Re: SQL command speed

I believe the PostgreSQL optimizer is fooled by many ORs and switches
to sequential scans: it cannot estimate properly the quantity of
results that will be returned.

Try it in one go, as

$sql = "SELECT notam_id, TO_CHAR(full_issue_date, 'DD-MON-YYYY
HH24:MI')
FROM notam_details
WHERE
item_a IN
('EGKB','EGDM','EGHH','EGGD','EGVN','EGFF',
'EGDC','EGTC','EGDR','EGTE','EGLF','EGTG',
'EGBJ','EGLC','EGKK','EGLL','EGSS','EGGW',
'EGMD','EGDL','EGUM','EGHD','EGHE','EGKA',
'EGHI','EGMC','EGDG','EGFH','EGDY','EGJA',
'EGJB','EGJJ')";

The optimizer should (I think) like this better and use the indices,
without requiring that you iterate the queries from the frontend.

As I am trying to learn these things too, I will appreciate knowing
about the result of your tests: please keep me posted.

Thanks

Miguel Sofer