AI engineering glossary · SQL databases
What is EXPLAIN?
EXPLAIN (also called EXPLAIN ANALYZE): A command that shows the execution plan for a query without, or with (EXPLAIN ANALYZE), running it. The output lists steps, estimated costs and row counts, and with ANALYZE the real timings.
EXPLAIN: an example
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM orders WHERE customer_id = 42; reveals whether an index or full scan was used.
Related terms
More SQL databases terms
- First normal form
- Foreign key
- FULL OUTER JOIN
- Full table scan
- Functional dependency
- Graph database
- GROUP BY
- HAVING
Where you learn it
EXPLAIN is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.