I just want to know what is the benefit/usage of defining ZEROFILL for INT DataType in MySQL?
`id` INT UNSIGNED ZEROFILL NOT NULL
When you select a column with type ZEROFILL it pads the displayed value of the field with zeros up to the display width specified in the column definition. Values longer than the display width are not truncated. Note that usage of ZEROFILL also implies UNSIGNED.
Using ZEROFILL and a display width has no effect on how the data is stored. It affects only how it is displayed.
Here is some example SQL that demonstrates the use of ZEROFILL:
CREATE TABLE yourtable (x INT(8) ZEROFILL NOT NULL, y INT(8) NOT NULL);
INSERT INTO yourtable (x,y) VALUES
(1, 1),
(12, 12),
(123, 123),
(123456789, 123456789);
SELECT x, y FROM yourtable;
Result:
x y
00000001 1
00000012 12
00000123 123
123456789 123456789
One example in order to understand, where the usage of ZEROFILL might be interesting:
In Germany, we have 5 digit zipcodes. However, those Codes may start with a Zero, so 80337 is a valid zipcode for munic, 01067 is a zipcode of Berlin.
As you see, any German citizen expects the zipcodes to be displayed as a 5 digit code, so 1067 looks strange.
In order to store those data, you could use a VARCHAR(5) or INT(5) ZEROFILL whereas the zerofilled integer has two big advantages:
Lot lesser storage space on hard disk
If you insert 1067, you still get 01067 back
Maybe this example helps understanding the use of ZEROFILL.
It's a feature for disturbed personalities who like square boxes.
You insert
1
23
123
but when you select, it pads the values
000001
000023
000123
It helps in correct sorting in the case that you will need to concatenate this "integer" with something else (another number or text) which will require to be sorted as a "text" then.
for example,
if you will need to use the integer field numbers (let's say 5) concatenated as A-005 or 10/0005
I know I'm late to the party but I find the zerofill is helpful for boolean representations of TINYINT(1). Null doesn't always mean False, sometimes you don't want it to. By zerofilling a tinyint, you're effectively converting those values to INT and removing any confusion ur application may have upon interaction. Your application can then treat those values in a manner similar to the primitive datatype True = Not(0)
mysql> CREATE TABLE tin3(id int PRIMARY KEY,val TINYINT(10) ZEROFILL);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.04 sec)
mysql> INSERT INTO tin3 VALUES(1,12),(2,7),(4,101);
Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.02 sec)
Records: 3 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> SELECT * FROM tin3;
+----+------------+
| id | val |
+----+------------+
| 1 | 0000000012 |
| 2 | 0000000007 |
| 4 | 0000000101 |
+----+------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
mysql>
mysql> SELECT LENGTH(val) FROM tin3 WHERE id=2;
+-------------+
| LENGTH(val) |
+-------------+
| 10 |
+-------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)
mysql> SELECT val+1 FROM tin3 WHERE id=2;
+-------+
| val+1 |
+-------+
| 8 |
+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
ZEROFILL
This essentially means that if the integer value 23 is inserted into an INT column with the width of 8 then the rest of the available position will be automatically padded with zeros.
Hence
23
becomes:
00000023
When used in conjunction with the
optional (nonstandard) attribute
ZEROFILL, the default padding of
spaces is replaced with zeros. For
example, for a column declared as
INT(4) ZEROFILL, a value of 5 is
retrieved as 0005.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/numeric-types.html
If you specify ZEROFILL for a numeric column, MySQL automatically adds the UNSIGNED attribute to the column.
Numeric data types that permit the UNSIGNED attribute also permit SIGNED. However, these data types are signed by default, so the SIGNED attribute has no effect.
Above description is taken from MYSQL official website.
Related
I know this may seem like a similar question out there, but it really is not. I am trying to create a seven digit ID number that is saved in my mySQL database.
I'm using this sprintf("%07d", $idNumber);
This works, and creates a seven digit id number. However, I want to insert this into my database. The problem is I don't know how to increment this ID number then insert it into the database.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
You can define a column with the ZEROFILL option, and then insert unformatted integers.
mysql> create table foo (id int(7) zerofill auto_increment primary key);
mysql> insert into foo values (123);
mysql> insert into foo () values ();
mysql> select * from foo;
+---------+
| id |
+---------+
| 0000123 |
| 0000124 |
+---------+
This is the only time the numeric argument to the INT type has any practical use. I wish they had made the argument on the ZEROFILL keyword instead of the INT keyword. It would have avoided a lot of confusion.
After writing a PHP function to ensure data parsed from a csv is inputed as its correct format (to match the column data type set when creating the table), I've learned that MySQL by default will output all values as strings anyway.
My question is therefore - is there any need to ensure an integer (for an id column that has been set to store integers only) IS an integer and not a string containing a number ( "1" for example) before inserting into MySQL database?
If not, then what is the thinking behind explicitly stating what values a column should store when creating tables in MySQL?
The values are being converted between string and integer. When inserting a row into MySQL both PHP and MySQL can convert a string of "1" into an integer 1. Try passing a string "notanumber" into an Integer field, it's not going to work because you can't convert that string value into a number. The reason MySQL returns strings in selecting is so everything is in one type of format, there may be another reason for it - but it's easier to know everything in your results is a string and not have to check if it's an integer, or a float, or whatever else. With PHP and implicit conversion this isn't a huge deal, but for a language like C# that is very strongly typed this can save a lot of time. You know it's a string, and convert to what you want if need be instead of checking for tons of different possibilities.
You definitely should be checking data before inserting, or at least handling the MySQL errors if you don't. You can check using isset($var) for null or empty values, is_numeric($var) for integers, is_float($var) for floats. I would recommend validating everything before putting it into the database.
A lot of data types will be automaticly cast towards the correct type in MySQL. I.e. inserting a number to a varchar field will become a string.
The thinking about stating the column types have several reason, mostly for speed and space optimization. Off course you can create all fields as varchars, but storing the number 300000000 in a varchar field would need (at least) 9 bytes while for an integer field a basic 32bit (4 bytes) would be enough. Comparing integer numbers (in the where clause) is easy, but numbers in strings is different. I.e. ordering string cat,cars,car will be: car, cars, cat. But how would you order strings 1000,1200 and 10000? As strings it would be 1000, 10000, 1200. As numbers 1000,1200 and 10000.
For ints/strings, data types aren't too critical while inserting. You can probably find some edge cases where an exotic floating point value-as-string doesn't insert properly. MySQL for the most part will do the right thing when forced to do type juggling while inserting. A string inserted into a numeric-type field will get converted to a number, as best as MySQL can.
The major problem is when it comes time to actually USE the data you've inserted. That's when number v.s. string distinctions become critical:
mysql> create table test (strings varchar(2), integers int);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into test values ('12', 12), ('2', 2), ('112', 112);
Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 3 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> select * from test;
+---------+----------+
| strings | integers |
+---------+----------+
| 12 | 12 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 112 | 112 |
+---------+----------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Simple select, sorting via the integer field:
mysql> select * from test order by integers;
+---------+----------+
| strings | integers |
+---------+----------+
| 2 | 2 |
| 12 | 12 |
| 112 | 112 |
+---------+----------+
Everything ok with integer sorting. We get nicely sorted ascending list.
But when it comes time for the strings:
mysql> select * from test order by strings asc;
+---------+----------+
| strings | integers |
+---------+----------+
| 112 | 112 |
| 12 | 12 |
| 2 | 2 |
+---------+----------+
Ooops... totally wrong. MySQL (properly) sorted as strings, and by string rules, 112 is smaller than 2.
I am using int(22) for now as my table field. but for now it's overflow with value 2147483647 and stop so my 3000 field gone the same id. I am really stuck with that
For now i changed it with bigint(20) unsigned but may be i will come same condition in future.
Please advice me what will be better use for this
varchar or bigint or any
Also would be great if i get some explanation.
Think of it this way: how long did it take you to fill up an INT? Perhaps six months?
Now multiply that time by roughly 4 billion.
That's how long it will take to fill up a BIGINT, if you insert data at the same rate. So if it took you half a year to fill an INT, the BIGINT will last 2 billion years.
That gives you some scope of how much larger the range of a BIGINT is than an INT. A BIGINT supports up to 264 values, which is 232 times larger than the number of values in an INT.
NUMERIC can store 65 digits which is larger than BIGINT UNSINGED
mysql> create table integral (a bigint, b numeric(65,0));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.06 sec)
mysql> insert into integral (a) values(123456789012345678901234567890);
Query OK, 1 row affected, 1 warning (0.01 sec)
mysql> show warnings;
+---------+------+--------------------------------------------+
| Level | Code | Message |
+---------+------+--------------------------------------------+
| Warning | 1264 | Out of range value for column 'a' at row 1 |
+---------+------+--------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> insert into integral (b) values(123456789012345678901234567890);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
i have an existing mysql table with the id column defined as primary, and auto-increment set as true. now, i would like to know if i can set the auto-increment to start from a predefined value, say 5678, instead of starting off from 1.
I would also like to know if i can set the steps for auto-incrementing, say increase by 15 each for each new record insertion (instead of the default increment value of 1).
Note- i am using phpmyadmin to play with the db, and i have many tables but only one db.
Thanks.
ALTER TABLE tbl AUTO_INCREMENT = 5678 will set the auto increment to 5678 for that table. Have a look at the detailed information here.
You can set the auto increment value using below command
ALTER TABLE tbl_name AUTO_INCREMENT = 5678;
And can update the auto_increment counter variable using below command
SET ##auto_increment_increment=15;
Loo at here for more info
mysql> SET ##auto_increment_increment=15;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> INSERT INTO autoinc1 VALUES (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL);
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 4 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> SELECT col FROM autoinc1;
+-----+
| col |
+-----+
| 1 |
| 16 |
| 31 |
| 46 |
You can also use the server-system-variables:
auto_increment_increment
and
auto_increment_offset
This will allow you to increase the offset by other values than 1 (e.g. 15) each time.
If you start from a different value using the same offset on a different server. This will allow you to keep tables on different servers that can be merged without keys overlapping.
e.g.
(inc = 15 offset = 1) (inc=15 offset = 2)
table1 on server A table1 on server B
-----------------------------------------------------
id name id name
1 bill 2 john
16 monica 17 claire
....
This can be very useful.
Because the main usage is to have the same table on different servers behave in a different way, it is a server setting and not a table setting.
ALTER TABLE whatever AUTO_INCREMENT=5678 - alternatively in phpMyAdmin, go to the "Operations" tab of the table view and set it there. For the increment step, use the setting auto_increment_increment.
You can see the example here..
http://pranaydac08.blogspot.in/2013/10/how-set-auto-increment-value-start-from.html
I am using a field named as area_code that has int data-type in MySQL. But it doesn't allow me to store exact values like 0781, 0727, 0788 Bcoz they are starting with 0.
It stores the values as 781, 727 and 788 i.e. it truncates 0 from the values and save it.
Please help me..
Area codes are not numbers, but text (which contains digits only). Declare area_code as a varchar field of appropriate size.
drop table if exists foo;
create table foo
(
area_code smallint(4) unsigned zerofill not null default 0
)
engine=innodb;
insert into foo (area_code) values (781),(727);
select * from foo;
+-----------+
| area_code |
+-----------+
| 0781 |
| 0727 |
+-----------+
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/numeric-types.html
Use a character based data-type rather than a numeric data-type.
Use VARCHAR, because you don't need to make any arithmetic actions with area codes
if you want your result as 4 digits you can maybe do it in this way:
select lpad(area_code, 4, '0') from zipcode_list;
now you can store the 3 numbers in your database and returning the zero before.