Home/ Questions/Q 7758005
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-06-01T13:14:40+00:00

I have a MySQL table that looks like this: `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL

  • 0

I have a MySQL table that looks like this:

`id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`company_id` int(8) unsigned NOT NULL,
`term_type` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`term` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',

I would like to be able to do this…

INSERT IGNORE INTO table ( company_id, term_type, term )
VALUES( a_company_id, 'a_term_type', 'a_term' )

… but I’d like the insert to be ignored when the same combination of company_id, term_type and term already exists. I am aware that if I have a unique index on a single field when I try to insert a duplicate value, the insert will be ignored. Is there a way to do the combo that I’m attempting? Could I use a multi-column index?

I’m trying to avoid doing a SELECT to check for this combination before every insert. As I’m processing hundreds of millions of rows of data into this table.

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If you use the IGNORE keyword, errors that occur while executing the INSERT statement are treated as warnings instead. For example, without IGNORE, a row that duplicates an existing UNIQUE index or PRIMARY KEY value in the table causes a duplicate-key error and the statement is aborted. With IGNORE, the row still is not inserted, but no error is issued.

    So if you have a multicolumn primary key – it works.

    • 0