Secondary Indexes
CQL supports creating secondary indexes on tables, allowing queries on the table to use those indexes. A secondary index is identified by a name defined by:
index_name::= re('[a-zA-Z_0-9]+')
CREATE INDEX
Creating a secondary index on a table uses the CREATE INDEX
statement:
create_index_statement::= CREATE [ CUSTOM ] INDEX [ IF NOT EXISTS ] [ index_name ]
ON table_name '(' index_identifier ')'
[ USING string [ WITH OPTIONS = map_literal ] ]
index_identifier::= column_name
| ( KEYS | VALUES | ENTRIES | FULL ) '(' column_name ')'
For instance:
CREATE INDEX userIndex ON NerdMovies (user);
CREATE INDEX ON Mutants (abilityId);
CREATE INDEX ON users (keys(favs));
CREATE CUSTOM INDEX ON users (email)
USING 'path.to.the.IndexClass';
CREATE CUSTOM INDEX ON users (email)
USING 'path.to.the.IndexClass'
WITH OPTIONS = {'storage': '/mnt/ssd/indexes/'};
The CREATE INDEX
statement is used to create a new (automatic)
secondary index for a given (existing) column in a given table. A name
for the index itself can be specified before the ON
keyword, if
desired. If data already exists for the column, it will be indexed
asynchronously. After the index is created, new data for the column is
indexed automatically at insertion time.
Attempting to create an already existing index will return an error
unless the IF NOT EXISTS
option is used. If it is used, the statement
will be a no-op if the index already exists.
Indexes on Map Keys
When creating an index on a maps <maps>
, you may index either the keys
or the values. If the column identifier is placed within the keys()
function, the index will be on the map keys, allowing you to use
CONTAINS KEY
in WHERE
clauses. Otherwise, the index will be on the
map values.
DROP INDEX
Dropping a secondary index uses the DROP INDEX
statement:
drop_index_statement::= DROP INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] index_name
The DROP INDEX
statement is used to drop an existing secondary index.
The argument of the statement is the index name, which may optionally
specify the keyspace of the index.
If the index does not exists, the statement will return an error, unless
IF EXISTS
is used in which case the operation is a no-op.