integer[] indexing.

From: Dawid Kuroczko <qnex42(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: pgsql-performance(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: integer[] indexing.
Date: 2004-10-08 09:11:16
Message-ID: 758d5e7f041008021163fb40eb@mail.gmail.com
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I have a large table with a column:
ids integer[] not null

most of these entries (over 95%) contain only one array element, some
can contain up to 10 array elements. seqscan is naturally slow. GIST
on int_array works nice, but GIST isn't exactly a speed daemon when it
comes to updating.

So I thought, why not create partial indexes?

CREATE INDEX one_element_array_index ON table ((ids[1])) WHERE icount(ids) <= 1;
CREATE INDEX many_element_array_index ON table USING GIST (ids) WHERE
icount(ids) > 1;

Now, if I select WHERE icount(ids) <= 1 AND ids[1] = 33 I get
lightning fast results.
If I select WHERE icount(ids) > 1 AND ids && '{33}' -- I get them even faster.

But when I phrase the query:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE (icount(ids) <= 1 AND ids[1] = 33) OR
(icount(ids) > 1 AND ids && '{33}');

Planner insists on using seqscan. Even with enable_seqscan = off;

Any hints, comments? :) [ I think thsese partial indexes take best of
two worlds, only if planner wanted to take advantage of it... :) ]

Regards,
Dawid

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