13.7.2.4 OPTIMIZE TABLE Syntax

OPTIMIZE [NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG | LOCAL] TABLE
    tbl_name [, tbl_name] ...

Reorganizes the physical storage of table data and associated index data, to reduce storage space and improve I/O efficiency when accessing the table. The exact changes made to each table depend on the storage engine used by that table. This statement does not work with views.

Use OPTIMIZE TABLE in these cases, depending on the type of table:

• After doing substantial insert, update, or delete operations on an InnoDB table that has its own .ibd file because it was created with the innodb_file_per_table option enabled. The table and indexes are reorganized, and disk space can be reclaimed for use by the operating system.

• After doing substantial insert, update, or delete operations on columns that are part of a FULLTEXT index in an InnoDB table. Set the configuration option innodb_optimize_fulltext_only=1 first. To keep the index maintenance period to a reasonable time, set the innodb_ft_num_word_optimize option to specify how many words to update in the search index, and run a sequence of OPTIMIZE TABLE statements until the search index is fully updated.

• After deleting a large part of a MyISAM or ARCHIVE table, or making many changes to a MyISAM or ARCHIVE table with variable-length rows (tables that have VARCHAR, VARBINARY, BLOB, or TEXT columns). Deleted rows are maintained in a linked list and subsequent INSERT operations reuse old row positions. You can use OPTIMIZE TABLE to reclaim the unused space and to defragment the data file. After extensive changes to a table, this statement may also improve performance of statements that use the table, sometimes significantly.

This statement requires SELECT and INSERT privileges for the table.

OPTIMIZE TABLE is also supported for partitioned tables. For information about using this statement with partitioned tables and table partitions, see Section 19.3.4, “Maintenance of Partitions”.

In MySQL 5.6.11 only, gtid_next must be set to AUTOMATIC before issuing this statement. (Bug #16062608, Bug #16715809, Bug #69045)

OPTIMIZE TABLE works for InnoDB, MyISAM, and ARCHIVE tables. OPTIMIZE TABLE is also supported for dynamic columns of in-memory NDB tables. It does not work for Disk Data tables. The performance of OPTIMIZE on Cluster tables can be tuned by adjusting the value of the ndb_optimization_delay system variable, which controls the number of milliseconds to wait between processing batches of rows by OPTIMIZE TABLE. For more information, see Section 18.1.6.11, “Previous MySQL Cluster Issues Resolved in MySQL Cluster NDB 7.3”.

For MySQL Cluster tables, OPTIMIZE TABLE can be interrupted by (for example) killing the SQL thread performing the OPTIMIZE operation.

By default, OPTIMIZE TABLE does not work for tables created using any other storage engine and returns a result indicating this lack of support. You can make OPTIMIZE TABLE work for other storage engines by starting mysqld with the --skip-new option. In this case, OPTIMIZE TABLE is just mapped to ALTER TABLE.

InnoDB Details

For InnoDB tables, OPTIMIZE TABLE is mapped to ALTER TABLE ... FORCE, which rebuilds the table to update index statistics and free unused space in the clustered index. This is displayed in the output of OPTIMIZE TABLE when you run it on an InnoDB table, as shown here:

mysql> OPTIMIZE TABLE foo;
+----------+----------+----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table    | Op       | Msg_type | Msg_text                                                          |
+----------+----------+----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| test.foo | optimize | note     | Table does not support optimize, doing recreate + analyze instead |
| test.foo | optimize | status   | OK                                                                |
+----------+----------+----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Prior to Mysql 5.6.17, OPTIMIZE TABLE does not use online DDL (ALGORITHM=INPLACE). Consequently, concurrent DML (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) is not permitted on a table while OPTIMIZE TABLE is running, i.e. the table is locked. Also, secondary indexes are not created as efficiently because keys are inserted in the order they appeared in the primary key.

As of 5.6.17, OPTIMIZE TABLE uses online DDL (ALGORITHM=INPLACE) for both regular and partitioned InnoDB tables. The table rebuild, triggered by OPTIMIZE TABLE and performed under the cover by ALTER TABLE ... FORCE, is now performed using online DDL (ALGORITHM=INPLACE) and only locks the table for a brief interval, which reduces downtime for concurrent DML operations.

OPTIMIZE TABLE continues to use ALGORITHM=COPY under the following conditions:

• When the old_alter_table system variable is turned ON.

• When the mysqld --skip-new option is enabled.

OPTIMIZE TABLE using online DDL (ALGORITHM=INPLACE) is not supported for InnoDB tables that contain FULLTEXT indexes. ALGORITHM=COPY must be used instead.

InnoDB stores data using a page-allocation method and does not suffer from fragmentation in the same way that legacy storage engines (such as MyISAM) will. When considering whether or not to run optimize, consider the workload of transactions that your server will process:

• Some level of fragmentation is expected. InnoDB only fills pages 93% full, to leave room for updates without having to split pages.

• Delete operations might leave gaps that leave pages less filled than desired, which could make it worthwhile to optimize the table.

• Updates to rows usually rewrite the data within the same page, depending on the data type and row format, when sufficient space is available. See Section 14.6.5, “How Compression Works for InnoDB Tables” and Section 14.8.1, “Overview of InnoDB Row Storage”.

• High-concurrency workloads might leave gaps in indexes over time, as InnoDB retains multiple versions of the same data due through its MVCC mechanism. See Section 14.2.3, “InnoDB Multi-Versioning”.

MyISAM Details

For MyISAM tables, OPTIMIZE TABLE works as follows:

1. If the table has deleted or split rows, repair the table.

2. If the index pages are not sorted, sort them.

3. If the table's statistics are not up to date (and the repair could not be accomplished by sorting the index), update them.

Other Considerations

OPTIMIZE TABLE returns a result set with the following columns.

Column	Value
Table	The table name
Op	Always optimize
Msg_type	status, error, info, note, or warning
Msg_text	An informational message

For InnoDB tables prior to 5.6.17 and other table types, MySQL locks the table during the time OPTIMIZE TABLE is running. As of MySQL 5.6.17, OPTIMIZE TABLE is performed online for regular and partitioned InnoDB tables.

By default, the server writes OPTIMIZE TABLE statements to the binary log so that they replicate to replication slaves. To suppress logging, specify the optional NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG keyword or its alias LOCAL.

OPTIMIZE TABLE does not sort R-tree indexes, such as spatial indexes on POINT columns. (Bug #23578)

OPTIMIZE TABLE table catches and throws any errors that occur while copying table statistics from the old file to the newly created file. For example. if the user ID of the owner of the .frm, .MYD, or .MYI file is different from the user ID of the mysqld process, OPTIMIZE TABLE generates a "cannot change ownership of the file" error unless mysqld is started by the root user.