Database Performance Tuning – INSERT vs. LOAD DATA INFILE in MySQL

In this mysql query tutorial we’ll walk you through something that’s a part of pretty much any sql project – INSERT queries – and tell you how to make them significantly faster.

Many developers know about INSERT queries, but some may not be aware of their twin – LOAD DATA INFILE. Those who attend SQL performance or even sql basics courses based around MySQL should surely know about it – it holds immense power! Ever heard about database performance tuning? You’ve certainly heard something about those SQL queries!

INSERT query performance is a frequent question in many sql interview questions and answers: the answer how to improve INSERT query performance lies in indexes and partitions, but if you find yourself answering one of these sql interview questions, don’t forget that both indexes and partitions slow down SELECT query performance in return.

INSERT statements are used to insert data into a database instance – that’s likely written in any sql for beginners book, however, if our data has tens of millions of rows, that’s not feasible anymore.
Anyone who’s been through a basic sql tutorial for beginners will know that to speed up INSERT queries we can use more things than just indexes – did you know that we can disable commit operations until all of the data has been inserted by running an autocommit=0; query, then inserting data, and COMMITing it afterwards?
With bigger data sets, though, even that wouldn’t help much. Instead, we need to turn to LOAD DATA INFILE.

LOAD DATA INFILE is designed for loading big data sets with abilities to:
1) Ignore rows or columns.
2) Only load data into specific columns.
3) Specify what characters denote the start of a column.
4) Handle duplicate key issues.

On top of that, it requires less overhead from any mysql server for data parsing.

The takeaway from this MySQL tutorial is as follows:
Make sure to use LOAD DATA INFILE when working with big data in MySQL, subscribe if you want us to explain this topic in detail, and until next time.

Want us to make a SQL tutorial or a SQL course on SQL injection or other security, performance or availability topics like database design? Perhaps we should make a SQL for beginners video? Perhaps you’re interested in database normalization 1nf 2nf 3nf? Let us know in the comment section down below!

Have you found this sql tutorial advanced? Make sure to explore the following videos too:
Database slowness reasons – in this video we’ll go through the basics of database performance tuning pertaining to MySQL: https://youtube.com/shorts/beLkSf0_Ms4
SQL indexes explained will explain the basics of indexes in MySQL: https://youtube.com/shorts/VwQCJivP7BA
secure-file-priv in MySQL: https://youtube.com/shorts/nYeD9-lPj_M

Enjoy the video!

#database #mysql #webdevelopment #web #shorts #reels #webdeveloper