Can composite indexes be used as an index on a single field?

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Can composite indexes be used as an index on a single field?

nonghead-webspam

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April 3, 2014 at 10:32 am

#284122

I've got a table that has a composite index on three of its fields. I don't want to create another index if I don't have to, but I'm trying to speed up some views that are taking a while.
I'm doing a rollup on PartNumber, which is the first field in the composite index.
Will it use that index to accomplish a search on PartNumber alone if needed? Will it do it for any field in the composite index?

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SQLChao Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 534 More actions · Answer 1

It should use part number if you search for part number alone. I'm not sure about the rest. You could test by viewing the execution plans to be certain.

Lowell SSC Guru Points: 323518 More actions · Answer 2

since you said the PartNumber is the first field, then yes; but it also depends on how selective that single column is.

if there's a lot of common values, SQL might just decide to do a clustered index scan instead.

so to confirm, if PartNumber is the leading column in your index that has three fields, would it be posible for a query to use the index.

so if the index is (PartNumber,SecondKey,ThirdKey) then yes.

if the index was created as (FirstKey,SecondKey,PartNumber) then no, you'd need an extra idnex.

Lowell

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SQLBuddy123 One Orange Chip Points: 28294 More actions · Answer 3

It's better to test by viewing the execution plans.

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SQLBuddy

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398890 More actions · Answer 4

It goes back to the histogram on the statistics. That is only build on the first column in the index key. The others are used to help establish the density (how selective the entire key is), but the histogram is only on that first one.

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