Create a test database and table t1:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE test;

mysql> USE test;

mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (
       col1 INT,
       col2 CHAR(10),
       col3 VARCHAR(10))
       ENGINE = InnoDB;

mysql> CREATE INDEX i1 ON t1(col1);

After creating the table t1, query INNODB_SYS_TABLES to locate the metadata for test/t1:

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_TABLES WHERE NAME='test/t1' \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
     TABLE_ID: 71
         NAME: test/t1
         FLAG: 1
       N_COLS: 6
        SPACE: 57
  FILE_FORMAT: Antelope
   ROW_FORMAT: Compact
ZIP_PAGE_SIZE: 0
...

Table t1 has a TABLE_ID of 71. The FLAG field provides bit level information about table format and storage characteristics. There are six columns, three of which are hidden columns created by InnoDB (DB_ROW_ID, DB_TRX_ID, and DB_ROLL_PTR). The ID of the table's SPACE is 57 (a value of 0 would indicate that the table resides in the system tablespace). The FILE_FORMAT is Antelope, and the ROW_FORMAT is Compact. ZIP_PAGE_SIZE only applies to tables with a Compressed row format.

Using the TABLE_ID information from INNODB_SYS_TABLES, query the INNODB_SYS_COLUMNS table for information about the table's columns.

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_COLUMNS where TABLE_ID = 71 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
TABLE_ID: 71
    NAME: col1
     POS: 0
   MTYPE: 6
  PRTYPE: 1027
     LEN: 4
*************************** 2. row ***************************
TABLE_ID: 71
    NAME: col2
     POS: 1
   MTYPE: 2
  PRTYPE: 524542
     LEN: 10
*************************** 3. row ***************************
TABLE_ID: 71
    NAME: col3
     POS: 2
   MTYPE: 1
  PRTYPE: 524303
     LEN: 10

In addition to the TABLE_ID and column NAME, INNODB_SYS_COLUMNS provides the ordinal position (POS) of each column (starting from 0 and incrementing sequentially), the column MTYPE or “main type” (6 = INT, 2 = CHAR, 1 = VARCHAR), the PRTYPE or “precise type” (a binary value with bits that represent the MySQL data type, character set code, and nullability), and the column length (LEN).

Using the TABLE_ID information from INNODB_SYS_TABLES once again, query INNODB_SYS_INDEXES for information about the indexes associated with table t1.

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_INDEXES WHERE TABLE_ID = 71 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       INDEX_ID: 111
           NAME: GEN_CLUST_INDEX
       TABLE_ID: 71
           TYPE: 1
       N_FIELDS: 0
        PAGE_NO: 3
          SPACE: 57
MERGE_THRESHOLD: 50
*************************** 2. row ***************************
       INDEX_ID: 112
           NAME: i1
       TABLE_ID: 71
           TYPE: 0
       N_FIELDS: 1
        PAGE_NO: 4
          SPACE: 57
MERGE_THRESHOLD: 50

INNODB_SYS_INDEXES returns data for two indexes. The first index is GEN_CLUST_INDEX, which is a clustered index created by InnoDB if the table does not have a user-defined clustered index. The second index (i1) is the user-defined secondary index.

The INDEX_ID is an identifier for the index that is unique across all databases in an instance. The TABLE_ID identifies the table that the index is associated with. The index TYPE value indicates the type of index (1 = Clustered Index, 0 = Secondary index). The N_FILEDS value is the number of fields that comprise the index. PAGE_NO is the root page number of the index B-tree, and SPACE is the ID of the tablespace where the index resides. A nonzero value indicates that the index does not reside in the system tablespace. MERGE_THRESHOLD defines a percentage threshold value for the amount of data in an index page. If the amount of data in an index page falls below the this value (the default is 50%) when a row is deleted or when a row is shortened by an update operation, InnoDB attempts to merge the index page with a neighboring index page.

Using the INDEX_ID information from INNODB_SYS_INDEXES, query INNODB_SYS_FIELDS for information about the fields of index i1.

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_FIELDS where INDEX_ID = 112 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
INDEX_ID: 112
    NAME: col1
     POS: 0

INNODB_SYS_FIELDS provides the NAME of the indexed field and its ordinal position within the index. If the index (i1) had been defined on multiple fields, INNODB_SYS_FIELDS would provide metadata for each of the indexed fields.

Using the SPACE information from INNODB_SYS_TABLES, query INNODB_SYS_TABLESPACES table for information about the table's tablespace.

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_TABLESPACES WHERE SPACE = 57 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
        SPACE: 57
         NAME: test/t1
         FLAG: 0
  FILE_FORMAT: Antelope
   ROW_FORMAT: Compact or Redundant
    PAGE_SIZE: 16384
ZIP_PAGE_SIZE: 0

In addition to the SPACE ID of the tablespace and the NAME of the associated table, INNODB_SYS_TABLESPACES provides tablespace FLAG data, which is bit level information about tablespace format and storage characteristics. Also provided are tablespace FILE_FORMAT, ROW_FORMAT, PAGE_SIZE, and several other tablespace metadata items.

Using the SPACE information from INNODB_SYS_TABLES once again, query INNODB_SYS_DATAFILES for the location of the tablespace data file.

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_DATAFILES WHERE SPACE = 57 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
SPACE: 57
 PATH: ./test/t1.ibd

The datafile is located in the test directory under MySQL's data directory. If a file-per-table tablespace were created in a location outside the MySQL data directory using the DATA DIRECTORY clause of the CREATE TABLE statement, the tablespace PATH would be a fully qualified directory path.

As a final step, insert a row into table t1 (TABLE_ID = 71) and view the data in the INNODB_SYS_TABLESTATS table. The data in this table is used by the MySQL optimizer to calculate which index to use when querying an InnoDB table. This information is derived from in-memory data structures. There is no corresponding internal InnoDB system table.

mysql> INSERT INTO t1 VALUES(5, 'abc', 'def');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_TABLESTATS where TABLE_ID = 71 \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
         TABLE_ID: 71
             NAME: test/t1
STATS_INITIALIZED: Initialized
         NUM_ROWS: 1
 CLUST_INDEX_SIZE: 1
 OTHER_INDEX_SIZE: 0
 MODIFIED_COUNTER: 1
          AUTOINC: 0
        REF_COUNT: 1

The STATS_INITIALIZED field indicates whether or not statistics have been collected for the table. NUM_ROWS is the current estimated number of rows in the table. The CLUST_INDEX_SIZE and OTHER_INDEX_SIZE fields report the number of pages on disk that store clustered and secondary indexes for the table, respectively. The MODIFIED_COUNTER value shows the number of rows modified by DML operations and cascade operations from foreign keys. The AUTOINC value is the next number to be issued for any autoincrement-based operation. There are no autoincrement columns defined on table t1, so the value is 0. The REF_COUNT value is a counter. When the counter reaches 0, it signifies that the table metadata can be evicted from the table cache.

Create the test database with parent and child tables:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE test;

mysql> USE test;

mysql> CREATE TABLE parent (id INT NOT NULL,
       PRIMARY KEY (id)) ENGINE=INNODB;

mysql> CREATE TABLE child (id INT, parent_id INT,
       INDEX par_ind (parent_id),
       CONSTRAINT fk1
       FOREIGN KEY (parent_id) REFERENCES parent(id)
       ON DELETE CASCADE) ENGINE=INNODB;

After the parent and child tables are created, query INNODB_SYS_FOREIGN and locate the foreign key data for the test/child and test/parent foreign key relationship:

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_FOREIGN \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
      ID: test/fk1
FOR_NAME: test/child
REF_NAME: test/parent
  N_COLS: 1
    TYPE: 1

Metadata includes the foreign key ID (fk1), which is named for the CONSTRAINT that was defined on the child table. The FOR_NAME is the name of the child table where the foreign key is defined. REF_NAME is the name of the parent table (the “referenced” table). N_COLS is the number of columns in the foreign key index. TYPE is a numerical value representing bit flags that provide additional information about the foreign key column. In this case, the TYPE value is 1, which indicates that the ON DELETE CASCADE option was specified for the foreign key. See the INNODB_SYS_FOREIGN table definition for more information about TYPE values.

Using the foreign key ID, query INNODB_SYS_FOREIGN_COLS to view data about the columns of the foreign key.

mysql> SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INNODB_SYS_FOREIGN_COLS WHERE ID = 'test/fk1' \G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
          ID: test/fk1
FOR_COL_NAME: parent_id
REF_COL_NAME: id
         POS: 0

FOR_COL_NAME is the name of the foreign key column in the child table, and REF_COL_NAME is the name of the referenced column in the parent table. The POS value is the ordinal position of the key field within the foreign key index, starting at zero.