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MYISAMCHK(1)
NAME
myisamchk - MyISAM table-maintenance utility
SYNOPSIS
myisamchk [options] tbl_name ...
DESCRIPTION
The myisamchk utility gets information about your database tables or
checks, repairs, or optimizes them. myisamchk works with MyISAM tables
(tables that have .MYD and .MYI files for storing data and indexes).
Invoke myisamchk like this:
shell> myisamchk [options] tbl_name ...
The options specify what you want myisamchk to do. They are described in
the following sections. You can also get a list of options by invoking
myisamchk --help.
With no options, myisamchk simply checks your table as the default
operation. To get more information or to tell myisamchk to take corrective
action, specify options as described in the following discussion.
tbl_name is the database table you want to check or repair. If you run
myisamchk somewhere other than in the database directory, you must specify
the path to the database directory, because myisamchk has no idea where the
database is located. In fact, myisamchk doesn't actually care whether the
files you are working on are located in a database directory. You can copy
the files that correspond to a database table into some other location and
perform recovery operations on them there.
You can name several tables on the myisamchk command line if you wish. You
can also specify a table by naming its index file (the file with the .MYI
suffix). This allows you to specify all tables in a directory by using the
pattern *.MYI. For example, if you are in a database directory, you can
check all the MyISAM tables in that directory like this:
shell> myisamchk *.MYI
If you are not in the database directory, you can check all the tables
there by specifying the path to the directory:
shell> myisamchk /path/to/database_dir/*.MYI
You can even check all tables in all databases by specifying a wildcard
with the path to the MySQL data directory:
shell> myisamchk /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
The recommended way to quickly check all MyISAM tables is:
shell> myisamchk --silent --fast /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
If you want to check all MyISAM tables and repair any that are corrupted,
you can use the following command:
shell> myisamchk --silent --force --fast --update-state \
--key_buffer_size=64M --sort_buffer_size=64M \
--read_buffer_size=1M --write_buffer_size=1M \
/path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
This command assumes that you have more than 64MB free. For more
information about memory allocation with myisamchk, see the section called
MYISAMCHK MEMORY USAGE.
You must ensure that no other program is using the tables while you are
running myisamchk. Otherwise, when you run myisamchk, it may display the
following error message:
warning: clients are using or haven't closed the table properly
This means that you are trying to check a table that has been updated by
another program (such as the mysqld server) that hasn't yet closed the file
or that has died without closing the file properly.
If mysqld is running, you must force it to flush any table modifications
that are still buffered in memory by using FLUSH TABLES. You should then
ensure that no one is using the tables while you are running myisamchk. The
easiest way to avoid this problem is to use CHECK TABLE instead of
myisamchk to check tables.
MYISAMCHK GENERAL OPTIONS
The options described in this section can be used for any type of table
maintenance operation performed by myisamchk. The sections following this
one describe options that pertain only to specific operations, such as
table checking or repairing.
· --help, -?
Display a help message and exit.
· --debug=debug_options, -# debug_options
Write a debugging log. The debug_options string often is
'd:t:o,file_name'.
· --silent, -s
Silent mode. Write output only when errors occur. You can use -s twice
(-ss) to make myisamchk very silent.
· --verbose, -v
Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. This
can be used with -d and -e. Use -v multiple times (-vv, -vvv) for even
more output.
· --version, -V
Display version information and exit.
· --wait, -w
Instead of terminating with an error if the table is locked, wait until
the table is unlocked before continuing. Note that if you are running
mysqld with external locking disabled, the table can be locked only by
another myisamchk command.
You can also set the following variables by using --var_name=value syntax:
_______________________________________
Variable
Default Value
_______________________________________
sort_key_blocks
16
_______________________________________
stats_method
nulls_unequal
_______________________________________
write_buffer_size
262136
_______________________________________
decode_bits
9
_______________________________________
ft_max_word_len
version-dependent
_______________________________________
ft_min_word_len
4
_______________________________________
ft_stopword_file
built-in list
_______________________________________
key_buffer_size
523264
_______________________________________
myisam_block_size
1024
_______________________________________
read_buffer_size
262136
_______________________________________
sort_buffer_size
2097144
_______________________________________
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The possible myisamchk variables and their default values can be examined
with myisamchk --help:
sort_buffer_size is used when the keys are repaired by sorting keys, which
is the normal case when you use --recover.
key_buffer_size is used when you are checking the table with --extend-check
or when the keys are repaired by inserting keys row by row into the table
(like when doing normal inserts). Repairing through the key buffer is used
in the following cases:
· You use --safe-recover.
· The temporary files needed to sort the keys would be more than twice as
big as when creating the key file directly. This is often the case when
you have large key values for CHAR, VARCHAR, or TEXT columns, because
the sort operation needs to store the complete key values as it
proceeds. If you have lots of temporary space and you can force
myisamchk to repair by sorting, you can use the --sort-recover option.
Repairing through the key buffer takes much less disk space than using
sorting, but is also much slower.
If you want a faster repair, set the key_buffer_size and sort_buffer_size
variables to about 25% of your available memory. You can set both variables
to large values, because only one of them is used at a time.
myisam_block_size is the size used for index blocks.
stats_method influences how NULL values are treated for index statistics
collection when the --analyze option is given. It acts like the
myisam_stats_method system variable. For more information, see the
description of myisam_stats_method in the section called SYSTEM VARIABLES,
and Section 4.7, MyISAM Index Statistics Collection. For MySQL 5.0,
stats_method was added in MySQL 5.0.14. For older versions, the statistics
collection method is equivalent to nulls_equal.
ft_min_word_len and ft_max_word_len indicate the minimum and maximum word
length for FULLTEXT indexes. ft_stopword_file names the stopword file.
These need to be set under the following circumstances.
If you use myisamchk to perform an operation that modifies table indexes
(such as repair or analyze), the FULLTEXT indexes are rebuilt using the
default full-text parameter values for minimum and maximum word length and
the stopword file unless you specify otherwise. This can result in queries
failing.
The problem occurs because these parameters are known only by the server.
They are not stored in MyISAM index files. To avoid the problem if you have
modified the minimum or maximum word length or the stopword file in the
server, specify the same ft_min_word_len, ft_max_word_len, and
ft_stopword_file values to myisamchk that you use for mysqld. For example,
if you have set the minimum word length to 3, you can repair a table with
myisamchk like this:
shell> myisamchk --recover --ft_min_word_len=3 tbl_name.MYI
To ensure that myisamchk and the server use the same values for full-text
parameters, you can place each one in both the [mysqld] and [myisamchk]
sections of an option file:
[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=3
[myisamchk]
ft_min_word_len=3
An alternative to using myisamchk is to use the REPAIR TABLE, ANALYZE
TABLE, OPTIMIZE TABLE, or ALTER TABLE. These statements are performed by
the server, which knows the proper full-text parameter values to use.
MYISAMCHK CHECK OPTIONS
myisamchk supports the following options for table checking operations:
· --check, -c
Check the table for errors. This is the default operation if you specify
no option that selects an operation type explicitly.
· --check-only-changed, -C
Check only tables that have changed since the last check.
· --extend-check, -e
Check the table very thoroughly. This is quite slow if the table has
many indexes. This option should only be used in extreme cases.
Normally, myisamchk or myisamchk --medium-check should be able to
determine whether there are any errors in the table.
If you are using --extend-check and have plenty of memory, setting the
key_buffer_size variable to a large value helps the repair operation run
faster.
· --fast, -F
Check only tables that haven't been closed properly.
· --force, -f
Do a repair operation automatically if myisamchk finds any errors in the
table. The repair type is the same as that specified with the --recover
or -r option.
· --information, -i
Print informational statistics about the table that is checked.
· --medium-check, -m
Do a check that is faster than an --extend-check operation. This finds
only 99.99% of all errors, which should be good enough in most cases.
· --read-only, -T
Don't mark the table as checked. This is useful if you use myisamchk to
check a table that is in use by some other application that doesn't use
locking, such as mysqld when run with external locking disabled.
· --update-state, -U
Store information in the .MYI file to indicate when the table was
checked and whether the table crashed. This should be used to get full
benefit of the --check-only-changed option, but you shouldn't use this
option if the mysqld server is using the table and you are running it
with external locking disabled.
MYISAMCHK REPAIR OPTIONS
myisamchk supports the following options for table repair operations:
· --backup, -B
Make a backup of the .MYD file as file_name-time.BAK
· --character-sets-dir=path
The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.1, The
Character Set Used for Data and Sorting.
· --correct-checksum
Correct the checksum information for the table.
· --data-file-length=len, -D len
Maximum length of the data file (when re-creating data file when it is
full).
· --extend-check, -e
Do a repair that tries to recover every possible row from the data file.
Normally, this also finds a lot of garbage rows. Don't use this option
unless you are desperate.
· --force, -f
Overwrite old intermediate files (files with names like tbl_name.TMD)
instead of aborting.
· --keys-used=val, -k val
For myisamchk, the option value is a bit-value that indicates which
indexes to update. Each binary bit of the option value corresponds to a
table index, where the first index is bit 0. An option value of 0
disables updates to all indexes, which can be used to get faster
inserts. Deactivated indexes can be reactivated by using myisamchk -r.
· --max-record-length=len
Skip rows larger than the given length if myisamchk cannot allocate
memory to hold them.
· --parallel-recover, -p
Uses the same technique as -r and -n, but creates all the keys in
parallel, using different threads. This is beta-quality code. Use at
your own risk!
· --quick, -q
Achieve a faster repair by not modifying the data file. You can specify
this option twice to force myisamchk to modify the original data file in
case of duplicate keys.
· --recover, -r
Do a repair that can fix almost any problem except unique keys that
aren't unique (which is an extremely unlikely error with MyISAM tables).
If you want to recover a table, this is the option to try first. You
should try --safe-recover only if myisamchk reports that the table can't
be recovered using --recover. (In the unlikely case that --recover
fails, the data file remains intact.)
If you have lots of memory, you should increase the value of
sort_buffer_size.
· --safe-recover, -o
Do a repair using an old recovery method that reads through all rows in
order and updates all index trees based on the rows found. This is an
order of magnitude slower than --recover, but can handle a couple of
very unlikely cases that --recover cannot. This recovery method also
uses much less disk space than --recover. Normally, you should repair
first with --recover, and then with --safe-recover only if --recover
fails.
If you have lots of memory, you should increase the value of
key_buffer_size.
· --set-character-set=name
Change the character set used by the table indexes. This option was
replaced by --set-collation in MySQL 5.0.3.
· --set-collation=name
Specify the collation to use for sorting table indexes. The character
set name is implied by the first part of the collation name. This option
was added in MySQL 5.0.3.
· --sort-recover, -n
Force myisamchk to use sorting to resolve the keys even if the temporary
files would be very large.
· --tmpdir=path, -t path
Path of the directory to be used for storing temporary files. If this is
not set, myisamchk uses the value of the TMPDIR environment variable.
tmpdir can be set to a list of directory paths that are used
successively in round-robin fashion for creating temporary files. The
separator character between directory names is the colon (:) on Unix and
the semicolon (;) on Windows, NetWare, and OS/2.
· --unpack, -u
Unpack a table that was packed with myisampack.
OTHER MYISAMCHK OPTIONS
myisamchk supports the following options for actions other than table
checks and repairs:
· --analyze, -a
Analyze the distribution of key values. This improves join performance
by enabling the join optimizer to better choose the order in which to
join the tables and which indexes it should use. To obtain information
about the key distribution, use a myisamchk --description --verbose
tbl_name command or the SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name statement.
· --block-search=offset, -b offset
Find the record that a block at the given offset belongs to.
· --description, -d
Print some descriptive information about the table.
· --set-auto-increment[=value], -A[value]
Force AUTO_INCREMENT numbering for new records to start at the given
value (or higher, if there are existing records with AUTO_INCREMENT
values this large). If value is not specified, AUTO_INCREMENT numbers
for new records begin with the largest value currently in the table,
plus one.
· --sort-index, -S
Sort the index tree blocks in high-low order. This optimizes seeks and
makes table scans that use indexes faster.
· --sort-records=N, -R N
Sort records according to a particular index. This makes your data much
more localized and may speed up range-based SELECT and ORDER BY
operations that use this index. (The first time you use this option to
sort a table, it may be very slow.) To determine a table's index
numbers, use SHOW INDEX, which displays a table's indexes in the same
order that myisamchk sees them. Indexes are numbered beginning with 1.
If keys are not packed (PACK_KEYS=0)), they have the same length, so
when myisamchk sorts and moves records, it just overwrites record
offsets in the index. If keys are packed (PACK_KEYS=1), myisamchk must
unpack key blocks first, then re-create indexes and pack the key blocks
again. (In this case, re-creating indexes is faster than updating
offsets for each index.)
MYISAMCHK MEMORY USAGE
Memory allocation is important when you run myisamchk. myisamchk uses no
more memory than its memory-related variables are set to. If you are going
to use myisamchk on very large tables, you should first decide how much
memory you want it to use. The default is to use only about 3MB to perform
repairs. By using larger values, you can get myisamchk to operate faster.
For example, if you have more than 32MB RAM, you could use options such as
these (in addition to any other options you might specify):
shell> myisamchk --sort_buffer_size=16M --key_buffer_size=16M \
--read_buffer_size=1M --write_buffer_size=1M ...
Using --sort_buffer_size=16M should probably be enough for most cases.
Be aware that myisamchk uses temporary files in TMPDIR. If TMPDIR points to
a memory filesystem, you may easily get out of memory errors. If this
happens, run myisamchk with the --tmpdir=path option to specify some
directory located on a filesystem that has more space.
When repairing, myisamchk also needs a lot of disk space:
· Double the size of the data file (the original file and a copy). This
space is not needed if you do a repair with --quick; in this case, only
the index file is re-created. This space is needed on the same
filesystem as the original data file! (The copy is created in the same
directory as the original.)
· Space for the new index file that replaces the old one. The old index
file is truncated at the start of the repair operation, so you usually
ignore this space. This space is needed on the same filesystem as the
original index file!
· When using --recover or --sort-recover (but not when using
--safe-recover), you need space for a sort buffer. The following formula
yields the amount of space required:
(largest_key + row_pointer_length) x number_of_rows x 2
You can check the length of the keys and the row_pointer_length with
myisamchk -dv tbl_name. This space is allocated in the temporary directory
(specified by TMPDIR or --tmpdir=path).
If you have a problem with disk space during repair, you can try
--safe-recover instead of --recover.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1997-2007 MySQL AB
This documentation is NOT distributed under a GPL license. Use of this
documentation is subject to the following terms: You may create a printed
copy of this documentation solely for your own personal use. Conversion to
other formats is allowed as long as the actual content is not altered or
edited in any way. You shall not publish or distribute this documentation
in any form or on any media, except if you distribute the documentation in
a manner similar to how MySQL disseminates it (that is, electronically for
download on a Web site with the software) or on a CD-ROM or similar medium,
provided however that the documentation is disseminated together with the
software on the same medium. Any other use, such as any dissemination of
printed copies or use of this documentation, in whole or in part, in
another publication, requires the prior written consent from an authorized
representative of MySQL AB. MySQL AB reserves any and all rights to this
documentation not expressly granted above.
Please email <docs@mysql.com> for more information.
SEE ALSO
make_win_bin_dist(1), msql2mysql(1), my_print_defaults(1),
myisam_ftdump(1), myisamlog(1), myisampack(1), mysql(1), mysql.server(1),
mysql_config(1), mysql_explain_log(1), mysql_fix_privilege_tables(1),
mysql_install_db(1), mysql_tzinfo_to_sql(1), mysql_upgrade(1),
mysql_zap(1), mysqlaccess(1), mysqladmin(1), mysqlbinlog(1), mysqlcheck(1),
mysqld(8), mysqld_multi(1), mysqld_safe(1), mysqldump(1), mysqlhotcopy(1),
mysqlimport(1), mysqlmanager(8), mysqlshow(1), ndb_config(1), ndb_cpcd(1),
ndb_delete_all(1), ndb_desc(1), ndb_drop_index(1), ndb_drop_table(1),
ndb_error_reporter(1), ndb_mgm(1), ndb_mgmd(1), ndb_print_backup_file(1),
ndb_print_schema_file(1), ndb_print_sys_file(1), ndb_restore(1),
ndb_select_all(1), ndb_select_count(1), ndb_show_tables(1), ndb_size.pl(1),
ndb_waiter(1), ndbd(1), perror(1), replace(1), safe_mysqld(1)
For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which may
already be installed locally and which is also available online at
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/.
AUTHOR
MySQL AB (http://www.mysql.com/). This software comes with no warranty.
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Index for
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Alphabetical
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