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Syed Umer Tariq
Syed Umer Tariq

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Execution Plan In Mariadb (1st Part)

MariaDB is an open-source database management system that is a fork of MySQL. It is widely used by developers for its reliability, scalability, and ease of use. In this article, we will discuss the execution plan in MariaDB, which is a powerful tool that helps developers optimize the performance of their database queries.

What is an Execution Plan?

An execution plan is a detailed description of how MariaDB will execute a specific SQL query. It contains information about the order in which tables are accessed, the indexes used, and the operations performed on the data. The execution plan is generated by the query optimizer, which is a component of the MariaDB server that is responsible for determining the most efficient way to execute a query.

The query optimizer considers a variety of factors when generating an execution plan, including the size of the tables involved, the complexity of the query, and the available indexes. By analyzing these factors, the optimizer can choose the best strategy for executing the query, which can result in significant performance improvements.

How to Generate an Execution Plan

MariaDB provides several ways to generate an execution plan for a SQL query. The most common way is to use the EXPLAIN keyword, which displays information about the execution plan in a tabular format. To use the EXPLAIN keyword, simply prefix your SQL query with it, like this:

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE my_column = 'value';

When you run this query, MariaDB will display a table that describes the execution plan for the query. The table will contain information about the tables that are accessed, the indexes used, and the operations performed on the data.

NOTE:

Interpretation of Execution Plan is explained in 2nd part of the article. (2nd part)

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