using Tsearch2 for chemical text

From: Rajarshi Guha <rguha(at)indiana(dot)edu>
To: pgsql-general <pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: using Tsearch2 for chemical text
Date: 2007-07-25 22:40:49
Message-ID: B598BF62-435A-44D6-B602-5C6077333858@indiana.edu
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Hi, I have a table with about 9M entries. The table has 2 fields: id
and name which are of serial and text types respectively. I have a
ordinary index on the text field which allows me to do searches in
reasonable time. Most of my searches are of the form

select * from mytable where name ~ 'some text query'

I know that the Tsearch2 module will let me have very efficient text
searches. But if I understand correctly, it's based on a language
specific dictionary.

My problem is that the name column contains names of chemicals. Now
for many cases this may simply be a number (1674-56-2) and in other
cases it may be an alphanumeric string (such as (-)O-acetylcarnitine
or 1,2-cis-dihydroxybenzoate). In some cases it is a well-known word
(say viagra or calcium chloride or pentathol).

My question is: will Tsearch2 be able to handle this type of text? Or
will it be hampered by the fact that the bulk of the rows do not
correspond to ordinary English

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Rajarshi Guha <rguha(at)indiana(dot)edu>
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