Jika ada kolom yang diindeks berisi nilai bukan nol, baris itu akan diindeks. Seperti yang Anda lihat dalam contoh berikut, hanya satu baris yang tidak diindeks dan itu adalah baris yang memiliki NULL di kedua kolom yang diindeks. Anda juga dapat melihat bahwa Oracle pasti mengindeks baris ketika kolom indeks utama memiliki nilai NULL.
SQL> create table big_table as
2 select object_id as pk_col
3 , object_name as col_1
4 , object_name as col_2
5 from all_objects
6 /
Table created.
SQL> select count(*) from big_table
2 /
COUNT(*)
----------
69238
SQL> insert into big_table values (9999990, null, null)
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into big_table values (9999991, 'NEW COL 1', null)
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into big_table values (9999992, null, 'NEW COL 2')
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> select count(*) from big_table
2 /
COUNT(*)
----------
69241
SQL> create index big_i on big_table(col_1, col_2)
2 /
Index created.
SQL> exec dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(user, 'BIG_TABLE', cascade=>TRUE)
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> select num_rows from user_indexes where index_name = 'BIG_I'
2 /
NUM_ROWS
----------
69240
SQL> set autotrace traceonly exp
SQL>
SQL> select pk_col from big_table
2 where col_1 = 'NEW COL 1'
3 /
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 1387873879
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 2 | 60 | 4 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| BIG_TABLE | 2 | 60 | 4 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 2 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | BIG_I | 2 | | 3 (0)| 00:00:01 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("COL_1"='NEW COL 1')
SQL> select pk_col from big_table
2 where col_2 = 'NEW COL 2'
3 /
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 3993303771
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 2 | 60 | 176 (1)| 00:00:03 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| BIG_TABLE | 2 | 60 | 176 (1)| 00:00:03 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
1 - filter("COL_2"='NEW COL 2')
SQL> select pk_col from big_table
2 where col_1 is null
3 and col_2 = 'NEW COL 2'
4 /
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 1387873879
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 53 | 4 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| BIG_TABLE | 1 | 53 | 4 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 2 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | BIG_I | 2 | | 3 (0)| 00:00:01 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("COL_1" IS NULL AND "COL_2"='NEW COL 2')
filter("COL_2"='NEW COL 2')
SQL> select pk_col from big_table
2 where col_1 is null
3 and col_2 is null
4 /
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 3993303771
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 53 | 176 (1)| 00:00:03 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| BIG_TABLE | 1 | 53 | 176 (1)| 00:00:03 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
1 - filter("COL_1" IS NULL AND "COL_2" IS NULL)
SQL>
Contoh ini berjalan di Oracle 11.1.0.6. Tapi saya cukup yakin itu berlaku untuk semua versi.