Indexes represent an alternative way of retrieving table rows. Normally you retrieve table rows using the row's primary key. By creating an index, you can retrieve rows with dissimilar primary key values, but which share some other characteristic.

Indexes can only be created on top-level fields. So if you have a table with record fields, or if you use an array field of complex data types, you cannot index the fields created within those records or arrays.

For example, if you had a table representing types of automobiles, the primary keys for each row might be the automobile's manufacturer and model type. However, if you wanted to be able to query for all automobiles that are painted red, regardless of the manufacturer or model type, you could create an index on the table's field that contains color information.

As with tables, the best way to create indexes is to use a script. In this way, you can ensure consistency in the index(es) created across all phases of your product development cycle — from engineering, to test, to production.

Indexes can take a long time to create because Oracle NoSQL Database must examine all of the data contained in the relevant table in your store. The smaller the data contained in the table, the faster your index creation will complete. Conversely, if a table contains a lot of data, then it can take a long time to create indexes for it.

To create an index, use the plan add-index command. Similarly, to remove an index use the plan remove-index command.

To add an index, specify the table you want to index, and one or more fields to index. (Remember, these must be top-level fields.) For example, in Defining Tables we created a table named myTable. We could add a command to the end of that script that creates an index for the percentage field, like this:

## Enter into table creation mode
table create -name myTable
## Now add the fields
add-field -type STRING -name item
add-field -type STRING -name description
add-field -type INTEGER -name count
add-field -type DOUBLE -name percentage
## A primary key must be defined for every table
## Here, we will define field 'item' as the primary key.
primary-key -field item
## Exit table creation mode
exit
## Add the table to the store. Use the -wait flag to
## force the script to wait for the plan to complete
## before doing anything else.
plan add-table -name myTable -wait

plan add-index -name percent_idx -table myTable -field percentage -wait