MySQL: Make your sql query faster......

You can provide hints to give the optimizer information about how to choose indexes during query processing.

tbl_name [[AS] alias] [index_hint_list]

index_hint: USE {INDEX|KEY} [{FOR {JOIN|ORDER BY|GROUP BY}] ([index_list]) | IGNORE {INDEX|KEY} [{FOR {JOIN|ORDER BY|GROUP BY}] (index_list) | FORCE {INDEX|KEY} [{FOR {JOIN|ORDER BY|GROUP BY}] (index_list)

index_list: index_name [, index_name] ...

By specifying USE INDEX (index_list), you can tell MySQL to use only one of the named indexes to find rows in the table. The alternative syntax IGNORE INDEX (index_list) can be used to tell MySQL to not use some particular index or indexes. These hints are useful if EXPLAIN shows that MySQL is using the wrong index from the list of possible indexes.

You can also use FORCE INDEX, which acts like USE INDEX (index_list) but with the addition that a table scan is assumed to be very expensive. In other words, a table scan is used only if there is no way to use one of the given indexes to find rows in the table.

USE KEY, IGNORE KEY, and FORCE KEY are synonyms for USE INDEX, IGNORE INDEX, and FORCE INDEX.

Each hint requires the names of indexes, not the names of columns. The name of a PRIMARY KEY is PRIMARY. To see the index names for a table, use SHOW INDEX.

Index hints do not work for FULLTEXT indexes.

Prior to MySQL 5.1.17, USE INDEX, IGNORE INDEX, and FORCE INDEX affect only which indexes are used when MySQL decides how to find rows in the table and how to process joins. They do not affect whether an index is used when resolving an ORDER BY or GROUP BY clause.

From: MySQL 5.1 Reference Manual