MYSQL INSERT only if entries don't exist

[jsbarra]

I have a quick question:

I have a table called mytable that has the following structure:

id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCRMENET PRIMARY KEY
vert_id INT NOT NULL
local_id INT NOT NULL

With the following rows:

id---vert_id----local_id
1       10             6
2       52             6
3      67              8

I want to run an insert like this:

INSERT INTO mytable (vert_id, local_id) VALUES ('10', '6'), ('10', '7')

I need mysql only to insert the ('10', '7') and not ('10', '6') because that pair already exists.

I tried using insert ingore, but since these aren't unique or primary indexes it doesn't work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks!

[r937]

... since these aren't unique or primary indexes

why aren't they? sounds like they should be

[jsbarra]

Because the pairs need to be unique, for instance having multiple rows that have a vert_id of 10 or having multiple rows with a local_id of 6 is okay, but having multiple rows with a vert_id of 10 and a local_id of 6 is not okay,

I am pretty new at this stuff so i may not be phrasing it correctly. Chances are I am going about this all wrong

[crmalibu]

An index can span multiple columns.

create unique index vert_local on mytable (vert_id, local_id)

[jsbarra]

ah ha! thanks crmalibu! You seem to always help me out thanks a lot!!