ANY_VALUE(arg)

This function is useful for GROUP BY queries when the ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY SQL mode is enabled, for cases when MySQL rejects a query that you know is valid for reasons that MySQL cannot determine. The function return value and type are the same as the return value and type of its argument, but the function result is not checked for the ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY SQL mode.

For example, if name is a nonindexed column, the following query fails with ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY enabled:

mysql> SELECT name, address, MAX(age) FROM t GROUP BY name;
ERROR 1055 (42000): Expression #2 of SELECT list is not in GROUP
BY clause and contains nonaggregated column 'mydb.t.address' which
is not functionally dependent on columns in GROUP BY clause; this
is incompatible with sql_mode=only_full_group_by

The failure occurs because address is a nonaggregated column that is neither named among GROUP BY columns nor functionally dependent on them. As a result, the address value for rows within each name group is nondeterministic. There are multiple ways to cause MySQL to accept the query:

ANY_VALUE() is also useful if functional dependence exists between columns but MySQL cannot determine it. The following query is valid because age is functionally dependent on the grouping column age-1, but MySQL cannot tell that and rejects the query with ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY enabled:

SELECT age FROM t GROUP BY age-1;

To cause MySQL to accept the query, use ANY_VALUE():

SELECT ANY_VALUE(age) FROM t GROUP BY age-1;

ANY_VALUE() can be used for queries that refer to aggregate functions in the absence of a GROUP BY clause:

mysql> SELECT name, MAX(age) FROM t;
ERROR 1140 (42000): In aggregated query without GROUP BY, expression
#1 of SELECT list contains nonaggregated column 'mydb.t.name'; this
is incompatible with sql_mode=only_full_group_by

Without GROUP BY, there is a single group and it is indeterminate which name value to choose for the group. ANY_VALUE() tells MySQL to accept the query:

SELECT ANY_VALUE(name), MAX(age) FROM t;

It may be that, due to some property of a given data set, you know that a selected nonaggregated column is effectively functionally dependent on a GROUP BY column. For example, an application may enforce uniqueness of one column with respect to another. In this case, using ANY_VALUE() for the effectively functionally dependent column may make sense.

For additional discussion, see Section 12.19.3, “MySQL Handling of GROUP BY”.

DEFAULT(col_name)

Returns the default value for a table column. An error results if the column has no default value.

mysql> UPDATE t SET i = DEFAULT(i)+1 WHERE id < 100;

FORMAT(X,D)

Formats the number X to a format like '#,###,###.##', rounded to D decimal places, and returns the result as a string. For details, see Section 12.5, “String Functions”.

GET_LOCK(str,timeout)

Tries to obtain a lock with a name given by the string str, using a timeout of timeout seconds. A negative timeout value means infinite timeout. The lock is exclusive. While held by one session, other sessions cannot obtain a lock of the same name.

Returns 1 if the lock was obtained successfully, 0 if the attempt timed out (for example, because another client has previously locked the name), or NULL if an error occurred (such as running out of memory or the thread was killed with mysqladmin kill).

A lock obtained with GET_LOCK() is released explicitly by executing RELEASE_LOCK() or implicitly when your session terminates (either normally or abnormally). Lock release may also occur with another call to GET_LOCK():

The difference in lock acquisition behavior as of MySQL 5.7.5 can be seen by the following example. Suppose that you execute these statements:

SELECT GET_LOCK('lock1',10);
SELECT GET_LOCK('lock2',10);
SELECT RELEASE_LOCK('lock2');
SELECT RELEASE_LOCK('lock1');

In MySQL 5.7.5 or later, the second GET_LOCK() acquires a second lock and both RELEASE_LOCK() calls return 1 (success). Before MySQL 5.7.5, the second GET_LOCK() releases the first lock ('lock1') and the second RELEASE_LOCK() returns NULL (failure) because there is no 'lock1' to release.

MySQL 5.7.5 and later enforces a maximum length on lock names of 64 characters. Previously, no limit was enforced.

Locks obtained with GET_LOCK() are not released when transactions commit or roll back.

GET_LOCK() can be used to implement application locks or to simulate record locks. Names are locked on a server-wide basis. If a name has been locked within one session, GET_LOCK() blocks any request by another session for a lock with the same name. This enables clients that agree on a given lock name to use the name to perform cooperative advisory locking. But be aware that it also enables a client that is not among the set of cooperating clients to lock a name, either inadvertently or deliberately, and thus prevent any of the cooperating clients from locking that name. One way to reduce the likelihood of this is to use lock names that are database-specific or application-specific. For example, use lock names of the form db_name.str or app_name.str.

If multiple clients are waiting for a lock, the order in which they will acquire it is undefined. Applications should not assume that clients will acquire the lock in the same order that they issued the lock requests.

GET_LOCK() is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

INSERT INTO ... SELECT GET_LOCK(t1.col_name) FROM t1;

A different locking interface is available as either a plugin service or a set of user-defined functions. This interface provides lock namespaces and distinct read and write locks, unlike the interface provided by GET_LOCK() and related functions. For details, see Section 28.3.1, “The Locking Service”.

INET_ATON(expr)

Given the dotted-quad representation of an IPv4 network address as a string, returns an integer that represents the numeric value of the address in network byte order (big endian). INET_ATON() returns NULL if it does not understand its argument.

mysql> SELECT INET_ATON('10.0.5.9');
        -> 167773449

For this example, the return value is calculated as 10×256³ + 0×256² + 5×256 + 9.

INET_ATON() may or may not return a non-NULL result for short-form IP addresses (such as '127.1' as a representation of '127.0.0.1'). Because of this, INET_ATON()a should not be used for such addresses.

INET_NTOA(expr)

Given a numeric IPv4 network address in network byte order, returns the dotted-quad string representation of the address as a nonbinary string in the connection character set. INET_NTOA() returns NULL if it does not understand its argument.

mysql> SELECT INET_NTOA(167773449);
        -> '10.0.5.9'

INET6_ATON(expr)

Given an IPv6 or IPv4 network address as a string, returns a binary string that represents the numeric value of the address in network byte order (big endian). Because numeric-format IPv6 addresses require more bytes than the largest integer type, the representation returned by this function has the VARBINARY data type: VARBINARY(16) for IPv6 addresses and VARBINARY(4) for IPv4 addresses. If the argument is not a valid address, INET6_ATON() returns NULL.

The following examples use HEX() to display the INET6_ATON() result in printable form:

mysql> SELECT HEX(INET6_ATON('fdfe::5a55:caff:fefa:9089'));
        -> 'FDFE0000000000005A55CAFFFEFA9089'
mysql> SELECT HEX(INET6_ATON('10.0.5.9'));
        -> '0A000509'

INET6_ATON() observes several constraints on valid arguments. These are given in the following list along with examples.

To convert an IPv4 address expr represented in numeric form as an INT value to an IPv6 address represented in numeric form as a VARBINARY value, use this expression:

INET6_ATON(INET_NTOA(expr))

For example:

mysql> SELECT HEX(INET6_ATON(INET_NTOA(167773449)));
        -> '0A000509'

INET6_NTOA(expr)

Given an IPv6 or IPv4 network address represented in numeric form as a binary string, returns the string representation of the address as a nonbinary string in the connection character set. If the argument is not a valid address, INET6_NTOA() returns NULL.

INET6_NTOA() has these properties:

mysql> SELECT INET6_NTOA(INET6_ATON('fdfe::5a55:caff:fefa:9089'));
        -> 'fdfe::5a55:caff:fefa:9089'
mysql> SELECT INET6_NTOA(INET6_ATON('10.0.5.9'));
        -> '10.0.5.9'

mysql> SELECT INET6_NTOA(UNHEX('FDFE0000000000005A55CAFFFEFA9089'));
        -> 'fdfe::5a55:caff:fefa:9089'
mysql> SELECT INET6_NTOA(UNHEX('0A000509'));
        -> '10.0.5.9'

IS_FREE_LOCK(str)

Checks whether the lock named str is free to use (that is, not locked). Returns 1 if the lock is free (no one is using the lock), 0 if the lock is in use, and NULL if an error occurs (such as an incorrect argument).

This function is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

IS_IPV4(expr)

Returns 1 if the argument is a valid IPv4 address specified as a string, 0 otherwise.

mysql> SELECT IS_IPV4('10.0.5.9'), IS_IPV4('10.0.5.256');
        -> 1, 0

For a given argument, if IS_IPV4() returns 1, INET_ATON() (and INET6_ATON()) will return non-NULL. The converse statement is not true: In some cases, INET_ATON() returns non-NULL when IS_IPV4() returns 0.

As implied by the preceding remarks, IS_IPV4() is more strict than INET_ATON() about what constitutes a valid IPv4 address, so it may be useful for applications that need to perform strong checks against invalid values. Alternatively, use INET6_ATON() to convert IPv4 addresses to internal form and check for a NULL result (which indicates an invalid address). INET6_ATON() is equally strong as IS_IPV4() about checking IPv4 addresses.

IS_IPV4_COMPAT(expr)

This function takes an IPv6 address represented in numeric form as a binary string, as returned by INET6_ATON(). It returns 1 if the argument is a valid IPv4-compatible IPv6 address, 0 otherwise. IPv4-compatible addresses have the form ::ipv4_address.

mysql> SELECT IS_IPV4_COMPAT(INET6_ATON('::10.0.5.9'));
        -> 1
mysql> SELECT IS_IPV4_COMPAT(INET6_ATON('::ffff:10.0.5.9'));
        -> 0

The IPv4 part of an IPv4-compatible address can also be represented using hexadecimal notation. For example, 192.168.0.1 has this raw hexadecimal value:

mysql> SELECT HEX(INET6_ATON('192.168.0.1'));
        -> 'C0A80001'

Expressed in IPv4-compatible form, ::192.168.0.1 is equivalent to ::c0a8:0001 or (without leading zeros) ::c0a8:1

mysql> SELECT
    ->   IS_IPV4_COMPAT(INET6_ATON('::192.168.0.1')),
    ->   IS_IPV4_COMPAT(INET6_ATON('::c0a8:0001')),
    ->   IS_IPV4_COMPAT(INET6_ATON('::c0a8:1'));
        -> 1, 1, 1

IS_IPV4_MAPPED(expr)

This function takes an IPv6 address represented in numeric form as a binary string, as returned by INET6_ATON(). It returns 1 if the argument is a valid IPv4-mapped IPv6 address, 0 otherwise. IPv4-mapped addresses have the form ::ffff:ipv4_address.

mysql> SELECT IS_IPV4_MAPPED(INET6_ATON('::10.0.5.9'));
        -> 0
mysql> SELECT IS_IPV4_MAPPED(INET6_ATON('::ffff:10.0.5.9'));
        -> 1

As with IS_IPV4_COMPAT() the IPv4 part of an IPv4-mapped address can also be represented using hexadecimal notation:

mysql> SELECT
    ->   IS_IPV4_MAPPED(INET6_ATON('::ffff:192.168.0.1')),
    ->   IS_IPV4_MAPPED(INET6_ATON('::ffff:c0a8:0001')),
    ->   IS_IPV4_MAPPED(INET6_ATON('::ffff:c0a8:1'));
        -> 1, 1, 1

IS_IPV6(expr)

Returns 1 if the argument is a valid IPv6 address specified as a string, 0 otherwise. This function does not consider IPv4 addresses to be valid IPv6 addresses.

mysql> SELECT IS_IPV6('10.0.5.9'), IS_IPV6('::1');
        -> 0, 1

For a given argument, if IS_IPV6() returns 1, INET6_ATON() will return non-NULL.

IS_USED_LOCK(str)

Checks whether the lock named str is in use (that is, locked). If so, it returns the connection identifier of the client session that holds the lock. Otherwise, it returns NULL.

This function is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

MASTER_POS_WAIT(log_name,log_pos[,timeout][,channel_name])

This function is useful for control of master/slave synchronization. It blocks until the slave has read and applied all updates up to the specified position in the master log. The return value is the number of log events the slave had to wait for to advance to the specified position. The function returns NULL if the slave SQL thread is not started, the slave's master information is not initialized, the arguments are incorrect, or an error occurs. It returns -1 if the timeout has been exceeded. If the slave SQL thread stops while MASTER_POS_WAIT() is waiting, the function returns NULL. If the slave is past the specified position, the function returns immediately.

If a timeout value is specified, MASTER_POS_WAIT() stops waiting when timeout seconds have elapsed. timeout must be greater than 0; a zero or negative timeout means no timeout.

The optional channel added in MySQL 5.7.6 enables you to choose which replication channel the function applies to. See Section 16.2.3, “Replication Channels” for more information.

This function is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

NAME_CONST(name,value)

Returns the given value. When used to produce a result set column, NAME_CONST() causes the column to have the given name. The arguments should be constants.

mysql> SELECT NAME_CONST('myname', 14);
+--------+
| myname |
+--------+
|     14 |
+--------+

This function is for internal use only. The server uses it when writing statements from stored programs that contain references to local program variables, as described in Section 23.7, “Binary Logging of Stored Programs”, You might see this function in the output from mysqlbinlog.

For your applications, you can obtain exactly the same result as in the example just shown by using simple aliasing, like this:

mysql> SELECT 14 AS myname;
+--------+
| myname |
+--------+
|     14 |
+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

See Section 13.2.9, “SELECT Syntax”, for more information about column aliases.

RELEASE_ALL_LOCKS()

Releases all named locks held by the current session and returns the number of locks released (0 if there were none)

This function is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

This function was added in MySQL 5.7.5.

RELEASE_LOCK(str)

Releases the lock named by the string str that was obtained with GET_LOCK(). Returns 1 if the lock was released, 0 if the lock was not established by this thread (in which case the lock is not released), and NULL if the named lock did not exist. The lock does not exist if it was never obtained by a call to GET_LOCK() or if it has previously been released.

The DO statement is convenient to use with RELEASE_LOCK(). See Section 13.2.3, “DO Syntax”.

This function is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

SLEEP(duration)

Sleeps (pauses) for the number of seconds given by the duration argument, then returns 0. The duration may have a fractional part. If the argument is NULL or negative, SLEEP() produces a warning, or an error in strict SQL mode.

When sleep returns normally (without interruption), it returns 0:

mysql> SELECT SLEEP(1000);
+-------------+
| SLEEP(1000) |
+-------------+
|           0 |
+-------------+

When SLEEP() is the only thing invoked by a query that is interrupted, it returns 1 and the query itself returns no error. This is true whether the query is killed or times out:

When SLEEP() is only part of a query that is interrupted, the query returns an error:

This function is unsafe for statement-based replication. A warning is logged if you use this function when binlog_format is set to STATEMENT.

UUID()

Returns a Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) generated according to RFC 4122, “A Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace” (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4122.txt).

A UUID is designed as a number that is globally unique in space and time. Two calls to UUID() are expected to generate two different values, even if these calls are performed on two separate devices not connected to each other.

UUID() returns a value that conforms to UUID version 1 as described in RFC 4122. The value is a 128-bit number represented as a utf8 string of five hexadecimal numbers in aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee format:

mysql> SELECT UUID();
        -> '6ccd780c-baba-1026-9564-5b8c656024db'

UUID_SHORT()

Returns a “short” universal identifier as a 64-bit unsigned integer. Values returned by UUID_SHORT() differ from the string-format 128-bit identifiers returned by the UUID() function and have different uniqueness properties. The value of UUID_SHORT() is guaranteed to be unique if the following conditions hold:

The UUID_SHORT() return value is constructed this way:

  (server_id & 255) << 56
+ (server_startup_time_in_seconds << 24)
+ incremented_variable++;

mysql> SELECT UUID_SHORT();
        -> 92395783831158784

VALUES(col_name)

In an INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE statement, you can use the VALUES(col_name) function in the UPDATE clause to refer to column values from the INSERT portion of the statement. In other words, VALUES(col_name) in the UPDATE clause refers to the value of col_name that would be inserted, had no duplicate-key conflict occurred. This function is especially useful in multiple-row inserts. The VALUES() function is meaningful only in the ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE clause of INSERT statements and returns NULL otherwise. See Section 13.2.5.3, “INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE Syntax”.

mysql> INSERT INTO table (a,b,c) VALUES (1,2,3),(4,5,6)
    -> ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE c=VALUES(a)+VALUES(b);