATE TABLE.
* Indexes, and IS NULL:                  MySQL indexes.
* Indexes, and LIKE:                     MySQL indexes.
* Indexes, and NULL values:              CREATE TABLE.
* Indexes, and TEXT columns:             CREATE TABLE.
* Indexes, leftmost prefix of:           MySQL indexes.
* Indexes, multi-part:                   GRANT.
* Internal compiler errors:              Compilation problems.
* ISAM table type:                       Table size.
* Keys:                                  Choosing types.
* Keywords:                              CREATE FUNCTION.
* Language support:                      Server.
* Leftmost prefix of indexes:            MySQL indexes.
* Licensing costs:                       Web server.
* Licensing policy:                      Licensing and Support.
* Licensing terms:                       Answering questions.
* Linking:                               Linux-RPM.
* Log file, names:                       Backup.
* make_binary_release:                   Programs.
* Manual information:                    What-is.
* Memory use:                            Open tables.
* Mirroring, database:                   Update log.
* mSQL compatibility:                    String comparison functions.
* msql2mysql:                            Programs.
* Multi-byte characters:                 Adding character set.
* Multi-part index:                      GRANT.
* Multiple servers:                      Backup.
* MyISAM table type:                     Table size.
* myisamchk <1>:                         Programs.
* myisamchk:                             configure options.
* myisampack <1>:                        Basic email support.
* myisampack <2>:                        Licensing policy.
* myisampack <3>:                        Cost.
* myisampack <4>:                        mysqlshow.
* myisampack:                            Silent column changes.
* MyODBC:                                Writing a procedure.
* mysql:                                 Programs.
* mysql_fix_privilege_tables:            Access denied.
* mysql_install_db:                      Programs.
* mysqlaccess:                           Programs.
* mysqladmin <1>:                        FLUSH.
* mysqladmin <2>:                        DROP DATABASE.
* mysqladmin <3>:                        CREATE DATABASE.
* mysqladmin <4>:                        SHOW.
* mysqladmin <5>:                        USE.
* mysqladmin:                            Programs.
* mysqlbug:                              Programs.
* mysqld:                                Programs.
* mysqldump <1>:                         Programs.
* mysqldump:                             Upgrading-to-arch.
* mysqlimport <1>:                       LOAD DATA.
* mysqlimport <2>:                       Upgrading-to-arch.
* mysqlimport:                           Programs.
* mysqlshow:                             Programs.
* Native functions, adding:              UDF compiling.
* Net etiquette <1>:                     Mailing-list.
* Net etiquette:                         Bug reports.
* NULL values vs. empty values:          Case sensitivity.
* NULL values, and AUTO_INCREMENT columns: Problems with NULL.
* NULL values, and indexes:              CREATE TABLE.
* NULL values, and TIMESTAMP columns:    Problems with NULL.
* ODBC:                                  Writing a procedure.
* ODBC compatibility <1>:                Column types.
* ODBC compatibility <2>:                JOIN.
* ODBC compatibility <3>:                News-3.21.15.
* ODBC compatibility <4>:                Legal names.
* ODBC compatibility <5>:                Comparison functions.
* ODBC compatibility:                    CREATE TABLE.
* Optimization:                          Table types.
* Optimizations:                         SELECT speed.
* Option files:                          Automatic start.
* Oracle compatibility <1>:              DESCRIBE.
* Oracle compatibility <2>:              Group by functions.
* Oracle compatibility:                  Extensions to ANSI.
* ORDER BY, aliases in:                  Group by functions.
* Overview:                              Top.
* pack_isam:                             mysqlshow.
* Password encryption, reversibility of: Miscellaneous functions.
* Passwords, setting <1>:                SET OPTION.
* Passwords, setting <2>:                Passwords.
* Passwords, setting <3>:                SET OPTION.
* Passwords, setting:                    GRANT.
* Payment information:                   Cost.
* Performance:                           Table types.
* PostgreSQL compatibility:              Extensions to ANSI.
* Protocol mismatch:                     Upgrading-from-3.20.
* Quoting:                               String syntax.
* Quoting binary data:                   String syntax.
* Quoting strings:                       Perl DBI Class.
* RedHat Package Manager:                Installing binary.
* References:                            ALTER TABLE.
* Release numbers:                       Which OS.
* replace:                               Programs.
* Replication:                           Common problems.
* Replication, database <1>:             Update log.
* Replication, database:                 Common problems.
* Reporting bugs:                        Asking questions.
* Reporting errors:                      Useful Links.
* Reserved words:                        CREATE FUNCTION.
* Reserved words, exceptions:            CREATE FUNCTION.
* Row-level locking:                     Commit-rollback.
* RPM:                                   Installing binary.
* Running configure after prior invocation: Compilation problems.
* safe_mysqld:                           Programs.
* Scripts:                               Programs.
* Sequence emulation:                    Miscellaneous functions.
* Server functions:                      Twin event.
* Size of tables:                        Update log.
* Solaris troubleshooting:               Compilation problems.
* Sorting, grant tables <1>:             Request access.
* Sorting, grant tables:                 Connection access.
* sql_yacc.cc problems:                  Compilation problems.
* Stability:                             Features.
* Startup parameters:                    Symbolic links.
* Storage requirements:                  Column types.
* String comparisons, case sensitivity:  String comparison functions.
* Strings:                               Reference.
* Strings, escaping characters:          Reference.
* Strings, quoting:                      Perl DBI Class.
* Support costs:                         Web server.
* Support terms:                         Answering questions.
* Support, types:                        Contact information.
* Sybase compatibility:                  USE.
* System table:                          EXPLAIN.
* Table aliases:                         SELECT.
* Table cache:                           Server parameters.
* Table names, case sensitivity <1>:     Name case sensitivity.
* Table names, case sensitivity:         Extensions to ANSI.
* Table size:                            Update log.
* Table types:                           Table size.
* Table types, Choosing:                 Delete speed.
* Table, constant <1>:                   EXPLAIN.
* Table, constant:                       Where optimizations.
* Table, system:                         EXPLAIN.
* Tables, In memory:                     Compressed format.
* TEXT columns, default values:          BLOB.
* TEXT columns, indexing:                CREATE TABLE.
* The table is full <1>:                 SET OPTION.
* The table is full:                     Packet too large.
* TIMESTAMP, and NULL values:            Problems with NULL.
* Timezone problems <1>:                 Using DATE.
* Timezone problems <2>:                 BSDI2.
* Timezone problems:                     FreeBSD.
* TODO:                                  Bugs.
* Troubleshooting, FreeBSD:              Compilation problems.
* Troubleshooting, Solaris:              Compilation problems.
* Type conversions:                      Logical functions.
* Type portability:                      Multiple-column indexes.
* Types of support:                      Contact information.
* Types, choosing:                       SET.
* Types, Date and Time:                  Numeric types.
* Update log:                            Multi-byte characters.
* user table, sorting:                   Connection access.
* User-definable functions, adding:      Adding functions.
* Version, choosing:                     Which OS.
* Version, latest:                       Installing.
* Virtual memory problems while compiling: Compilation problems.
* Which languages *MySQL* supports:      Server.
* Wildcards, and LIKE:                   MySQL indexes.
* Wildcards, in mysql.columns_priv table: Request access.
* Wildcards, in mysql.db table:          Request access.
* Wildcards, in mysql.host table:        Request access.
* Wildcards, in mysql.tables_priv table: Request access.
* Wildcards, in mysql.user table:        Connection access.
* Windows:                               Writing a procedure.
* Year 2000 compliance:                  Stability.
* Year 2000 issues:                      Date and time types.

