Re: pg temp tables

On 06/03/07, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> "Anton Melser" <melser(dot)anton(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> > Thanks for your reply. I am managing a db that has some export scripts
> > that don't do a drop/create, but rather a delete from at the start of
> > the proc (6 or 7 tables used for this, and only this). Now given that
> > there is no vacuuming at all going on - this is clearly suboptimal but
> > in the general case is this better/worse than using temporary tables?
>
> Delete all rows, you mean? Have you considered TRUNCATE?

Hi,
... I have considered lots of things - but I didn't write the scripts!
Now that you mention it, I do remember that truncate is much better
than
delete from mytable;
That is not what they wrote but hey. But even then, what are the
advantages/disadvantages of temp tables? Is there a document somewhere
I can consult which will give me the lowdown on permanent (but
temporary) versus temporary tables in pg?
Cheers
Anton