Does HEAP mean the same thing with a table that has Non-Clustered index?

Question

In terms of SQL terminology, does HEAP stands for a table that has Non-Clustered index?

Or there is a nuance or it has completely a different meaning?

A heap table is a table that has no clustered index. Only one index can be the clustered index so if a table has more than one index, only one of them may be the clustered index. — Mikael Eriksson, Apr 01 '12 at 21:20

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 01 '12 at 21:55

A heap can have either no index at all or a non-clustered index. But a clustered table can also have non-clustered indexs on top so -

does HEAP stands for a table that has Non-Clustered index?

is not a great definition as a table with a non-clustered index could be either a clustered table or a heap.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '12 at 22:34

0

A heap is a table without a clustered index. Simple as that!

answered Apr 01 '12 at 22:34

Diego

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 01 '12 at 23:18

A heap is a table without a clustered index. Heaps have one row in sys.partitions, with index_id = 0 for each partition used by the heap. By default, a heap has a single partition. When a heap has multiple partitions, each partition has a heap structure that contains the data for that specific partition.

Does HEAP mean the same thing with a table that has Non-Clustered index?

3 Answers3