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

It depends on a few things but something like this may work for you

im assuming this count never changes as it is in the past so the result can be cached somehow

count1 = "select count(*) from record_updates where date_updated <= '2009-10-11 15:33:22'"

gives you the total count of records in the table, this is an approximate value in innodb table so BEWARE, depends on engine

count2 = "select table_rows from information_schema.`TABLES` where table_schema = 'marctoxctransformation' and TABLE_NAME = 'record_updates'"

your answer

result = count2 - count1