SQL keys, MUL vs PRI vs UNI

DESCRIBE <table>; 

This is acutally a shortcut for:

SHOW COLUMNS FROM <table>;

In any case, there are three possible values for the "Key" attribute:

1. PRI
2. UNI
3. MUL

The meaning of PRI and UNI are quite clear:

• PRI => primary key
• UNI => unique key

The third possibility, MUL, (which you asked about) is basically an index that is neither a primary key nor a unique key. The name comes from "multiple" because multiple occurrences of the same value are allowed. Straight from the MySQL documentation:

If Key is MUL, the column is the first column of a nonunique index in which multiple occurrences of a given value are permitted within the column.

There is also a final caveat:

If more than one of the Key values applies to a given column of a table, Key displays the one with the highest priority, in the order PRI, UNI, MUL.

As a general note, the MySQL documentation is quite good. When in doubt, check it out!

It means that the field is (part of) a non-unique index. You can issue

show create table <table>;

To see more information about the table structure.

Walkthough on what is MUL, PRI and UNI in MySQL?

From the MySQL 5.7 documentation:

• If Key is PRI, the column is a PRIMARY KEY or is one of the columns in a multiple-column PRIMARY KEY.
• If Key is UNI, the column is the first column of a UNIQUE index. (A UNIQUE index permits multiple NULL values, but you can tell whether the column permits NULL by checking the Null field.)
• If Key is MUL, the column is the first column of a nonunique index in which multiple occurrences of a given value are permitted within the column.

Live Examples

Control group, this example has neither PRI, MUL, nor UNI:

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

A table with one column and an index on the one column has a MUL:

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT, index(foo));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

A table with a column that is a primary key has PRI

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT primary key);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | NO   | PRI | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

A table with a column that is a unique key has UNI:

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT unique);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | YES  | UNI | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

A table with an index covering foo and bar has MUL only on foo:

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT, bar INT, index(foo, bar));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       |
| bar   | int(11) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

A table with two separate indexes on two columns has MUL for each one

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT, bar int, index(foo), index(bar));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       |
| bar   | int(11) | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

A table with an Index spanning three columns has MUL on the first:

mysql> create table penguins (foo INT, 
       bar INT, 
       baz INT, 
       INDEX name (foo, bar, baz));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| foo   | int(11) | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       |
| bar   | int(11) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| baz   | int(11) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

A table with a foreign key that references another table's primary key is MUL

mysql> create table penguins(id int primary key);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> create table skipper(id int, foreign key(id) references penguins(id));
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> desc skipper;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id    | int(11) | YES  | MUL | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> desc penguins;
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id    | int(11) | NO   | PRI | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Stick that in your neocortex and set the dial to "frappe".