MYISAMCHK(1) MySQL Database System MYISAMCHK(1)
NAME
myisamchk - MyISAM table-maintenance utility
SYNOPSIS
myisamchk [options] tbl_name ...
DESCRIPTION
The myisamchk utility gets information about your database tables or checks, repairs, or optimizes
them. myisamchk works with MyISAM tables (tables that have .MYD and .MYI files for storing data and
indexes).
Caution
It is best to make a backup of a table before performing a table repair operation; under some
circumstances the operation might cause data loss. Possible causes include but are not limited to
filesystem errors.
Invoke myisamchk like this:
shell> myisamchk [options] tbl_name ...
The options specify what you want myisamchk to do. They are described in the following sections. You
can also get a list of options by invoking myisamchk --help.
With no options, myisamchk simply checks your table as the default operation. To get more information
or to tell myisamchk to take corrective action, specify options as described in the following
discussion.
tbl_name is the database table you want to check or repair. If you run myisamchk somewhere other than
in the database directory, you must specify the path to the database directory, because myisamchk has
no idea where the database is located. In fact, myisamchk doesn't actually care whether the files you
are working on are located in a database directory. You can copy the files that correspond to a
database table into some other location and perform recovery operations on them there.
You can name several tables on the myisamchk command line if you wish. You can also specify a table
by naming its index file (the file with the .MYI suffix). This allows you to specify all tables in a
directory by using the pattern *.MYI. For example, if you are in a database directory, you can check
all the MyISAM tables in that directory like this:
shell> myisamchk *.MYI
If you are not in the database directory, you can check all the tables there by specifying the path
to the directory:
shell> myisamchk /path/to/database_dir/*.MYI
You can even check all tables in all databases by specifying a wildcard with the path to the MySQL
data directory:
shell> myisamchk /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
The recommended way to quickly check all MyISAM tables is:
shell> myisamchk --silent --fast /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
shell> isamchk --silent /path/to/datadir/*/*.ISM
If you want to check all MyISAM tables and repair any that are corrupted, you can use the following
command:
shell> myisamchk --silent --force --fast --update-state \
--key_buffer_size=64M --sort_buffer_size=64M \
--read_buffer_size=1M --write_buffer_size=1M \
/path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
shell> isamchk --silent --force --key_buffer_size=64M \
--sort_buffer_size=64M --read_buffer_size=1M --write_buffer_size=1M \
/path/to/datadir/*/*.ISM
This command assumes that you have more than 64MB free. For more information about memory allocation
with myisamchk, see the section called "MYISAMCHK MEMORY USAGE".
MySQL Enterprise. For expert advice on checking and repairing tables, subscribe to the MySQL Network
Monitoring and Advisory Service. For more information see
http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/advisors.html
Important
You must ensure that no other program is using the tables while you are running myisamchk. The most
effective means of doing so is to shut down the MySQL server while running myisamchk, or to lock all
tables that myisamchk is being used on.
Otherwise, when you run myisamchk, it may display the following error message:
warning: clients are using or haven't closed the table properly
This means that you are trying to check a table that has been updated by another program (such as the
mysqld server) that hasn't yet closed the file or that has died without closing the file properly,
which can sometimes lead to the corruption of one or more MyISAM tables.
If mysqld is running, you must force it to flush any table modifications that are still buffered in
memory by using FLUSH TABLES. You should then ensure that no one is using the tables while you are
running myisamchk
However, the easiest way to avoid this problem is to use CHECK TABLE instead of myisamchk to check
tables. See Section 5.2.3, "CHECK TABLE Syntax".
MYISAMCHK GENERAL OPTIONS
The options described in this section can be used for any type of table maintenance operation
performed by myisamchk. The sections following this one describe options that pertain only to
specific operations, such as table checking or repairing.
--help, -?
Display a help message and exit.
--debug=debug_options, -# debug_options
Write a debugging log. The debug_options string often is 'd:t:o,file_name'.
--silent, -s
Silent mode. Write output only when errors occur. You can use -s twice (-ss) to make myisamchk
very silent.
--verbose, -v
Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. This can be used with -d and -e.
Use -v multiple times (-vv, -vvv) for even more output.
--version, -V
Display version information and exit.
--wait, -w
Instead of terminating with an error if the table is locked, wait until the table is unlocked
before continuing. If you are running mysqld with external locking disabled, the table can be
locked only by another myisamchk command.
You can also set the following variables by using --var_name=value syntax:
+------------------+-------------------+
|Variable | Default Value |
+------------------+-------------------+
|sort_key_blocks | 16 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|stats_method | nulls_unequal |
+------------------+-------------------+
|write_buffer_size | 262136 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|decode_bits | 9 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|ft_max_word_len | version-dependent |
+------------------+-------------------+
|ft_min_word_len | 4 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|ft_stopword_file | built-in list |
+------------------+-------------------+
|key_buffer_size | 523264 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|myisam_block_size | 1024 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|read_buffer_size | 262136 |
+------------------+-------------------+
|sort_buffer_size | 2097144 |
+------------------+-------------------+
It is also possible to set variables by using --set-variable=var_name=value or -O var_name=value
syntax. However, this syntax is deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.
The possible myisamchk variables and their default values can be examined with myisamchk --help:
sort_buffer_size is used when the keys are repaired by sorting keys, which is the normal case when
you use --recover.
key_buffer_size is used when you are checking the table with --extend-check or when the keys are
repaired by inserting keys row by row into the table (like when doing normal inserts). Repairing
through the key buffer is used in the following cases:
You use --safe-recover.
The temporary files needed to sort the keys would be more than twice as big as when creating the
key file directly. This is often the case when you have large key values for CHAR, VARCHAR, or
TEXT columns, because the sort operation needs to store the complete key values as it proceeds. If
you have lots of temporary space and you can force myisamchk to repair by sorting, you can use the
--sort-recover option.
Repairing through the key buffer takes much less disk space than using sorting, but is also much
slower.
If you want a faster repair, set the key_buffer_size and sort_buffer_size variables to about 25% of
your available memory. You can set both variables to large values, because only one of them is used
at a time.
myisam_block_size is the size used for index blocks.
stats_method influences how NULL values are treated for index statistics collection when the
--analyze option is given. It acts like the myisam_stats_method system variable. For more
information, see the description of myisam_stats_method in the section called "SYSTEM VARIABLES", and
Section 4.7, "MyISAM Index Statistics Collection". For MySQL 5.0, stats_method was added in MySQL
5.0.14. For older versions, the statistics collection method is equivalent to nulls_equal.
The ft_min_word_len and ft_max_word_len variables are available as of MySQL 4.0.0. ft_stopword_file
is available as of MySQL 4.0.19.
ft_min_word_len and ft_max_word_len indicate the minimum and maximum word length for FULLTEXT
indexes. ft_stopword_file names the stopword file. These need to be set under the following
circumstances.
If you use myisamchk to perform an operation that modifies table indexes (such as repair or analyze),
the FULLTEXT indexes are rebuilt using the default full-text parameter values for minimum and maximum
word length and the stopword file unless you specify otherwise. This can result in queries failing.
The problem occurs because these parameters are known only by the server. They are not stored in
MyISAM index files. To avoid the problem if you have modified the minimum or maximum word length or
the stopword file in the server, specify the same ft_min_word_len, ft_max_word_len, and
ft_stopword_file values to myisamchk that you use for mysqld. For example, if you have set the
minimum word length to 3, you can repair a table with myisamchk like this:
shell> myisamchk --recover --ft_min_word_len=3 tbl_name.MYI
To ensure that myisamchk and the server use the same values for full-text parameters, you can place
each one in both the [mysqld] and [myisamchk] sections of an option file:
[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=3
[myisamchk]
ft_min_word_len=3
An alternative to using myisamchk is to use the REPAIR TABLE, ANALYZE TABLE, OPTIMIZE TABLE, or ALTER
TABLE. These statements are performed by the server, which knows the proper full-text parameter
values to use.
MYISAMCHK CHECK OPTIONS
myisamchk supports the following options for table checking operations:
--check, -c
Check the table for errors. This is the default operation if you specify no option that selects an
operation type explicitly.
--check-only-changed, -C
Check only tables that have changed since the last check.
--extend-check, -e
Check the table very thoroughly. This is quite slow if the table has many indexes. This option
should only be used in extreme cases. Normally, myisamchk or myisamchk --medium-check should be
able to determine whether there are any errors in the table.
If you are using --extend-check and have plenty of memory, setting the key_buffer_size variable to
a large value helps the repair operation run faster.
--fast, -F
Check only tables that haven't been closed properly.
--force, -f
Do a repair operation automatically if myisamchk finds any errors in the table. The repair type is
the same as that specified with the --recover or -r option.
--information, -i
Print informational statistics about the table that is checked.
--medium-check, -m
Do a check that is faster than an --extend-check operation. This finds only 99.99% of all errors,
which should be good enough in most cases.
--read-only, -T
Don't mark the table as checked. This is useful if you use myisamchk to check a table that is in
use by some other application that doesn't use locking, such as mysqld when run with external
locking disabled.
--update-state, -U
Store information in the .MYI file to indicate when the table was checked and whether the table
crashed. This should be used to get full benefit of the --check-only-changed option, but you
shouldn't use this option if the mysqld server is using the table and you are running it with
external locking disabled.
MYISAMCHK REPAIR OPTIONS
myisamchk supports the following options for table repair operations:
--backup, -B
Make a backup of the .MYD file as file_name-time.BAK
--character-sets-dir=path
The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 8.1, "The Character Set Used for
Data and Sorting".
--correct-checksum
Correct the checksum information for the table.
--data-file-length=len, -D len
Maximum length of the data file (when re-creating data file when it is "full").
--extend-check, -e
Do a repair that tries to recover every possible row from the data file. Normally, this also finds
a lot of garbage rows. Don't use this option unless you are desperate.
--force, -f
Overwrite old intermediate files (files with names like tbl_name.TMD) instead of aborting.
--keys-used=val, -k val
For myisamchk, the option value is a bit-value that indicates which indexes to update. Each binary
bit of the option value corresponds to a table index, where the first index is bit 0. An option
value of 0 disables updates to all indexes, which can be used to get faster inserts. Deactivated
indexes can be reactivated by using myisamchk -r.
--no-symlinks, -l
Do not follow symbolic links. Normally myisamchk repairs the table that a symlink points to. This
option does not exist as of MySQL 4.0 because versions from 4.0 on do not remove symlinks during
repair operations.
--max-record-length=len
Skip rows larger than the given length if myisamchk cannot allocate memory to hold them.
--parallel-recover, -p
Uses the same technique as -r and -n, but creates all the keys in parallel, using different
threads. This is beta-quality code. Use at your own risk!
--quick, -q
Achieve a faster repair by not modifying the data file. You can specify this option twice to force
myisamchk to modify the original data file in case of duplicate keys.
--recover, -r
Do a repair that can fix almost any problem except unique keys that aren't unique (which is an
extremely unlikely error with MyISAM tables). If you want to recover a table, this is the option
to try first. You should try --safe-recover only if myisamchk reports that the table can't be
recovered using --recover. (In the unlikely case that --recover fails, the data file remains
intact.)
If you have lots of memory, you should increase the value of sort_buffer_size.
--safe-recover, -o
Do a repair using an old recovery method that reads through all rows in order and updates all
index trees based on the rows found. This is an order of magnitude slower than --recover, but can
handle a couple of very unlikely cases that --recover cannot. This recovery method also uses much
less disk space than --recover. Normally, you should repair first with --recover, and then with
--safe-recover only if --recover fails.
If you have lots of memory, you should increase the value of key_buffer_size.
--set-character-set=name
Change the character set used by the table indexes. This option was replaced by --set-collation in
MySQL 5.0.3.
--set-collation=name
Specify the collation to use for sorting table indexes. The character set name is implied by the
first part of the collation name. This option was added in MySQL 5.0.3.
--sort-recover, -n
Force myisamchk to use sorting to resolve the keys even if the temporary files would be very
large.
--tmpdir=path, -t path
Path of the directory to be used for storing temporary files. If this is not set, myisamchk uses
the value of the TMPDIR environment variable. tmpdir can be set to a list of directory paths that
are used successively in round-robin fashion for creating temporary files. The separator character
between directory names is the colon (`:') on Unix and the semicolon (`;') on Windows, NetWare,
and OS/2.
--unpack, -u
Unpack a table that was packed with myisampack.
OTHER MYISAMCHK OPTIONS
myisamchk supports the following options for actions other than table checks and repairs:
--analyze, -a
Analyze the distribution of key values. This improves join performance by enabling the join
optimizer to better choose the order in which to join the tables and which indexes it should use.
To obtain information about the key distribution, use a myisamchk --description --verbose tbl_name
command or the SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name statement.
MySQL Enterprise. For expert advice on optimizing tables, subscribe to the MySQL Network Monitoring
and Advisory Service. For more information see
http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/advisors.html
--block-search=offset, -b offset
Find the record that a block at the given offset belongs to.
--description, -d
Print some descriptive information about the table.
--set-auto-increment[=value], -A[value]
Force AUTO_INCREMENT numbering for new records to start at the given value (or higher, if there
are existing records with AUTO_INCREMENT values this large). If value is not specified,
AUTO_INCREMENT numbers for new records begin with the largest value currently in the table, plus
one.
--sort-index, -S
Sort the index tree blocks in high-low order. This optimizes seeks and makes table scans that use
indexes faster.
--sort-records=N, -R N
Sort records according to a particular index. This makes your data much more localized and may
speed up range-based SELECT and ORDER BY operations that use this index. (The first time you use
this option to sort a table, it may be very slow.) To determine a table's index numbers, use SHOW
INDEX, which displays a table's indexes in the same order that myisamchk sees them. Indexes are
numbered beginning with 1.
If keys are not packed (PACK_KEYS=0), they have the same length, so when myisamchk sorts and moves
records, it just overwrites record offsets in the index. If keys are packed (PACK_KEYS=1),
myisamchk must unpack key blocks first, then re-create indexes and pack the key blocks again. (In
this case, re-creating indexes is faster than updating offsets for each index.)
MYISAMCHK MEMORY USAGE
Memory allocation is important when you run myisamchk. myisamchk uses no more memory than its
memory-related variables are set to. If you are going to use myisamchk on very large tables, you
should first decide how much memory you want it to use. The default is to use only about 3MB to
perform repairs. By using larger values, you can get myisamchk to operate faster. For example, if you
have more than 32MB RAM, you could use options such as these (in addition to any other options you
might specify):
shell> myisamchk --sort_buffer_size=16M --key_buffer_size=16M \
--read_buffer_size=1M --write_buffer_size=1M ...
Using --sort_buffer_size=16M should probably be enough for most cases.
Be aware that myisamchk uses temporary files in TMPDIR. If TMPDIR points to a memory filesystem, you
may easily get out of memory errors. If this happens, run myisamchk with the --tmpdir=path option to
specify some directory located on a filesystem that has more space.
When repairing, myisamchk also needs a lot of disk space:
Double the size of the data file (the original file and a copy). This space is not needed if you
do a repair with --quick; in this case, only the index file is re-created. This space is needed on
the same filesystem as the original data file! (The copy is created in the same directory as the
original.)
Space for the new index file that replaces the old one. The old index file is truncated at the
start of the repair operation, so you usually ignore this space. This space is needed on the same
filesystem as the original index file!
When using --recover or --sort-recover (but not when using --safe-recover), you need space for a
sort buffer. The following formula yields the amount of space required:
(largest_key + row_pointer_length) x number_of_rows x 2
You can check the length of the keys and the row_pointer_length with myisamchk -dv tbl_name. This
space is allocated in the temporary directory (specified by TMPDIR or --tmpdir=path).
If you have a problem with disk space during repair, you can try --safe-recover instead of --recover.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1997-2007 MySQL AB
This documentation is NOT distributed under a GPL license. Use of this documentation is subject to
the following terms: You may create a printed copy of this documentation solely for your own personal
use. Conversion to other formats is allowed as long as the actual content is not altered or edited in
any way. You shall not publish or distribute this documentation in any form or on any media, except
if you distribute the documentation in a manner similar to how MySQL disseminates it (that is,
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provided however that the documentation is disseminated together with the software on the same
medium. Any other use, such as any dissemination of printed copies or use of this documentation, in
whole or in part, in another publication, requires the prior written consent from an authorized
representative of MySQL AB. MySQL AB reserves any and all rights to this documentation not expressly
granted above.
Please email <docs@mysql.com> for more information.
SEE ALSO
For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which may already be installed
locally and which is also available online at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/
AUTHOR
MySQL AB (http://www.mysql.com/) This software comes with no warranty.
MySQL 5.0 07/04/2007 MYISAMCHK(1)
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