How do I check if an index exists on a table field in MySQL?

Question

I\'ve needed to Google this a couple times, so I\'m sharing my Q/A.

Answer 1

If you need the functionality if a index for a column exists (here at first place in sequence) as a database function you can use/adopt this code. If you want to check if an index exists at all regardless of the position in a multi-column-index, then just delete the part "AND SEQ_IN_INDEX = 1".

DELIMITER $$
CREATE FUNCTION `fct_check_if_index_for_column_exists_at_first_place`(
    `IN_SCHEMA` VARCHAR(255),
    `IN_TABLE` VARCHAR(255),
    `IN_COLUMN` VARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS tinyint(4)
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
CONTAINS SQL
SQL SECURITY DEFINER
COMMENT 'Check if index exists at first place in sequence for a given column in a given table in a given schema. Returns -1 if schema does not exist. Returns -2 if table does not exist. Returns -3 if column does not exist. If index exists in first place it returns 1, otherwise 0.'
BEGIN

-- Check if index exists at first place in sequence for a given column in a given table in a given schema. 
-- Returns -1 if schema does not exist. 
-- Returns -2 if table does not exist. 
-- Returns -3 if column does not exist. 
-- If the index exists in first place it returns 1, otherwise 0.
-- Example call: SELECT fct_check_if_index_for_column_exists_at_first_place('schema_name', 'table_name', 'index_name');

-- check if schema exists
SELECT 
    COUNT(*) INTO @COUNT_EXISTS
FROM 
    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SCHEMATA
WHERE 
    SCHEMA_NAME = IN_SCHEMA
;

IF @COUNT_EXISTS = 0 THEN
    RETURN -1;
END IF;


-- check if table exists
SELECT 
    COUNT(*) INTO @COUNT_EXISTS
FROM 
    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE 
    TABLE_SCHEMA = IN_SCHEMA
AND TABLE_NAME = IN_TABLE
;

IF @COUNT_EXISTS = 0 THEN
    RETURN -2;
END IF;


-- check if column exists
SELECT 
    COUNT(*) INTO @COUNT_EXISTS
FROM 
    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE 
    TABLE_SCHEMA = IN_SCHEMA
AND TABLE_NAME = IN_TABLE
AND COLUMN_NAME = IN_COLUMN
;

IF @COUNT_EXISTS = 0 THEN
    RETURN -3;
END IF;

-- check if index exists at first place in sequence
SELECT 
    COUNT(*) INTO @COUNT_EXISTS
FROM 
    information_schema.statistics 
WHERE 
    TABLE_SCHEMA = IN_SCHEMA
AND TABLE_NAME = IN_TABLE AND COLUMN_NAME = IN_COLUMN
AND SEQ_IN_INDEX = 1;


IF @COUNT_EXISTS > 0 THEN
    RETURN 1;
ELSE
    RETURN 0;
END IF;


END$$
DELIMITER ;