Re: Advice - indexing on varchar fields where only last x characters known

On 2013-10-17 Thu 12:20 PM |, Gary Stainburn wrote:
> 
> The problem that I have is that these VIN numbers are provided by a number of 
> data systems including manufacturer feeds, logistics companies as well as 
> internal systems. Some use the full 17 character string while others only use 
> the last 11.
> 

Split the vin into 2/3 columns?
vin_prefix (NULL), vin_suffix (NOT NULL)
vin_prefix, vin_centre, vin_suffix

UNIQUE all together in 1 constraint & index each separately.

Maybe...
-- 
Craig Skinner | http://twitter.com/Craig_Skinner | http://linkd.in/yGqkv7