Ok, so I guess it is more complicated than that.

This query which has 5M records that match its criteria returns
instantly:

 SELECT ELEMS.id
 FROM ELEMS 
 WHERE ((
        ELEMS.nodeID IN (
                SELECT link.childID 
                FROM link 
                JOIN path ON link.parentID=path.decendantId 
                WHERE (path.ancestorId = 1)))) 
 LIMIT 0,100;

Now if I change the ancestorId criteria to a node group that does not
exist the query takes a very long time. Btw, it also looks like this is
being optimized into a less efficient EXISTS query. Anyway, the join
version doesn't have the same problem, it is fast if it is searching for
a conditions that has results or one that has none. Note that the JOIN
version requires a SELECT in case a node has multiple ancestors.

 SELECT DISTINCT ELEMS.id
 FROM ELEMS 
 JOIN link ON ELEMS.nodeID = link.childID
 JOIN path ON link.parentID=path.decendantId 
 WHERE (path.ancestorId = 1) 
 LIMIT 0,100;

Anyone have any ideas why this is the case? 



-----Original Message-----
From: Robert DiFalco [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 1:11 PM
To: mysql@lists.mysql.com
Subject: Need confirmation: Subselects are broken with regards to index
usage?

I think I'm discovering that sub-selects in MySQL are broken. Is that
true? It seems like you cannot have a sub-select without doing a table
scan -- even for a constant IN expression -- this because it gets
re-written as an EXISTS that executes for each row.
 
Is that true? Forcing an index doesn't even seem to help. 
 
R.


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