Use an underscore _ as primary key in MySQL

Question

I wanted to have a primary key in the form of 1_5_4 where

1 is user id

5 is comp id

4 is round id

Could anyone tell me if this is good/bad practice for MySQL p key design and how it would affect indexing etc.. I know you are meant to keep the p key short but I'm willing to sacrifice this for simplicity of the db design.

Thanks,

very bad design. normalize your table always. It's a table that colntains 3 columns: `userID`, `compID`, `roundID` — John Woo, Mar 14 '13 at 11:36

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

5

This is a more confusing db design. I would reccommend the following:

user_id
comp_id
round_id

as separate fields. You can then configure a composite primary key to cover all 3 fields ensuring uniqueness accross all 3

This question may be useful. How to properly create composite primary keys - MYSQL

edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

Community

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answered Mar 14 '13 at 11:36

cowls

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Use an underscore _ as primary key in MySQL

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