Is MYSQL faster at finding a username (i.e string) or a user ID (i.e integer)?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Is there a REAL performance difference between INT and VARCHAR primary keys?

I am looking to create an effective table that is supposed to be very big. I want to ease the server's work load as much as I can.

In a MYSQL query, should I search a certain row by looking for a user ID (number) or a username (string)?

What is the fastest?

Thanks a lot for your help

Regards

Simple google search found: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/332300/is-there-a-real-performance-difference-between-int-and-varchar-primary-keys — Mike Purcell, Mar 05 '12 at 23:12

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 05 '12 at 23:16

2

MySQL is faster when working with integers, and furthermore faster when working with an integer in which has and index -- exactly what user_id's are meant for! :)

usually an ID row would look like this:

create table `table_name` (
`id` int unsigned not null auto_increment primary key
...

answered Mar 05 '12 at 23:16

Ben Ashton

1,385
10
15

Hi Ben, Thanks for your response! Regards – eric01 Mar 06 '12 at 01:21
2

can you point to a documentation or some property of mysql indicating why are integers faster than string assuming both such columns have been indexed. – Nikhil Sahu May 31 '16 at 08:20

Is MYSQL faster at finding a username (i.e string) or a user ID (i.e integer)?

1 Answers1