optimize mysql count query

Question

Is there a way to optimize this further or should I just be satisfied that it takes 9 seconds to count 11M rows ?

devuser@xcmst > mysql --user=user --pass         


        

Answer 1

If you need to return the total table's row count, then there is an alternative to the SELECT COUNT(*) statement which you can use. SELECT COUNT(*) makes a full table scan to return the total table's row count, so it can take a long time. You can use the sysindexes system table instead in this case. There is a ROWS column in the sysindexes table. This column contains the total row count for each table in your database. So, you can use the following select statement instead of SELECT COUNT(*):

SELECT rows FROM sysindexes WHERE id = OBJECT_ID('table_name') AND indid < 2

This can improve the speed of your query.

EDIT: I have discovered that my answer would be correct if you were using a SQL Server database. MySQL databases do not have a sysindexes table.