Additional Methods to Reset Primary Key Sequences

There are also additional methods in MySQL to reset primary key sequences, but they are not preferred to use on old and big data bases.

1. TRUNCATE TABLE Statement

This statement delete all the data in a table only keeping the structure of table. This statement resets the primary key AUTO-INCREMENT value.

To use this method, follow the given syntax:

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;

Note: The data can not be recovered once lost, and it can’t be used with WHERE clause.

2. DROP TABLE and CREATE TABLE Statements

A combination of DROP TABLE and CREATE TABLE statements can be used to reset primary key sequence. DROP TABLE statement deletes the data and structure of table from the database, and CREATE TABLE statement creates a new table where the AUTO-INCREMENT value for primary can be reset.

To use this method, follow the given syntax:

DROP TABLE table_name;  
CREATE TABLE table_name( fiels_name(s) datatypes);  

Both these above mentioned methods are extreme ways to reset the primary key auto-increment values, and should be only used when necessary. ALTER TABLE is the best efficient way to reset auto-increment without any data from the table.

In MySQL, the primary key maintains data integrity and uniqueness. However, there are instances where the primary key sequence might fall out of sync, leading to potential issues.

In this article, we’ll understand the process of resetting the primary key sequence in MySQL databases with different examples.