Se eseguo ciò che hai fatto sopra, ottengo
EXPLAIN select * from stats_clicked s
join visitor v on s.visitor_id=v.id
+----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+--------+---------+--------------------+------+-------------+
| id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra |
+----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+--------+---------+--------------------+------+-------------+
| 1 | SIMPLE | v | ALL | PRIMARY | NULL | NULL | NULL | 15 | NULL |
| 1 | SIMPLE | s | ref | index3,index1 | index3 | 4 | so_gibberish2.v.id | 1 | Using index |
+----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+--------+---------+--------------------+------+-------------+
Tuttavia, se tronco, eseguo il seguente caricamento di molti dati (che finiscono con oltre 100.000 righe):
truncate table visitor;
insert into visitor (`visited_time`) values
(1467122944),(1467122944),(1467122944),
(1467122944),(1467122944),(1467122944),
(1467122944),(1467122944),(1467122944),
(1467122944),(1467122944),(1467122944),
(1467122944),(1467122944),(1467122944);
insert into visitor (`visited_time`) values
(1467122945),(1467122945),(1467122945),
(1467122945),(1467122945),(1467122945),
(1467122945),(1467122945),(1467122945),
(1467122945),(1467122945),(1467122945),
(1467122945),(1467122945),(1467122945),
insert into visitor (`visited_time`) values
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946),
(1467122946),(1467122946),(1467122946);
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
insert visitor(`visited_time`) select `visited_time` from visitor;
select count(*) from visitor;
-- 104448 rows
Ciò si traduce in NON una scansione della tabella:
EXPLAIN select * from stats_clicked s
join visitor v on s.visitor_id=v.id;
+----+-------------+-------+--------+---------------+---------+---------+----------------------------+------+-------------+
| id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra |
+----+-------------+-------+--------+---------------+---------+---------+----------------------------+------+-------------+
| 1 | SIMPLE | s | index | index3,index1 | index3 | 9 | NULL | 22 | Using index |
| 1 | SIMPLE | v | eq_ref | PRIMARY | PRIMARY | 4 | so_gibberish2.s.visitor_id | 1 | NULL |
+----+-------------+-------+--------+---------------+---------+---------+----------------------------+------+-------------+
Il motivo è elencato nella pagina del manuale Come MySQL utilizza gli indici :
Il motivo è elencato sopra. Nell'esempio della tua domanda, avevi troppe poche righe per far valere la pena utilizzare l'indice. Quindi il motore db ha scelto il suo modo presumibilmente (e probabilmente) più veloce per non utilizzare l'indice sul tuo tavolino.
