instance method add_index

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 suppliers_name_index ON suppliers(name)

Creating a unique index

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

generates:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX accounts_branch_id_party_id_index 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], 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 3.8.0+.

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.