MySQL Terminology helpful guide
If you are newbie to MySQL, this guide explains some terminology that is used when developing with MySQL and PHP.
This is not meant to be a definitive guide, but will be updated. Did I miss something? Please let me know or leave a comment below.
| Aliases for column names | Produces a more readable column name if needed. Especially when a column is produced from a function like CONCAT() for example |
|---|---|
| Aliases for table names | Makes queries shorter and easier to read / write |
| Backticks ` | MySql’s (non-standard) method for delimiting problematic identifiers |
| Composite Index | An index made of more than one column. |
| Database | A collection of one or more tables. Think of a Excel workbook containing many sheets. |
| MySQL client | Software to allow to connect and manage MySQL databases. MySQL Workbench, HeidiSQL, phpMyAdmin etc… |
| ORDER BY clause | Used to sort the results of your SELECT query by one or more columns in ascending or descending order. |
| Primary Key | A unique identifier of a row consisting of one or more columns |
| Query | A way of SELECTing / INSERTing / DELETEing / UPDATEing data |
| Results / Result set | The data / result of a query being run |
| Row / Record | A single row or record of data in a table |
| Schema | The design of one or more tables |
| SQL | Structure Query Language |
| Sub query | A quested nested within another query |
| Table | A repository of data (entity). Think of a sheet in Excel with column headers. |
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