SQL keys, MUL vs PRI vs UNI

Excerpt from: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5317889/sql-keys-mul-vs-pri-vs-uni/15268888#15268888

SQL keys, MUL vs PRI vs UNI

DESCRIBE <table>;

Acutally a shortcut for:

SHOW COLUMNS from <table>;

In any case, there is three possible values for the "Key" attribute:

• Pri

• UNI

• MUL

The meaning of the PRI and UNI are quite clear:

PRI = Primary Key

Uni=> Unique Key

The third possibility, MUL, (which you asked on) is basically an index, which is neither a primary key nor a unique key. The name comes from "multiple" because multiple occurences of the same value is allowed. Straight from the MySQL documentation:http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/show-columns.html

"If Key is MUL, the column was the first column of a nonunique index in which multiple occurrences of a given value was per Mitted within the column. "

There is also a final caveat:

"If more than one of the keys values applies to a given column of a table, Key displays the one with the highest priority, In the order PRI, UNI, MUL. "

As a general note, the MySQL documentation is quite good. When in doubt, check it out!

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SQL keys, MUL vs PRI vs UNI