6 MySQL Language Reference

MySQL has a very complex, but intuitive and easy to learn SQL interface. This chapter describes the various commands, types, and functions you will need to know in order to use MySQL efficiently and effectively. This chapter also serves as a reference to all functionality included in MySQL. In order to use this chapter effectively, you may find it useful to refer to the various indexes.

Subsections

• 6.1 Language Structure
• 6.1.1 Literals: How to Write Strings and Numbers
• 6.1.1.1 Strings
• 6.1.1.2 Numbers
• 6.1.1.3 Hexadecimal Values
• 6.1.1.4 NULL Values
• 6.1.2 Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names
• 6.1.3 Case Sensitivity in Names
• 6.1.4 User Variables
• 6.1.5 System Variables
• 6.1.6 Comment Syntax
• 6.1.7 Is MySQL Picky About Reserved Words?
• 6.2 Column Types
• 6.2.1 Numeric Types
• 6.2.2 Date and Time Types
• 6.2.2.1 Y2K Issues and Date Types
• 6.2.2.2 The DATETIME, DATE, and TIMESTAMP Types
• 6.2.2.3 The TIME Type
• 6.2.2.4 The YEAR Type
• 6.2.3 String Types
• 6.2.3.1 The CHAR and VARCHAR Types
• 6.2.3.2 The BLOB and TEXT Types
• 6.2.3.3 The ENUM Type
• 6.2.3.4 The SET Type
• 6.2.4 Choosing the Right Type for a Column
• 6.2.5 Using Column Types from Other Database Engines
• 6.2.6 Column Type Storage Requirements
• 6.3 Functions for Use in SELECT and WHERE Clauses
• 6.3.1 Non-Type-Specific Operators and Functions
• 6.3.1.1 Parentheses
• 6.3.1.2 Comparison Operators
• 6.3.1.3 Logical Operators
• 6.3.1.4 Control Flow Functions
• 6.3.2 String Functions
• 6.3.2.1 String Comparison Functions
• 6.3.2.2 Case-Sensitivity
• 6.3.3 Numeric Functions
• 6.3.3.1 Arithmetic Operations
• 6.3.3.2 Mathematical Functions
• 6.3.4 Date and Time Functions
• 6.3.5 Cast Functions
• 6.3.6 Other Functions
• 6.3.6.1 Bit Functions
• 6.3.6.2 Miscellaneous Functions
• 6.3.7 Functions and Modifiers for Use with GROUP BY Clauses
• 6.3.7.1 GROUP BY Functions
• 6.3.7.2 GROUP BY Modifiers
• 6.4 Data Manipulation: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
• 6.4.1 SELECT Syntax
• 6.4.1.1 JOIN Syntax
• 6.4.1.2 UNION Syntax
• 6.4.2 HANDLER Syntax
• 6.4.3 INSERT Syntax
• 6.4.3.1 INSERT ... SELECT Syntax
• 6.4.4 INSERT DELAYED Syntax
• 6.4.5 UPDATE Syntax
• 6.4.6 DELETE Syntax
• 6.4.7 TRUNCATE Syntax
• 6.4.8 REPLACE Syntax
• 6.4.9 LOAD DATA INFILE Syntax
• 6.4.10 DO Syntax
• 6.5 Data Definition: CREATE, DROP, ALTER
• 6.5.1 CREATE DATABASE Syntax
• 6.5.2 DROP DATABASE Syntax
• 6.5.3 CREATE TABLE Syntax
• 6.5.3.1 Silent Column Specification Changes
• 6.5.4 ALTER TABLE Syntax
• 6.5.5 RENAME TABLE Syntax
• 6.5.6 DROP TABLE Syntax
• 6.5.7 CREATE INDEX Syntax
• 6.5.8 DROP INDEX Syntax
• 6.6 Basic MySQL User Utility Commands
• 6.6.1 USE Syntax
• 6.6.2 DESCRIBE Syntax (Get Information About Columns)
• 6.7 MySQL Transactional and Locking Commands
• 6.7.1 START TRANSACTION, COMMIT, and ROLLBACK Syntax
• 6.7.2 SAVEPOINT and ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT Syntax
• 6.7.3 LOCK TABLES and UNLOCK TABLES Syntax
• 6.7.4 SET TRANSACTION Syntax
• 6.8 MySQL Full-text Search
• 6.8.1 Full-text Restrictions
• 6.8.2 Fine-tuning MySQL Full-text Search
• 6.8.3 Full-text Search TODO
• 6.9 MySQL Query Cache
• 6.9.1 How The Query Cache Operates
• 6.9.2 Query Cache Configuration
• 6.9.3 Query Cache Options in SELECT
• 6.9.4 Query Cache Status and Maintenance

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