Re: best way to fetch next/prev record based on index

Hi, Merlin,

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:07:02 -0400
"Merlin Moncure" <merlin(dot)moncure(at)rcsonline(dot)com> wrote:

> So, for a table t with a three part key over columns a,b,c, the query
> to read the next value from t for given values a1, b1, c1 is
>
> select * from t where
> a >= a1 and
> (a > a1 or b >= b1) and
> (a > a1 or b > b1 or c > c1)

You mut not rely on such trickery to get any ordering, as the SQL data
model contains no ordering, and a query optimizer is free to deliver you
the tuples in any order it feels like.

Why don't you add a 'ORDER BY a,b,c ASC' to your query?

> Interestingly, it is possible to rewrite the above query by switching
> and with or and >= with >. However when written that way, the planner
> almost never gets it right.

That's the reason why you cannot rely on any implicit ordering, the
planner is free to rewrite a query as it likes as long as it delivers
the same tuples, but in any order it wants.

> My problem is deceptively simple: how you read the next record from a
> table based on a given set of values? In practice, this is difficult
> to implement. If anybody can suggest a alternative/better way to
> this, I'm all ears.

So you really want something like

'SELECT * FROM t WHERE a>=a1 AND b>=b1 AND c>=c1 ORDER BY a,b,c ASC LIMIT 1'

HTH,
Markus
--
markus schaber | dipl. informatiker
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