MySQL Interview Questions


MySQL refers to an open-source database management system abbreviated as DBMS that executes over the internet and server, both. MySQL is fast, reliable, and easy to use the software. The MySQL utilizes the concepts and standards associated with SQL and compile them over several platforms. It is regarded as the multi-thread, multi-user SQL database management system. The data stored in the MySQL database is in the form of tables. And thus, a table is referred to as the collection of related data, consisting of columns and rows.

It is known for having stand-alone clients that ensure the users t interact directly with the database utilizing the standards associated with SQL, but this MySQL is often utilised with multiple programs for implementation of applications requiring the capabilities of a relational database.

Moreover, learning it helps the developers to attain a precious job in the coding world, now in case, you are one of the developers having expertise in MySQL coding, and got a call from some renowned company then, you need to know and prepare some of the MySQL interview questions for cracking the interview. So, our amazing platform designed to help the coders or developers in cracking the MySQL interview test on the first attempt. Hence, below are some MySQL interview questions that humans may practice for attaining an advanced and great position in the coding world.

What are some of the advantages?

  • Flexibility: It runs on all operating systems
  • Power: MySQL focuses on performance
  • Enterprise-Level SQL Features: It had for some time been lacking in advanced features such as subqueries, views, and stored procedures.
  • Full-Text Indexing and Searching
  • Query Caching: This helps enhance the speed of MySQL greatly
  • Replication: One MySQL server can be duplicated on another, providing numerous advantages
  • Configuration and Security

What do you mean by ‘databases’?

A database is a structured collection of data stored in a computer system and organized in a way to be quickly searched. With databases, information can be rapidly retrieved.

What does SQL in MySQL stand for?

The SQL in MySQL stands for Structured Query Language. This language is also used in other databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.  One can use commands such as the following to send requests from a database:

SELECT title FROM publications WHERE author = ' J. K. Rowling’;

What does a MySQL database contain?

A MySQL database contains one or more tables, each of which contains records or rows. Within these rows are various columns or fields that contain the data itself.

How can you interact with MySQL?

There are three main ways you can interact with MySQL: 

  • using a command line
  • via a web interface
  • through a programming language

What are MySQL Database Queries?

A query is a specific request or a question. One can query a database for specific information and have a record returned.

What are some of the common commands?

CommandAction
ALTERTo alter a database or table
BACKUPTo back-up a table
\cTo cancel Input
CREATETo create a database
DELETETo delete a row from a table
DESCRIBETo describe a table’s columns
DROPTo delete a database or table
EXIT(ctrl+c)To exit
GRANTTo change user privileges
HELP (\h, \?)Display help
INSERTInsert data
LOCKLock table(s)
Lock table(s)Same as EXIT
RENAMERename a Table
Rename a TableList details about an object
SOURCESOURCE
STATUS (\s)Display the current status
TRUNCATEEmpty a table
UNLOCKUnlock table(s)
UPDATEUpdate an existing record
USEUse a database

How do you create a database in MySQL?

Use the following command to create a new database called ‘books’:

CREATE DATABASE books;

How do you create a table using MySQL?

Use the following to create a table using MySQL:

CREATE TABLE history (
author VARCHAR(128),
title VARCHAR(128),
type VARCHAR(16),
year CHAR(4)) ENGINE InnoDB;

How do you Insert Data Into MySQL?

The INSERT INTO statement is used to add new records to a MySQL table:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3,...)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)

If we want to add values for all the columns of the table, we do not need to specify the column names in the SQL query. However, the order of the values should be in the same order as the columns in the table. The INSERT INTO syntax would be as follows

INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);

How do you remove a column from a database?

You can remove a column by using the DROP keyword

ALTER TABLE classics DROP pages;

How to create an Index?

In MySQL, there are different index types, such as a regular INDEX, a PRIMARY KEY, or a FULLTEXT index. You can achieve fast searches with the help of an index. Indexes speed up performance by either ordering the data on disk so it’s quicker to find your result or, telling the SQL engine where to go to find your data.

Example: Adding indexes to the history table:

ALTER TABLE history ADD INDEX(author(10));
ALTER TABLE history ADD INDEX(title(10));
ALTER TABLE history ADD INDEX(category(5));
ALTER TABLE history ADD INDEX(year);
DESCRIBE history;

How to Delete Data From a MySQL Table?

In MySQL, the DELETE statement is used to delete records from a table:

DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE column_name = value_name

How do you view a database in MySQL?

One can view all the databases on the MySQL server host using the following command:

mysql> SHOW DATABASES; 

What are the Numeric Data Types in MySQL?

It has numeric data types for integer, fixed-point, floating-point, and bit values, as shown in the table below. Numeric types can be signed or unsigned, except BIT. A special attribute enables the automatic generation of sequential integer or floating-point column values, which is useful for applications that require a series of unique identification numbers.

Type NameMeaning
TINYINTVery Small Integer
SMALLINTSmall Integer
MEDIUMINTMedium-sized Integer
INTStandard Integer
BIGINTLarge Integer
DECIMALFixed-point number
FLOATSingle-precision floating-point number
DOUBLEDouble-precision floating-point number
BITBit-field

What are the String Data Types in MySQL?

Type NameMeaning
CHARfixed-length nonbinary(character) string
VARCHARvariable-length nonbinary string
BINARYfixed-length binary string
VARBINARYvariable-length binary string
TINYBLOBVery small BLOB(binary large object)
BLOBSmall BLOB
MEDIUMBLOBMedium-sized BLOB
LONGBLOBLarge BLOB
TINYTEXTA very small nonbinary string
TEXTSmall nonbinary string
MEDIUMTEXTMedium-sized nonbinary string
LONGTEXTLarge nonbinary string
ENUMAn enumeration; each column value is assigned, one enumeration member
SETA set; each column value is assigned zero or more set members
NULLNULL in SQL is the term used to represent a missing value. A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that appears to be blank. This value is different than a zero value or a field that contains spaces.

What are the Temporal Data Types in MySQL?

Type NameMeaning
DATEA date value, in ‘ CCYY-MM-DD ‘ Format
TIMEA Time value, in ‘ hh : mm :ss ‘ format
DATETIMEDate and time value, in ‘ CCYY-MM-DD hh : mm :ss ‘ format
TIMESTAMPA timestamp value, in ‘ CCYY-MM-DD hh : mm :ss ‘ format
YEARA year value, in CCYY or YY format

Example: To select the records with an Order Date of “2018-11-11” from a table:

What is BLOB in MySQL?

BLOB is an acronym that stands for a binary large object. It is used to hold a variable amount of data.
There are four types of BLOB:

  • TINYBLOB
  • BLOB
  • MEDIUMBLOB
  • LONGBLOB

A BLOB can hold a very large amount of data. For example – documents, images, and even videos. You could store your complete novel as a file in a BLOB if needed.

How to add users in MySQL?

You can add a User by using the CREATE command and specifying the necessary credentials. For example:

CREATE USER ‘testuser’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘sample password’;

What are MySQL “Views”?

In MySQL, a view consists of a set of rows that is returned if a particular query is executed. This is also known as a ‘virtual table’. Views make it easy to retrieve the way of making the query available via an alias. 
The advantages of views are:

  • Simplicity
  • Security
  • Maintainability

How do you create and execute views in MySQL?

Creating a view is accomplished with the CREATE VIEW statement. As an example:

CREATE
   [OR REPLACE]
   [ALGORITHM = {MERGE | TEMPTABLE | UNDEFINED }]
   [DEFINER = { user | CURRENT_USER }]
   [SQL SECURITY { DEFINER | INVOKER }]
   VIEW view_name [(column_list)]
   AS select_statement
   [WITH [CASCADED | LOCAL] CHECK OPTION]

What are MySQL Triggers?

A trigger is a task that executes in response to some predefined database event, such as after a new row is added to a particular table. Specifically, this event involves inserting, modifying, or deleting table data, and the task can occur either prior to or immediately following any such event. 
Triggers have many purposes, including:

  • Audit Trails
  • Validation
  • Referential integrity enforcement

How many Triggers are possible in MySQL?

There are six Triggers allowed to use in the MySQL database:

  • Before Insert
  • After Insert
  • Before Update
  • After Update
  • Before Delete
  • After Delete

What is the MySQL server?

The server, mysqld, is the hub of a MySQL installation; it performs all manipulation of databases and tables

What are the MySQL clients and utilities?

Several MySQL programs are available to help you communicate with the server. For administrative tasks, some of the most important ones are listed here:

  • mysql-An interactive program that enables you to send SQL statements to the server and to view the results. You can also use mysql to execute batch scripts (text files containing SQL statements).
  • mysqladmin-An administrative program for performing tasks such as shutting down the server, checking its configuration, or monitoring its status if it appears not to be functioning properly.
  • mysqldump-A tool for backing up your databases or copying databases to another server.
  • mysqlcheck and myisamchk-Programs that help you perform table checking, analysis, and optimization, as well as repairs if tables become damaged. mysqlcheck works with MyISAM tables and to some extent with tables for other storage engines. myisamchk is for use only with MyISAM tables.

What are the types of relationships used in MySQL?

There are three categories of relationships in MySQL:

  • One-to-One: Usually, when two items have a one-to-one relationship, you just include them as columns in the same table
  • One-to-Many: One-to-many (or many-to-one) relationships occur when one row in one table is linked to many rows in another table.
  • Many-to-Many: In a many-to-many relationship, many rows in one table are linked to many rows in another table. To create this relationship, add a third table containing the same key column from each of the other tables

Can you explain the logical architecture of MySQL?

The top layer contains the services most network-based client/server tools or servers need such as connection handling, authentication, security, and so forth.
The second layer contains much of MySQL’s brains. This has the code for query parsing, analysis, optimization, caching, and all the built-in functions.

The third layer contains the storage engines that are responsible for storing and retrieving the data stored in MySQL

What is Scaling in MySQL?

In MySQL, scaling capacity is actually the ability to handle the load, and it’s useful to think of load from several different angles such as:

  • Quantity of data
  • Number of users
  • User activity
  • Size of related datasets

What is Sharding in SQL?

The process of breaking up large tables into smaller chunks (called shards) that are spread across multiple servers is called Sharding.

The advantage of Sharding is that since the sharded database is generally much smaller than the original; queries, maintenance, and all other tasks are much faster.

What are Transaction Storage Engines in MySQL?

To be able to use MySQL’s transaction facility, you have to be using MySQL’s InnoDB storage engine (which is the default from version 5.5 onward). If you are not sure which version of MySQL your code will be running on, rather than assuming InnoDB is the default engine you can force its use when creating a table, as follows.