Indexes and query behavior is usually pretty tied to the way a particular database engine works - and I don't know SQLlite at all, so I can't really help you with specifics.

However, your table schema is exceedingly simple, so you really only have two choices:

create unique index left_ix on words(left)
[download]

or

create unique index left_ix on words(left, right)
[download]

(and their opposites).

The first form is more "correct" - you really only want the key in the index. The second form may give you slightly better performance, at the expense of allowing duplicate "left" words into the table as long as they point at a different "right" word, and slightly more work during inserts (index maintenance is a little more complicated).

Personally I'd use the first form (index on "left", and a separate index on "right").

Michael

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.