1. 用UNION替换OR (适用于索引列)
   通常情况下, 用UNION替换WHERE子句中的OR将会起到较好的效果. 对索引列使用OR将造成全表扫描. 注意,以上规则只针对多个索引列有效. 如果有column没有被索引, 查询效率可能会因为你没有选择OR而降低. 在下面的例子中, LOC_ID 和REGION上都建有索引.

高效:
SELECT LOC_ID , LOC_DESC , REGION FROM LOCATION WHERE LOC_ID = 10
UNION
SELECT LOC_ID , LOC_DESC , REGION FROM LOCATION WHERE REGION = "MELBOURNE"
低效:
SELECT LOC_ID , LOC_DESC , REGION FROM LOCATION WHERE LOC_ID = 10 OR REGION = "MELBOURNE"
如果你坚持要用OR, 那就需要返回记录最少的索引列写在最前面.
注意: WHERE KEY1 = 10 (返回最少记录) OR KEY2 = 20 (返回最多记录)
ORACLE 内部将以上转换为
WHERE KEY1 = 10 AND
((NOT KEY1 = 10) AND KEY2 = 20)
译者按: 下面的测试数据仅供参考: (a = 1003 返回一条记录 , b = 1 返回1003条记录)
SQL> select from unionvsor /1st test*/
2 where a = 1003 or b = 1;
1003 rows selected.

Execution Plan

0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE
1 0 CONCATENATION
2 1 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'UNIONVSOR'
3 2 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'UB' (NON-UNIQUE)
4 1 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'UNIONVSOR'
5 4 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'UA' (NON-UNIQUE)

Statistics

0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
144 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
63749 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
7751 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
68 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
0 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
1003 rows processed
SQL> select from unionvsor /2nd test*/
2 where b = 1 or a = 1003 ;
1003 rows selected.

Execution Plan

0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE
1 0 CONCATENATION
2 1 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'UNIONVSOR'
3 2 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'UA' (NON-UNIQUE)
4 1 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'UNIONVSOR'
5 4 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'UB' (NON-UNIQUE)

Statistics

0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
143 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
63749 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
7751 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
68 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
0 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
1003 rows processed
SQL> select from unionvsor /3rd test*/
2 where a = 1003
3 union
4 select * from unionvsor
5 where b = 1;
1003 rows selected.

Execution Plan

0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE
1 0 SORT (UNIQUE)
2 1 UNION-ALL
3 2 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'UNIONVSOR'
4 3 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'UA' (NON-UNIQUE)
5 2 TABLE ACCESS (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'UNIONVSOR'
6 5 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'UB' (NON-UNIQUE)

Statistics

0 recursive calls
0 db block gets
10 consistent gets
0 physical reads
0 redo size
63735 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
7751 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
68 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
1 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
1003 rows processed
用UNION的效果可以从consistent gets和 SQL*NET的数据交换量的减少看出