indices: ~* / text_ops

hullo,

ive two serious problems with postgresql (latest version):

1.) i seem to be unable (well, i _am_ ;-) to create an index
on a text field and then have that index being used if
i perform a search using ~*, ~~, and related operators.
i found out that these operators can only successfully
be implemented if i use box* field types etc. this is a real
pain, since i have that database with more than 70,000
entries and it always does a sequential scan.
a query might look like
"select * from table where field ~* 'string'" or
"select * from table where field ~~ '%string%' etc.
there are indices (hash, btree, (field text_ops)), but
they wont be used.
can anybody of you possibly help me any further on this issue?

2.) another thing i noticed is that while "~*" is supposed to
perform a case insensitive search, it does not. i havent
checked too much into the bug behind it (like "all ascii
values > 127 ..."), but the typical austrian and german
characters like "ae" with two dots (forgot the terminologically
exact name, forgive me) etc. will not be searched
properly, thus, if i have a field entry with
'AEyadayada'
and perform a search with
... ~* 'aeyadayada',
it wont find anything, i have to use ~* 'AEyadayada'.
opinions on that one woul dbe appreciated as well!

best regards,

+bl.

--
Bernhard Lorenz Managing Partner
!C Internet Consult http://www.iconsult.at/
Pacassistrasse 32, A-1130 Wien +43/1/319 09 90
Aichholzgasse 6/5, A-1120 Wien +43/1/817 39 23