What do column flags mean in MySQL Workbench?

Question

In MySQL Workbench table editor there are 7 column flags available: PK, NN, UQ, BIN, UN, ZF, AI.

PK obviously stands for Primary Key. What about others?

Answer 1

PK - Primary Key

NN - Not Null

BIN - Binary (stores data as binary strings. There is no character set so sorting and comparison is based on the numeric values of the bytes in the values.)

UN - Unsigned (non-negative numbers only. so if the range is -500 to 500, instead its 0 - 1000, the range is the same but it starts at 0)

UQ - Create/remove Unique Key

ZF - Zero-Filled (if the length is 5 like INT(5) then every field is filled with 0’s to the 5th digit. 12 = 00012, 400 = 00400, etc. )

AI - Auto Increment

G - Generated column. i.e. value generated by a formula based on the other columns

Answer 2

Here is the source of these column flags

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/workbench/en/wb-table-editor-columns-tab.html

Answer 3

This exact question is answered on mySql workbench-faq:

Hover over an acronym to view a description, and see the Section 8.1.11.2, “The Columns Tab” and MySQL CREATE TABLE documentation for additional details.

That means hover over an acronym in the mySql Workbench table editor.

Section 8.1.11.2, “The Columns Tab”