Is there a way in MySQL to implicitly create a primary key for a table?

Question

In MySQL, when CREATE TABLE, is there a way for MySQL to implicitly create a column (ie a column not explicitly declared in CREATE TABLE command) as the primary key of the table?

Thanks.

Answer 1

No, the PRIMARY KEY needs to be defined on the table.

You may be thinking about this , which applies to InnoDB engine:

If the table has no PRIMARY KEY or suitable UNIQUE index, InnoDB internally generates a hidden clustered index named GEN_CLUST_INDEX on a synthetic column containing row ID values. The rows are ordered by the ID that InnoDB assigns to the rows in such a table. The row ID is a 6-byte field that increases monotonically as new rows are inserted. Thus, the rows ordered by the row ID are physically in insertion order.

Below is an example that shows this index's creation for a table with no PRIMARY KEY and no UNIQUE column.

# Create the table
create table test.check_table (id int, description varchar(10)) ENGINE = INNODB;

# Verify that there is no primary or unique column
desc test.check_table;
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field       | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id          | int(11)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| description | varchar(10) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+


# Insert some values
insert into test.check_table values(1, 'value-1');
insert into test.check_table values(2, 'value-2');
insert into test.check_table values(null, 'value-3');
insert into test.check_table values(4, null);
insert into test.check_table values(1, 'value-1');


# Verify table
select * from test.check_table;
+------+-------------+
| id   | description |
+------+-------------+
|    1 | value-1     |
|    2 | value-2     |
| NULL | value-3     |
|    4 | NULL        |
|    1 | value-1     |
+------+-------------+


# Verify that the GEN_CLUST_INDEX index is auto-created.
select * from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_INDEX_STATS where TABLE_SCHEMA='test' and TABLE_NAME = 'check_table';
+--------------+-------------+-----------------+--------+--------------+-------------------+------------------+
| table_schema | table_name  | index_name      | fields | rows_per_key | index_total_pages | index_leaf_pages |
+--------------+-------------+-----------------+--------+--------------+-------------------+------------------+
| test         | check_table | GEN_CLUST_INDEX |      1 | 5            |                 1 |                1 |
+--------------+-------------+-----------------+--------+--------------+-------------------+------------------+

# Duplicate rows are still allowed (Primary Key constraints not enforced)

insert into test.check_table values(1, 'value-1');

select * from test.check_table;
+------+-------------+
| id   | description |
+------+-------------+
|    1 | value-1     |
|    2 | value-2     |
| NULL | value-3     |
|    4 | NULL        |
|    1 | value-1     |
|    5 | value-5     |
|    1 | value-1     |
+------+-------------+

To contrast, a table with a PRIMARY KEY specified creates an index with name PRIMARY.

# Create another table
create table test.check_table_2 (id int, description varchar(10), PRIMARY KEY(id)) ENGINE = INNODB;

# Verify primary key column
desc check_table_2;
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field       | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id          | int(11)     | NO   | PRI | 0       |       |
| description | varchar(10) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

# Verify index
select * from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_INDEX_STATS where TABLE_SCHEMA='test' and TABLE_NAME = 'check_table_2';
+--------------+---------------+------------+--------+--------------+-------------------+------------------+
| table_schema | table_name    | index_name | fields | rows_per_key | index_total_pages | index_leaf_pages |
+--------------+---------------+------------+--------+--------------+-------------------+------------------+
| test         | check_table_2 | PRIMARY    |      1 | 0            |                 1 |                1 |
+--------------+---------------+------------+--------+--------------+-------------------+------------------+

# Primary key is enforced
insert into check_table_2 values(1,'value-1');
OK

insert into check_table_2 values(1,'value-1');
ERROR 1062 (23000): Duplicate entry '1' for key 'PRIMARY'