= Secondary Indexes

CQL supports creating secondary indexes on tables, allowing queries on
the table to use those indexes. A secondary index is identified by a
name defined by:

[source,bnf]
----
include::example$BNF/index_name.bnf[]
----

[[create-index-statement]]
== CREATE INDEX

Creating a secondary index on a table uses the `CREATE INDEX` statement:

[source,bnf]
----
include::example$BNF/create_index_statement.bnf[]
----

For instance:

[source,cql]
----
include::example$CQL/create_index.cql[]
----

The `CREATE INDEX` statement is used to create a new (automatic)
secondary index for a given (existing) column in a given table. A name
for the index itself can be specified before the `ON` keyword, if
desired. If data already exists for the column, it will be indexed
asynchronously. After the index is created, new data for the column is
indexed automatically at insertion time.

Attempting to create an already existing index will return an error
unless the `IF NOT EXISTS` option is used. If it is used, the statement
will be a no-op if the index already exists.

=== Indexes on Map Keys

When creating an index on a `maps <maps>`, you may index either the keys
or the values. If the column identifier is placed within the `keys()`
function, the index will be on the map keys, allowing you to use
`CONTAINS KEY` in `WHERE` clauses. Otherwise, the index will be on the
map values.

[[drop-index-statement]]
== DROP INDEX

Dropping a secondary index uses the `DROP INDEX` statement:

[source,bnf]
----
include::example$BNF/drop_index_statement.bnf[]
----

The `DROP INDEX` statement is used to drop an existing secondary index.
The argument of the statement is the index name, which may optionally
specify the keyspace of the index.

If the index does not exists, the statement will return an error, unless
`IF EXISTS` is used in which case the operation is a no-op.