Feedback-ID: i76984098:Fastmail
Message-ID: <55d333e9-5172-4ece-9723-a64d6137acee@aklaver.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2026 08:07:39 -0800
MIME-Version: 1.0
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Subject: Re: Top -N Query performance issue and high CPU usage
To: Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr@gmail.com>,
 "pgsql-generallists.postgresql.org" <pgsql-general@lists.postgresql.org>
References: <CAEzWdqd0SPkZMYNaAbERdgczkfQqLmNV5JBMmF-F9s7KjxJ0gw@mail.gmail.com>
 <fde67103-e00e-460e-b2ec-eb539809e998@aklaver.com>
 <CAEzWdqd6LAHs+FiFeJLqDTS-QBLq6+foE1-mgBC9AXVpFmVnZg@mail.gmail.com>
 <vecavrvgzoxkks66nw2gvt3vot5lwbcm7f65iopgjbw72v2lc6@qd5leh3coj7g>
 <CAEzWdqcAbi0GYp_K64oZTeUeN3YN7-eFQ2m2fZDRvmnJx5Lb5w@mail.gmail.com>
 <CANzqJaDf4kKc89e_9YGZ+BorPbViYgPZomo1ssQO9utOHeStCg@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAEzWdqc-2O8mWGdeDhnzKrp7-kwC99sqJ+ArWUS38WuHUKP-UQ@mail.gmail.com>
 <CANzqJaBucLq65V9OH_Ruah7S=g+5s-L8yFkjELdAerZszzcOXA@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAEzWdqd3dcJoDDaG8t1nsgrdy7Tw-EvD1zMCXHy_uOgkLFAZdQ@mail.gmail.com>
 <CANzqJaDHtROOVSEB_i6Lo+wFki-vNuQ6wDTNGT-hCWRsMBpvZQ@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAEzWdqddHgqsZCachpQMgZmRRRuTQ9HxvdP6=Lhr+TYtPL=w-A@mail.gmail.com>
 <CANzqJaDxOsp=QNqa5bK4JXKOt7uHfxNpcTPZGWuVUMpGjNUB4Q@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAEzWdqc3hdnZbHTLd1kXxR3FUdxGpM7=Eea9c8Hp7QsF+HKMtg@mail.gmail.com>
 <CANzqJaAE6bevjj43W-94Bx1xGB9OPbUtOyXV2kaGpju1wt3k+A@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Language: en-US
From: Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>
In-Reply-To: <CANzqJaAE6bevjj43W-94Bx1xGB9OPbUtOyXV2kaGpju1wt3k+A@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Archived-At: <https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/55d333e9-5172-4ece-9723-a64d6137acee%40aklaver.com>
Precedence: bulk

On 2/3/26 07:59, Ron Johnson wrote:

> 
> 
> There is no VARCHAR or CHAR; there is only TEXT.  Thus, this is 100% 
> expected and normal.

What Ron is saying is that there are varchar and char types, but they 
boil down to text per:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype-character.html

"text is PostgreSQL's native string data type, in that most built-in 
functions operating on strings are declared to take or return text not 
character varying. For many purposes, character varying acts as though 
it were a domain over text."

As to performance see:

"
Tip

There is no performance difference among these three types, apart from 
increased storage space when using the blank-padded type, and a few 
extra CPU cycles to check the length when storing into a 
length-constrained column. While character(n) has performance advantages 
in some other database systems, there is no such advantage in 
PostgreSQL; in fact character(n) is usually the slowest of the three 
because of its additional storage costs. In most situations text or 
character varying should be used instead.
"

> 
> -- 
> Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
> Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
> <Redacted> lobster!


-- 
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com