{"id":14327,"date":"2024-03-15T08:54:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T08:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silicloud.com\/blog\/how-to-view-the-execution-plan-of-mysql\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T07:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:17:23","slug":"how-to-view-the-execution-plan-of-mysql","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silicloud.com\/blog\/how-to-view-the-execution-plan-of-mysql\/","title":{"rendered":"MySQL EXPLAIN: View Execution Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

To view the execution plan of MySQL queries, you can use the keyword EXPLAIN. Simply place the EXPLAIN keyword before the SQL statement and then execute the query. For example:<\/p>\n

Can you provide an explanation for the query “SELECT * FROM table_name”?<\/p>\n

This will return an execution plan, showing how MySQL will execute the query and providing information about the indexes and operations used by the query optimizer.<\/p>\n

The meanings of each column in the execution plan are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. ID: Displays the unique identifier for the query. For the same query, the ID remains the same.<\/li>\n
  2. select_type: the type of query being performed, such as SIMPLE or SUBQUERY.<\/li>\n
  3. The table displays the names of the tables involved in the query.<\/li>\n
  4. Partitions: Display information about the partitions involved in the query.<\/li>\n
  5. Type: Specifies the access method used to execute queries, such as ALL (full table scan), index (using an index), or range (using a range scan).<\/li>\n
  6. possible_keys: shows the indexes that could possibly be used in a query.<\/li>\n
  7. Key: Displays the index actually used in the query.<\/li>\n
  8. key_len: indicates the length of the index used in the query.<\/li>\n
  9. Reference: Displays the reference column of the index used in the query.<\/li>\n
  10. rows: displays the number of rows scanned in the query.<\/li>\n
  11. Filtered: Displays the filtering ratio between the results of the query and the total number of rows in the table.<\/li>\n
  12. Show additional execution information, such as the use of temporary tables or file sorting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    By analyzing the execution plan, one can understand the performance of a query and optimize it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    To view the execution plan of MySQL queries, you can use the keyword EXPLAIN. Simply place the EXPLAIN keyword before the SQL statement and then execute the query. For example: Can you provide an explanation for the query “SELECT * FROM table_name”? This will return an execution plan, showing how MySQL will execute the query […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[284,1685,4911,298,411],"class_list":["post-14327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-database","tag-execution-plan","tag-explain","tag-mysql","tag-query-optimization"],"yoast_head":"\nMySQL EXPLAIN: View Execution Plans - Blog - Silicon Cloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to use MySQL EXPLAIN to analyze query execution plans. 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