MYSQL: Sequential Number Table

Question

I am trying to get a sequential number table from 1 to 20 million. (or 0 to 20 million)

I am rather awestruck at how difficult it\'s been to get a MySQL-compatible s

Answer 1

A simpler & faster solution

(Original code here)

CREATE TABLE `numbers` (
  `i` INT(11) SIGNED 
  , PRIMARY KEY(`i`)
) ENGINE=myisam DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

INSERT INTO numbers(i) SELECT @row := @row + 1 FROM 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t,
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t2, 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t3, 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t4, 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t5, 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t6, 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 2 UNION ALL SELECT 3 UNION ALL SELECT 4 UNION ALL SELECT 5 UNION ALL SELECT 6 UNION ALL SELECT 7 UNION ALL SELECT 8 UNION ALL SELECT 9) t7, 
(SELECT 0 UNION ALL SELECT 1) t8, 
(SELECT @row:=0) ti;

On my laptop with MySQL 5.5.29 installed, compare the accepted answer with this one:

+-----------------+-------+---------------+
| Method          | Rows  | Time consumed |
+-----------------+-------+---------------+
| Accepted answer | 20M+1 |         42.4s |
+-----------------+-------+---------------+
| This one        | 20M   |         35.9s |
+-----------------+-------+---------------+

About 15% less time, no intermediate views or tables, and easier to read.