Changing a Table Type

8.6.1 Problem

A table has one type, and now you realize that another table type has properties that are more desirable for the way you use the table.

8.6.2 Solution

Use ALTER TABLE to change its type with a TYPE clause.

8.6.3 Discussion

MySQL supports several tables types, each of which have differing characteristics. Sometimes it's necessary or desirable to convert a table from one type to another. Some situations where a change of table type can be useful are as follows:

  • Table conversions sometimes are done to gain access to features that are supported by one table type but not another. For example, ISAM tables do not allow NULL values in indexed columns. Also, AUTO_INCREMENT behavior in ISAM tables is such that sequence values may be non-monotonic under certain conditions. (See Chapter 11, for information about this.) You can convert an ISAM table to the MyISAM type, which does not suffer from these problems. Or you might find that you need to perform transactions on a table created using a type that doesn't provide transactional capabilities. To handle this problem, you can alter the table to a type such as InnoDB or BDB that does support transactions.
  • The oldest table type supported by MySQL is ISAM, but ISAM tables are deprecated and at some point no longer will be supported. If you have ISAM tables, you should convert them at some point to another table type. Otherwise, after ISAM support is dropped, you'll be unable to upgrade to new releases of MySQL.

Changing a table type is easy; use ALTER TABLE with a TYPE specifier. For example, to convert a table to the MyISAM type, use this statement:

ALTER TABLE tbl_name TYPE = MYISAM;

To find out the current type of a table, use the SHOW TABLE STATUS statement (introduced in MySQL 3.23.0) or SHOW CREATE TABLE (introduced in MySQL 3.23.20):

mysql> SHOW TABLE STATUS LIKE 'mytbl'G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
 Name: mytbl
 Type: MyISAM
 Row_format: Fixed
 Rows: 0
 Avg_row_length: 0
 Data_length: 0
Max_data_length: 85899345919
 Index_length: 1024
 Data_free: 0
 Auto_increment: NULL
 Create_time: 2002-07-15 21:28:34
 Update_time: 2002-07-15 21:28:34
 Check_time: NULL
 Create_options:
 Comment:
mysql> SHOW CREATE TABLE mytblG
*************************** 1. row ***************************
 Table: mytbl
Create Table: CREATE TABLE `mytbl` (
 `c` char(10) default NULL,
 `j` bigint(20) default NULL,
 `e2` enum('hardware','software','books','office supplies',
'telecommunications','furniture','utilities','shipping','tax') default NULL
) TYPE=MyISAM

Alternatively, use the mysqldump command-line utility:

% mysqldump --no-data cookbook mytbl
CREATE TABLE mytbl (
 c char(10) default NULL,
 j bigint(20) default NULL,
 e2 enum('hardware','software','books','office supplies',
'telecommunications','furniture','utilities','shipping','tax') default NULL
) TYPE=MyISAM;

Using the mysql Client Program

Writing MySQL-Based Programs

Record Selection Techniques

Working with Strings

Working with Dates and Times

Sorting Query Results

Generating Summaries

Modifying Tables with ALTER TABLE

Obtaining and Using Metadata

Importing and Exporting Data

Generating and Using Sequences

Using Multiple Tables

Statistical Techniques

Handling Duplicates

Performing Transactions

Introduction to MySQL on the Web

Incorporating Query Resultsinto Web Pages

Processing Web Input with MySQL

Using MySQL-Based Web Session Management

Appendix A. Obtaining MySQL Software

Appendix B. JSP and Tomcat Primer

Appendix C. References



MySQL Cookbook
MySQL Cookbook
ISBN: 059652708X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 412
Authors: Paul DuBois

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