An index is a data structure which allows you to quickly retrieve records from a database object by creating pointers that point to where data is stored. It's typically stored in a key-value format where the key is the field or column (sorted) and the value is the pointer(s). ![[Assets/index_example.png|800]] *Image courtesy of dataschool.com* %% wiki footer: Please don't edit anything below this line %% ## This note in GitHub <span class="git-footer">[Edit In GitHub](https://github.dev/data-engineering-community/data-engineering-wiki/blob/main/Concepts/Indexing.md "git-hub-edit-note") | [Copy this note](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/data-engineering-community/data-engineering-wiki/main/Concepts/Indexing.md "git-hub-copy-note")</span> <span class="git-footer">Was this page helpful? [👍](https://tally.so/r/mOaxjk?rating=Yes&url=https://dataengineering.wiki/Concepts/Indexing) or [👎](https://tally.so/r/mOaxjk?rating=No&url=https://dataengineering.wiki/Concepts/Indexing)</span>