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69.2. Built-in Operator Classes

The core PostgreSQL distribution includes the SP-GiST operator classes shown in Table 69.1.

Table 69.1. Built-in SP-GiST Operator Classes

Name Indexable Operators Ordering Operators
box_ops << (box,box) <-> (box,point)
&< (box,box)
&> (box,box)
>> (box,box)
<@ (box,box)
@> (box,box)
~= (box,box)
&& (box,box)
<<| (box,box)
&<| (box,box)
|&> (box,box)
|>> (box,box)
inet_ops << (inet,inet)  
<<= (inet,inet)
>> (inet,inet)
>>= (inet,inet)
= (inet,inet)
<> (inet,inet)
< (inet,inet)
<= (inet,inet)
> (inet,inet)
>= (inet,inet)
&& (inet,inet)
kd_point_ops |>> (point,point) <-> (point,point)
<< (point,point)
>> (point,point)
<<| (point,point)
~= (point,point)
<@ (point,box)
poly_ops << (polygon,polygon) <-> (polygon,point)
&< (polygon,polygon)
&> (polygon,polygon)
>> (polygon,polygon)
<@ (polygon,polygon)
@> (polygon,polygon)
~= (polygon,polygon)
&& (polygon,polygon)
<<| (polygon,polygon)
&<| (polygon,polygon)
|>> (polygon,polygon)
|&> (polygon,polygon)
quad_point_ops |>> (point,point) <-> (point,point)
<< (point,point)
>> (point,point)
<<| (point,point)
~= (point,point)
<@ (point,box)
range_ops = (anyrange,anyrange)  
&& (anyrange,anyrange)
@> (anyrange,anyelement)
@> (anyrange,anyrange)
<@ (anyrange,anyrange)
<< (anyrange,anyrange)
>> (anyrange,anyrange)
&< (anyrange,anyrange)
&> (anyrange,anyrange)
-|- (anyrange,anyrange)
text_ops = (text,text)  
< (text,text)
<= (text,text)
> (text,text)
>= (text,text)
~<~ (text,text)
~<=~ (text,text)
~>=~ (text,text)
~>~ (text,text)
^@ (text,text)

Of the two operator classes for type point, quad_point_ops is the default. kd_point_ops supports the same operators but uses a different index data structure that may offer better performance in some applications.

The quad_point_ops, kd_point_ops and poly_ops operator classes support the <-> ordering operator, which enables the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) search over indexed point or polygon data sets.

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