add_index(table_name, column_name, **options) public

Adds a new index to the table. column_name can be a single Symbol, or an Array of Symbols.

The index will be named after the table and the column name(s), unless you pass :name as an option.

Creating a simple index
add_index(:suppliers, :name)

generates:

CREATE INDEX index_suppliers_on_name ON suppliers(name)
Creating a index which already exists
add_index(:suppliers, :name, if_not_exists: true)

generates:

CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS index_suppliers_on_name ON suppliers(name)

Note: Not supported by MySQL.

Creating a unique index
add_index(:accounts, [:branch_id, :party_id], unique: true)

generates:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_accounts_on_branch_id_and_party_id ON accounts(branch_id, party_id)
Creating a named index
add_index(:accounts, [:branch_id, :party_id], unique: true, name: 'by_branch_party')

generates:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX by_branch_party ON accounts(branch_id, party_id)
Creating an index with specific key length
add_index(:accounts, :name, name: 'by_name', length: 10)

generates:

CREATE INDEX by_name ON accounts(name(10))
Creating an index with specific key lengths for multiple keys
add_index(:accounts, [:name, :surname], name: 'by_name_surname', length: {name: 10, surname: 15})

generates:

CREATE INDEX by_name_surname ON accounts(name(10), surname(15))

Note: SQLite doesn’t support index length.

Creating an index with a sort order (desc or asc, asc is the default)
add_index(:accounts, [:branch_id, :party_id, :surname], name: 'by_branch_desc_party', order: {branch_id: :desc, party_id: :asc})

generates:

CREATE INDEX by_branch_desc_party ON accounts(branch_id DESC, party_id ASC, surname)

Note: MySQL only supports index order from 8.0.1 onwards (earlier versions accepted the syntax but ignored it).

Creating a partial index
add_index(:accounts, [:branch_id, :party_id], unique: true, where: "active")

generates:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_accounts_on_branch_id_and_party_id ON accounts(branch_id, party_id) WHERE active

Note: Partial indexes are only supported for PostgreSQL and SQLite.

Creating an index with a specific method
add_index(:developers, :name, using: 'btree')

generates:

CREATE INDEX index_developers_on_name ON developers USING btree (name) -- PostgreSQL
CREATE INDEX index_developers_on_name USING btree ON developers (name) -- MySQL

Note: only supported by PostgreSQL and MySQL

Creating an index with a specific operator class
add_index(:developers, :name, using: 'gist', opclass: :gist_trgm_ops)
# CREATE INDEX developers_on_name ON developers USING gist (name gist_trgm_ops) -- PostgreSQL

add_index(:developers, [:name, :city], using: 'gist', opclass: { city: :gist_trgm_ops })
# CREATE INDEX developers_on_name_and_city ON developers USING gist (name, city gist_trgm_ops) -- PostgreSQL

add_index(:developers, [:name, :city], using: 'gist', opclass: :gist_trgm_ops)
# CREATE INDEX developers_on_name_and_city ON developers USING gist (name gist_trgm_ops, city gist_trgm_ops) -- PostgreSQL

Note: only supported by PostgreSQL

Creating an index with a specific type
add_index(:developers, :name, type: :fulltext)

generates:

CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX index_developers_on_name ON developers (name) -- MySQL

Note: only supported by MySQL.

Creating an index with a specific algorithm
add_index(:developers, :name, algorithm: :concurrently)
# CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY developers_on_name on developers (name)

Note: only supported by PostgreSQL.

Concurrently adding an index is not supported in a transaction.

For more information see the {“Transactional Migrations” section}[rdoc-ref:Migration].

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June 6, 2009
9 thanks

add index with :quiet=>true option for indices that are possibly already added

# Allows you to specify indices to add in a migration that will only be created if they do not # already exist, or to remove indices only if they already exist with :quiet=>true module ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::SchemaStatements

def add_index_with_quiet(table_name, column_names, options = {})
  quiet = options.delete(:quiet)
  add_index_without_quiet table_name, column_names, options
rescue
  raise unless quiet and $!.message =~ /^Mysql::Error: Duplicate key name/i
  puts "Failed to create index #{table_name} #{column_names.inspect} #{options.inspect}"
end
alias_method_chain :add_index, :quiet

def remove_index_with_quiet(table_name, column_names, options = {})
  quiet = options.delete(:quiet)
  raise "no options allowed for remove_index, except quiet with this hack #{__FILE__}:#{__LINE__}" unless options.empty?
  remove_index_without_quiet table_name, column_names
rescue
  raise unless quiet and $!.message =~ /^Mysql::Error: Can't DROP/i
  puts "Failed to drop index #{table_name} #{column_names.inspect}"
end
alias_method_chain :remove_index, :quiet

end

July 24, 2010
2 thanks

If your add_index is being ignored in your migration, see this

My add_index command was producing no change in my MySQL 5.0 database:

add_index :designations, [ :scope_type, :scope_id, :role_id, :user_id ], :unique => true

By just adding an index name, the problem was solved:

add_index :designations, [ :scope_type, :scope_id, :role_id, :user_id ], :unique => true, :name => 'my_index'

This happens when the autogenerated index name gets too long. For more info see:

July 10, 2008
1 thank

migration example

def self.up create_table :regs do |t|

t.column :login, :string, :limit=>'10'
t.column :pass, :string, :limit=>'10'
t.column :email, :string, :limit=>'20'
t.column :fio, :string, :limit=>'30'
t.column :born, :date
t.column :phone_code, :integer, :limit=>'3'
t.column :phone_post, :integer, :limit=>'7'
t.column :password, :string, :limit=>'20'
t.column :pass_when, :date
t.column :pass_who, :string,:limit=>'30'
t.column :wmid, :integer, :limit=>12
t.column :wmr, :integer, :limit=>12
t.column :wmz, :integer, :limit=>12
end

add_index :regs, [:login, :wmr, :wmz], :unique => true end

November 27, 2014
1 thank

Adding index with other operator classes (PostgreSQL)

To perform on search by LIKE:

SQL Query:

SELECT users.* FROM users WHERE name LIKE 'Doug%';

Explain:

# Without index
Seq Scan on users  (cost=0.00..82183.32 rows=98524 width=418)
  Filter: ((name)::text ~~ 'Doug%'::text)

Adding index with operator class ‘varchar_pattern_ops’

add_index :users, :name, order: {name: :varchar_pattern_ops}
execute 'ANALYZE users;'

New Explain:

# With index
Bitmap Heap Scan on users  (cost=2444.46..56020.97 rows=98524 width=418)
  Filter: ((name)::text ~~ 'Doug%'::text)
  ->  Bitmap Index Scan on index_users_on_name  (cost=0.00..2419.83 rows=75940 width=0)
        Index Cond: ((name)::text ~>=~ 'Doug'::text)
July 10, 2008
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December 9, 2010 - (<= v2.3.8)
0 thanks

Gotcha: index name must be a string, not a symbol

Using rails 2.3.8 I kept getting an exception when i tried:

add_index :widgets, [:colour, :weight], :name => :index_by_colour_weight

it’s solved by using:

add_index :widgets, [:colour, :weight], :name => 'index_by_colour_weight'