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what is the difference between index (a,b) and (b,a)
Posted by: Bing Wu
Date: March 06, 2017 04:14AM

I have two indexes
create index idx_ab on t(a,b)
create index idx_ba on t(b,a)
And I have only one query condition one this table
select * from t where a = x and b = y

Is there any performance difference on these two indexes?

I think in B+ tree structure, (a,b) is treated as one node(with two fields), so there is no performance difference on these two indexes.
Many blogs say that we should place the field with bigger cardinality at first. I think place the field with bigger cardinality at first, the index can be used for both "where a = x and b = y" and "where b = x and a = y". However, as for the only one query "where a = x and b = y", the two indexes are the same on performance.
Am I right?

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March 06, 2017 04:14AM


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