If all the tables use the MyISAM Storage Engine and have the same table structure, I have some good news for you.
You can create a single table that consumes no additional space except a .frm file and some mapping info. The key is to take advantage of the MERGE (MRG_MyISAM) Storage Engine.
Here is how you can do this:
CREATE TABLE XMerge LIKE X1;
ALTER TABLE XMerge ENGINE=MRG_MYISAM
UNION=(X1,X2,X3,X4) INSERT_METHOD=LAST;
Using this method, you can query the 4 tables at the same time like this:
SELECT ReqF FROM XMerge WHERE EmpName='John';
Was that simple, or what ???
In your case, you have 75 tables. You would do this:
CREATE TABLE XMerge LIKE X1;
ALTER TABLE XMerge ENGINE=MRG_MYISAM
UNION=(X1,X2,X3,X4,X5,X6,X7,X8,X9,
X10,X11,X12,X13,X14,X15,X16,X17,X18,X19,
X20,X21,X22,X23,X24,X25,X26,X27,X28,X29,
X30,X31,X32,X33,X34,X35,X36,X37,X38,X39,
X40,X41,X42,X43,X44,X45,X46,X47,X48,X49,
X50,X51,X52,X53,X54,X55,X56,X57,X58,X59,
X60,X61,X62,X63,X64,X65,X66,X67,X68,X69,
X70,X71,X72,X73,X74,X75) INSERT_METHOD=LAST;
SELECT ReqF FROM XMerge WHERE EmpName='John';
The beauty of this is that creating a MERGE table takes milliseconds. Just make sure every table has an index on EmpName. Better to do 75 indexed lookups that 75 full table scans. If there is no index on EmpName, you need to do this:
ALTER TABLE X1 ADD UNIQUE KEY (EmpName);
ALTER TABLE X2 ADD UNIQUE KEY (EmpName);
.
.
.
ALTER TABLE X75 ADD UNIQUE KEY (EmpName);
CREATE TABLE XMerge LIKE X1;
ALTER TABLE XMerge ENGINE=MRG_MYISAM
UNION=(X1,X2,X3,X4,X5,X6,X7,X8,X9,
X10,X11,X12,X13,X14,X15,X16,X17,X18,X19,
X20,X21,X22,X23,X24,X25,X26,X27,X28,X29,
X30,X31,X32,X33,X34,X35,X36,X37,X38,X39,
X40,X41,X42,X43,X44,X45,X46,X47,X48,X49,
X50,X51,X52,X53,X54,X55,X56,X57,X58,X59,
X60,X61,X62,X63,X64,X65,X66,X67,X68,X69,
X70,X71,X72,X73,X74,X75) INSERT_METHOD=LAST;
SELECT ReqF FROM XMerge WHERE EmpName='John';
Give it a Try !!!
Your last query
mysql> select table_name from tables as a left join (select distinct table_name from tables as b) on a.table_name!=b.table_name;
ERROR 1248 (42000): Every derived table must have its own alias
fails because the as b must be outside the parentheses like this
mysql> select table_name from tables as a left join (select distinct table_name from tables) as b on a.table_name!=b.table_name;
Your method 2 failed
mysql> select count(table_name) as num, table_name from tables group by table_name where num > 1;
because the group by table_name must be last like this
mysql> select count(table_name) as num, table_name from tables where num > 1 group by table_name;
SUGGESTION
Perhaps you should start with a GROUP BY ... HAVING query like this
SELECT table_name,COUNT(1) table_count
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema NOT IN
('information_schema','performance_schema','mysql')
GROUP BY table_name HAVING COUNT(1) > 1;
This will definitely give all tables whose name appears in multiple databases
Form that as a subquery and join it to gather all databases the table appears in
SELECT
A.table_name,
GROUP_CONCAT(B.table_schema) TheTableAppearsInTheseDatabases
FROM
(
SELECT table_name,COUNT(1) table_count
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema NOT IN
('information_schema','performance_schema','mysql')
GROUP BY table_name HAVING COUNT(1) > 1
) A INNER JOIN information_schema.tables B
USING (table_name) GROUP BY A.table_name;
Please notice that I use INNER JOIN rather than LEFT JOIN because it will really form a Cartesian product (2704 X 2704) and then perform comparisons.
I know this works because I tried it out in MySQL 5.5.12 on my Windows7 machine
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 33
Server version: 5.5.12-log MySQL Community Server (GPL)
Copyright (c) 2000, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
mysql> SELECT
-> A.table_name,
-> GROUP_CONCAT(B.table_schema) TheTableAppearsInTheseDatabases
-> FROM
-> (
-> SELECT table_name,COUNT(1) table_count
-> FROM information_schema.tables
-> WHERE table_schema NOT IN
-> ('information_schema','performance_schema','mysql')
-> GROUP BY table_name HAVING COUNT(1) > 1
-> ) A INNER JOIN information_schema.tables B
-> USING (table_name) GROUP BY A.table_name;
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| table_name | TheTableAppearsInTheseDatabases |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| a | junk,test,robottinosino |
| acl | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive |
| blocks | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| blog | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive |
| blog_category | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| blog_entrycat | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive |
| blog_meta | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| blog_trackback | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_staging |
| calendar_events | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| calendar_meta | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_staging |
| calendar_questions | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| calendar_tickets | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_staging |
| calendar_transactions | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive |
| captcha_complex | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| change_log | test,junk |
| chat_staff | test,junk |
| comments | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive |
| donations_charities | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| donations_charities_meta | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| donations_donations | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| foo_reference1 | timpost1,timpost2 |
| foo_reference2 | timpost1,timpost2 |
| foo_reference3 | timpost1,timpost2 |
| groups | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| ipvisitor | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| job_post | giannosfor,test |
| layout | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| listeners | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| mediamanager_files | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_staging |
| mediamanager_group | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| mediamanager_photos | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| mediamanager_video | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| menus | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| menus_groups | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| mytable | ryanzec,user1267617,cabita,dotancohen,johnlocke,neeraj,test,user391986,cool_cs,javier,mathieu |
| mytext | jakobud,newstuff |
| occupation_field | giannosfor,test |
| policy_agentblock | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| policy_ipblock | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| prova | veto,vito |
| registry | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| registry_bk | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| session | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| static_pages | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| static_pages_translation | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| t | preeti,rollup_test |
| t1 | abidibo,test |
| t2 | test,abidibo |
| t3 | test,abidibo |
| table1 | table_test,supercoolville,test |
| table2 | supercoolville,test,table_test |
| tags | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| tags_content | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| tbl_banner_position | weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_live |
| tbl_banner_upload | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| tbl_global_banner | weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_live |
| tms_authors | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| tms_repositories | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| tms_themes | weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging |
| updates | test,junk |
| url_aliases | weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive |
| url_maps | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| users | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,giannosfor,veto,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2,friends,sample,vito |
| users_groups | weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live,weisci_jaws_staging2 |
| users_meta | weisci_jaws_staging2,weisci_jaws_archive,weisci_jaws_staging,weisci_jaws_live |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
65 rows in set (0.91 sec)
mysql>
Give it a Try !!!
Best Answer
Use a CASE if you want, but you can always check if COUNT() > 0