Re-using deleted IDs?

[Jeanco]

Hello,

Like most people all my tables use a unique ID number to identify every record. I have this set to auto_increment.

My question is this:

Is there a way to set up the database so that it uses the lowest available ID number?

That is, say I put 100 records in one day, but they get used and deleted.

The next day, if I put another 100 records in they would use the IDs 101-200. Is there not a setting to just have it re-use 1-100 since those records no longer exist?

[r937]

short answer: no

long answer: you don't really want to do this, no

don't pay any attention to the gaps in the numbers

[Jeanco]

I'm just worried about the numbers getting too large for it to handle. I have a few tables that updated and emptied so often that these numbers are going to grow large quite quickly.

Is this something I should be concerned with?

[r937]

i would be most happy to dispel, clear up, eliminate, remove, and erase all your worries

two questions: what DATATYPE are your ids, and how many rows do you add to the table per day?

[Jeanco]

At the moment they are int(11).

In some of the tables it could get up to a several thousand entries per day on a busier day

[r937]

let's say 10,000 per day, okay?

with INTEGER UNSIGNED, you will run out of numbers in AD 3182

want to place a small wager about whether your app will still be running?

[Jeanco]

lol ok, you win this round

[guelphdad]

there's also BIGINT