• DESCRIBE Statement
• EXPLAIN Statement
• USE Statement

DESCRIBE Statement

The DESCRIBE and EXPLAIN statements are synonyms, used either to obtain information about table structure or query execution plans. For more information, see EXPLAIN Statement.

EXPLAIN Statement

Syntax

{EXPLAIN | DESCRIBE | DESC}
    tbl_name [col_name | wild]

{EXPLAIN | DESCRIBE | DESC}
    [explain_type]
    {explainable_stmt | FOR CONNECTION connection_id}

{EXPLAIN | DESCRIBE | DESC} ANALYZE [FORMAT = TREE] select_statement

explain_type: {
    EXTENDED
  | PARTITIONS
  | FORMAT = format_name
}

format_name: {
    TRADITIONAL
  | JSON
  | TREE
}

explainable_stmt: {
    SELECT statement
  | DELETE statement
  | INSERT statement
  | REPLACE statement
  | UPDATE statement
}

Instructions

• wild: if given, is a pattern string. It can contain the SQL % and _ wildcard characters.
• Now explain explainable_stmt will output radon's execute plans, not from MySQL.
• TABLE statement is supported from 8.0, we'll support it in the future.
• EXTENDED and PARTITIONS are abandoned from 8.0, we'll still parse them but won't use them.

Example: Describe table infos:

mysql> create table t(c1 int key, c2 char(10), c3 varchar(100));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (1.31 sec)

mysql> desc t;
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type         | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| c1    | int(11)      | NO   | PRI | NULL    |       |
| c2    | char(10)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| c3    | varchar(100) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> desc t c1;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| c1    | int(11) | NO   | PRI | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc t "c%";
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type         | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| c1    | int(11)      | NO   | PRI | NULL    |       |
| c2    | char(10)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| c3    | varchar(100) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Get execution plans:

mysql> explain select * from t\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
EXPLAIN: {
	"RawQuery": "explain select * from t",
	"Project": "*",
	"Partitions": [
		{
			"Query": "select * from testdb.t_0000 as t",
			"Backend": "backend1",
			"Range": "[0-64)"
		},
		{
			"Query": "select * from testdb.t_0001 as t",
			"Backend": "backend1",
			"Range": "[64-128)"
		},
		.........
		.........
		.........

mysql> explain delete from t where c=2\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
EXPLAIN: {
	"RawQuery": "explain delete from t where c=2",
	"Partitions": [
		{
			"Query": "delete from testdb.t_0000 where c = 2",
			"Backend": "backend1",
			"Range": "[0-64)"
		},
		{
			"Query": "delete from testdb.t_0001 where c = 2",
			"Backend": "backend1",
			"Range": "[64-128)"
		},
		.......
		.......
		.......

mysql> explain insert into t(c1) values(1)\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
EXPLAIN: {
	"RawQuery": "explain insert into t(c1) values(1)",
	"Partitions": [
		{
			"Query": "insert into testdb.t_0036(c1) values (1)",
			"Backend": "backend2",
			"Range": "[2304-2368)"
		}
	]
}
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

USE Statement

Syntax

USE db_name

Instructions

• Switch the database of the current session

Example:

mysql> use db_test1;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed