What is the difference between clustered and non-clustered indexes?

Clustered indexes are physical structures that determine the order in which data is stored in a table. They are used to improve the speed of data retrieval from the table. For example, if you have a table of customer orders, you can create a clustered index on the order date field to quickly locate orders within a certain date range.

Non-clustered indexes are logical structures that create a separate copy of the data from the table. They are used to improve the speed of data retrieval from the table. For example, if you have a table of customer orders, you can create a non-clustered index on the customer name field to quickly locate orders by customer name.

What is the difference between a clustered and a non-clustered index?

A clustered index is a type of index that physically reorders the data in a table when the index is created. This means that when a clustered index is created, the data in the table is physically sorted in the order of the clustered index key. A non-clustered index does not physically reorder the data in a table when the index is created. Instead, a non-clustered index creates a separate structure that contains the index key and a pointer to the data in the table.

For example, if we have a table called ‘Employees’ with the columns ‘EmployeeID’, ‘FirstName’, and ‘LastName’, we could create a clustered index on the ‘EmployeeID’ column. This would cause the table to be physically sorted by the ‘EmployeeID’ column. We could also create a non-clustered index on the ‘LastName’ column. This would create a separate structure that contains the ‘LastName’ column and a pointer to the data in the table. The data in the table would not be physically sorted by the ‘LastName’ column.