RE: [PHP] Mysql Rows

[snip] I'm glad that you were amused. Considering that I was talking about a flat dB, then you have already shot yourself in the foot if your "real database" is in the millions of entries and is flat. I hope to God that normalization may be something you consider in your next database design. [/snip] Normalization? I have a call records database with 100's of millions of records in a single table. No further normalization is required or needed. The records cannot be broken down any further. I think you may be using normalization incorrectly here. And by "flat" database, do you mean flat file database or just single table database? [snip] In any event, it's interesting that I posted a question here and I expected some ribbing, but I also expected something of value. [/snip] A SQL question on a PHP mailing list usually gets more than ribbing. ;) [snip] If the ALTER TABLE statement is prone to error, then I would like to know that and why. However, I suspect that claim isn't true, it's just that it's misuse has generated an urban myth of "Don't do that! That's dangerous!" without any real substance other than for programer error. Of course, I've run into windozes programmers who accept the occasional crash and burn as "it comes with the territory", but that's unfortunate to apply this "apprehension" to MySQL. [/snip] Re-numbering of database tables has been an acknowledged "bad practice" for years for several reasons. Ask on any SQL list, including MySQL, and you'll get tons of reasons not to do it. [snip] In my previous post I pleaded for someone to point out the error of my ways and to give me an alternative, but that hasn't happened yet -- so, does anyone want to tell me why I should not renumber a flat database and give me an alternative? I'm all ears... [/snip] I think that my answer in previous e-mail demonstrates a couple of ways that this could be done without re-numbering, even in a single table database.