What is index scan and index seek?

What is an index seek?

An Index Seek is often used in combination with a Nested Loops operator into either a Key Lookup or RID Lookup operator; in this specific combination the Index Seek is used to quickly find required rows, and the lookup is then used to fetch additional data for columns not included in the index structure.

What is a index scan?

An index scan occurs when the database manager accesses an index to narrow the set of qualifying rows (by scanning the rows in a specified range of the index) before accessing the base table; to order the output; or to retrieve the requested column data directly ( index-only access ).

What is table scan and index scan?

Table scan means iterate over all table rows. Index scan means iterate over all index items, when item index meets search condition, table row is retrived through index. Usualy index scan is less expensive than a table scan because index is more flat than a table.

Is index scan better than table scan?

3) index scan is faster than a table scan because they look at sorted data and query optimizers know when to stop and look for another range. 4) index seek is the fastest way to retrieve data and it comes into the picture when your search criterion is very specific.