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CREATE INDEX

Synopsis

Use the CREATE INDEX statement to create a new index on a table. It defines the index name, index columns, and additional columns to include.

Syntax

Diagram

create_index

partition_key_columns

clustering_key_columns

clustering_key_column_ordering

index_column

jsonb_attribute

covering_columns

index_predicate

Grammar

create_index ::= CREATE INDEX [ IF NOT EXISTS ] index_name
                     ON table_name ( partition_key_columns [ clustering_key_columns ] )  
                     [ clustering_key_column_ordering ] [ covering_columns ] [ 'WHERE' index_predicate ]

partition_key_columns ::= index_column | ( index_column [ , ... ] )

clustering_key_columns ::= index_column [ , ... ]

clustering_key_column_ordering ::= WITH CLUSTERING ORDER BY ( { index_column [ ASC | DESC ] } [ , ... ] )

index_column ::= column_name | jsonb_attribute

jsonb_attribute ::= column_name [ -> 'attribute_name' [ ... ] ] ->> 'attribute_name'

covering_columns ::= { COVERING | INCLUDE } ( column_name [ , ... ] )

index_predicate ::= where_expression

Where

index_name, table_name, and column_name are identifiers. table_name may be qualified with a keyspace name. index_name cannot be qualified with a keyspace name because an index must be created in the table's keyspace.

Semantics

An error is raised if transactions have not be enabled using the WITH transactions = { 'enabled' : true } clause on the table to be indexed. This is because secondary indexes internally use distributed transactions to ensure ACID guarantees in the updates to the secondary index and the associated primary key. More details here.
An error is raised if index_name already exists in the associated keyspace unless the IF NOT EXISTS option is used.
Indexes do not support TTL. An error is raised if data is inserted with TTL into a table with indexes.

Note

When an index is created on an existing table, YugabyteDB will automatically backfill existing data into the index in an online manner (that is, while continuing to serve other concurrent writes and traffic). For more details on how this is done, see Online Index Backfill.

PARTITION KEY

Partition key is required and defines a split of the index into partitions.

CLUSTERING KEY

Clustering key is optional and defines an ordering for index rows within a partition.
Default ordering is ascending (ASC) but can be set for each clustering column as ascending or descending using the CLUSTERING ORDER BY property.
Any primary key column of the table not indexed explicitly in index_columns is added as a clustering column to the index implicitly. This is necessary so that the whole primary key of the table is indexed.

INCLUDED COLUMNS

Included columns are optional table columns whose values are copied into the index in addition to storing them in the table. When additional columns are included in the index, they can be used to respond to queries directly from the index without querying the table.

UNIQUE INDEX

A unique index disallows duplicate values from being inserted into the indexed columns. It can be used to ensure uniqueness of index column values.

PARTIAL INDEX

If a WHERE clause is specified, only rows which satisfy the index_predicate are indexed.
An index_predicate can have sub-expressions on columns of these data types: TINYINT, SMALLINT, INT/INTEGER, BIGINT, VARINT, BOOLEAN and TEXT along with these operators (when applicable): =, !=, >, <, >=, <=.
Partial indexes can be UNIQUE. A UNIQUE partial index enforces the constraint that for each possible tuple of indexed columns, only one row that satisfies the index_predicate is allowed in the table.
SELECT queries can use a partial index for scanning if the SELECT statement's where_expression => (logically implies) index_predicate.
Note
- A partial index might not be chosen even if the implication holds in case there are better query plans.
- The logical implication holds if all sub-expressions of the index_predicate are present as is in the where_expression. For example, assume where_expression = A AND B AND C, index_predicate_1 = A AND B, index_predicate_2 = A AND B AND D, index_predicate_3 = A AND B AND C AND D. Then where_expression only implies index_predicate_1
- Currently, valid mathematical implications are not taken into account when checking for logical implication. For example, even if where_expression = x > 5 and index_predicate = x > 4, the SELECT query will not use the index for scanning. This is because the two sub-expressions x > 5 and x > 4 differ.
When using a prepared statement, the logical implication check (to decide if a partial index is usable), will only consider those sub-expressions of where_expression that don't have a bind variable. This is because the query plan is decided before execution (i.e., when a statement is prepared).

ycqlsh:example> CREATE TABLE orders (customer_id INT,
                                    order_date TIMESTAMP,
                                    product JSONB,
                                    warehouse_id INT,
                                    amount DOUBLE,
                                    PRIMARY KEY ((customer_id), order_date))
                WITH transactions = { 'enabled' : true };

ycqlsh:example> CREATE INDEX idx ON orders (warehouse_id)
                WHERE warehouse_id < 100;

ycqlsh:example> EXPLAIN SELECT product FROM orders
                WHERE warehouse_id < 100 AND order_date >= ?; // Idx can be used

 QUERY PLAN
------------------------------------------
 Index Scan using temp.idx on temp.orders
   Filter: (order_date >= :order_date)

ycqlsh:example> EXPLAIN SELECT product FROM orders
                WHERE warehouse_id < ? and order_date >= ?; // Idx cannot be used

 QUERY PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Seq Scan on temp.orders
   Filter: (warehouse_id < :warehouse_id) AND (order_date >= :order_date)

Without partial indexes, we do not allow many combinations of operators together on the same column in a SELECT's where expression e.g.: WHERE v1 != NULL and v1 = 5. But if there was a partial index that subsumes some clauses of the SELECT's where expression, two or more operators otherwise not supported together, might be supported.

ycqlsh:example> EXPLAIN SELECT product FROM orders
                WHERE warehouse_id != NULL AND warehouse_id = ?;

SyntaxException: Invalid CQL Statement. Illogical condition for where clause
EXPLAIN SELECT product from orders where warehouse_id != NULL and warehouse_id = ?;
                                                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^
 (ql error -12)

ycqlsh:example> CREATE INDEX warehouse_idx ON orders (warehouse_id)
                WHERE warehouse_id != NULL;
ycqlsh:example> EXPLAIN SELECT product FROM orders
                WHERE warehouse_id != NULL AND warehouse_id = ?; // warehouse_idx can be used

 QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------
 Index Scan using temp.warehouse_idx on temp.orders
   Key Conditions: (warehouse_id = :warehouse_id)

Examples

Create a table to be indexed

'customer_id' is the partitioning column and 'order_date' is the clustering column.

ycqlsh:example> CREATE TABLE orders (customer_id INT,
                                    order_date TIMESTAMP,
                                    product JSONB,
                                    warehouse_id INT,
                                    amount DOUBLE,
                                    PRIMARY KEY ((customer_id), order_date))
                WITH transactions = { 'enabled' : true };

Create an index for query by the `order_date` column

ycqlsh:example> CREATE INDEX orders_by_date ON orders (order_date) INCLUDE (amount);

Create an index for query by the JSONB attribute `product->>'name'`

ycqlsh:example> CREATE INDEX product_name
                ON orders (product->>'name') INCLUDE (amount);

Create an index for query by the `warehouse_id` column

ycqlsh:example> CREATE INDEX orders_by_warehouse
                ON orders (warehouse_id, order_date) INCLUDE (amount);

Insert some data

ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO orders (customer_id, order_date, product, warehouse_id, amount)
                VALUES (1001, '2018-01-10', '{ "name":"desk" }', 107, 100.30);
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO orders (customer_id, order_date, product, warehouse_id, amount)
                VALUES (1002, '2018-01-11', '{ "name":"chair" }', 102, 50.45);
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO orders (customer_id, order_date, product, warehouse_id, amount)
                VALUES (1001, '2018-04-09', '{ "name":"pen" }', 102, 20.25);
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO orders (customer_id, order_date, product, warehouse_id, amount)
                VALUES (1003, '2018-04-09', '{ "name":"pencil" }', 108, 200.80);

Query by the partition column `customer_id` in the table

ycqlsh:example> SELECT SUM(amount) FROM orders
                WHERE customer_id = 1001 AND order_date >= '2018-01-01';

  sum(amount)
-------------
      120.55

Query by the partition column `order_date` in the index `orders_by_date`

ycqlsh:example> SELECT SUM(amount) FROM orders
                WHERE order_date = '2018-04-09';

 sum(amount)
-------------
      221.05

Query by the partition column `product->>'name'` in the index `product_name`

ycqlsh:example> SELECT SUM(amount) FROM orders
                WHERE product->>'name' = 'desk';

 sum(amount)
-------------
      100.30

Query by the partition column `warehouse_id` column in the index `orders_by_warehouse`

ycqlsh:example> SELECT SUM(amount) FROM orders
                WHERE warehouse_id = 102 AND order_date >= '2018-01-01';

 sum(amount)
-------------
        70.7

Create a table with a unique index

You can do this as shown below.

ycqlsh:example> CREATE TABLE emp (enum INT primary key,
                                 lastname VARCHAR,
                                 firstname VARCHAR,
                                 userid VARCHAR)
               WITH transactions = { 'enabled' : true };
ycqlsh:example> CREATE UNIQUE INDEX emp_by_userid ON emp (userid);

Insert values into the table and verify no duplicate `userid` is inserted

ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO emp (enum, lastname, firstname, userid)
                VALUES (1001, 'Smith', 'John', 'jsmith');
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO emp (enum, lastname, firstname, userid)
                VALUES (1002, 'Smith', 'Jason', 'jsmith');

InvalidRequest: Error from server: code=2200 [Invalid query] message="SQL error: Execution Error. Duplicate value disallowed by unique index emp_by_userid
INSERT INTO emp (enum, lastname, firstname, userid)
       ^^^^
VALUES (1002, 'Smith', 'Jason', 'jsmith');
 (error -300)"

ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO emp (enum, lastname, firstname, userid)
                VALUES (1002, 'Smith', 'Jason', 'jasmith');
ycqlsh:example> SELECT * FROM emp;

 enum | lastname | firstname | userid
------+----------+-----------+---------
 1002 |    Smith |     Jason | jasmith
 1001 |    Smith |      John |  jsmith