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(mysql.info)Key space

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Space Needed for Keys
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MySQL can support different index types, but the normal type is ISAM or
MyISAM.  These use a B-tree index, and you can roughly calculate the
size for the index file as `(key_length+4)/0.67', summed over all keys.
(This is for the worst case when all keys are inserted in sorted order
and we don't have any compressed keys.)

String indexes are space compressed. If the first index part is a
string, it will also be prefix compressed.  Space compression makes the
index file smaller than the above figures if the string column has a lot
of trailing space or is a `VARCHAR' column that is not always used to
the full length. Prefix compression is used on keys that start with a
string.  Prefix compression helps if there are many strings with an
identical prefix.

In `MyISAM' tables, you can also prefix compress numbers by specifying
`PACK_KEYS=1' when you create the table.  This helps when you have many
integer keys that have an identical prefix when the numbers are stored
high-byte first.