How to copy indexes from one table to another in SQL Server

Question

I need to copy the indexes from one table to another. There are a LOT of indexes and I don\'t want to recreate them from scratch. Seems error prone anyways.

I have c

Answer 1

I'm not specifically familiar with SQL Server, however based on the way database tables are defined and used in other databases, i would say there is no way to do this by just copying the data or using a SELECT INTO.

The indexes need to be defined as part of the table structure and need to be generated for any existing data that may be in the table.

The only way to do this is during the CREATE TABLE statement of by using an ALTER TABLE statement after the table has been created.

Statements for working with the data itself are separate to working with the table definitions so i don't think there will be any work around or shortcut for this.

I'm sure there would be tools available to generate the ALTER TABLE statement to create all the appropriate indexes based on the table you already have, making it easy and reliable.

Answer 2

You could build a script using the information in sysindexes (or sys.indexes depending on your version) to recreate all of the indexes, but using the Select * into approach is also not going to pick up up foreign and primary keys or any extended proprties. You should really look into using SSIS if you are using a 2005+ version, or DTS if you are using 2000, both have wizards to simplify this kind of copy.

SSIS Import Export

DTS Import Export

Answer 3

Rightclick the index in SSMS and do script as > create .

Change the table name and the index name and you should be set

Answer 4

You should get the idea here

Sub CopyTemp(tblName As String, Optional WithIndex As Boolean = False)
    Dim db As DAO.Database
    Dim tDefOrig As DAO.TableDef
    Dim tDefNew As DAO.TableDef

    Dim idxOrig As DAO.Index
    Dim idxNew As DAO.Index
    Dim fld As DAO.Field

    Dim tempName As String

    tempName = "temp" & tblName

    Set db = CurrentDb
    db.Execute "Select * Into " & tempName & " From " & tblName

    If WithIndex = True Then
        Set tDefOrig = db.TableDefs(tblName)
        Set tDefNew = db.TableDefs(tempName)

        For Each idxOrig In tDefOrig.Indexes
            Set idxNew = tDefNew.CreateIndex(idxOrig.Name)
            With idxNew
                For Each fld In idxOrig.Fields
                    .Fields.Append .CreateField(fld.Name)
                Next
                .Primary = idxOrig.Primary
                .Unique = idxOrig.Unique
            End With
            tDefNew.Indexes.Append idxNew
            tDefNew.Indexes.Refresh
        Next
    End If

End Sub

Answer 5

Do you want to copy the Index definition?

Then you can reverse engineer the index, triggers etc using the "Script" option in the Microsoft SQL Management tool

Simply right click on a table name in the SQL Management Studio table list and select "Script Table as" and then "Create to"

You can't copy the Index data as it relates to the physical storage of the Index

First check that you have "Tools/Options/SQL Server Object Explorer/Scripting/Script Indexes" set to "True". This is set to false in some version of the SQL Management tool (thanks Mark)

Answer 6

By default the right-click table "CREATE" does not include the indexes or triggers, just the table definition and constraints.

You can right click the database and click "Tasks" -> "Generate Scripts" which will allow you to do this

Edit: this is the default but as TFD mentions it can be changed, thankfully.