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max/min and index usage
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* max/min and index usage
@ 2006-12-06 03:01 Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
  2006-12-06 03:29 ` Re: max/min and index usage Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread

From: Tobias Brox @ 2006-12-06 03:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: pgsql-performance

We're using 8.1 - I thought such a construct was safe in pg 8.1:

 select max(indexed_value) from huge_table;

while earlier we had to use:

 select indexed_value from huge_table order by indexed_value desc limit 1;

seems like I was wrong:


mydb=> explain analyze select indexed_value1 from mytable order by indexed_value1 desc limit 1;
                                                                           QUERY PLAN                                                                            
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Limit  (cost=0.00..1.96 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=0.115..0.117 rows=1 loops=1)
   ->  Index Scan Backward using index1 on mytable  (cost=0.00..23890756.52 rows=12164924 width=4) (actual time=0.111..0.111 rows=1 loops=1)
 Total runtime: 0.162 ms
(3 rows)

mydb=> explain analyze select indexed_value2 from mytable order by indexed_value2 desc limit 1;
                                                                         QUERY PLAN                                                                          
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Limit  (cost=0.00..0.04 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=0.128..0.130 rows=1 loops=1)
   ->  Index Scan Backward using index2 on mytable  (cost=0.00..428231.16 rows=12164924 width=4) (actual time=0.124..0.124 rows=1 loops=1)
 Total runtime: 0.160 ms
(3 rows)


mydb=> explain analyze select max(indexed_value2) from mytable; 
                                                                                 QUERY PLAN                                                                                  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Result  (cost=0.04..0.05 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=11652.138..11652.139 rows=1 loops=1)
   InitPlan
     ->  Limit  (cost=0.00..0.04 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=11652.122..11652.124 rows=1 loops=1)
           ->  Index Scan Backward using index2 on mytable  (cost=0.00..428231.16 rows=12164924 width=4) (actual time=11652.117..11652.117 rows=1 loops=1)
                 Filter: (indexed_value2 IS NOT NULL)
 Total runtime: 11652.200 ms
(6 rows)

mydb=> explain analyze select max(indexed_value1) from mytable; 
                                                                                 QUERY PLAN                                                                                  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Result  (cost=1.96..1.97 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=713.780..713.781 rows=1 loops=1)
   InitPlan
     ->  Limit  (cost=0.00..1.96 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=713.767..713.770 rows=1 loops=1)
           ->  Index Scan Backward using index1 on mytable  (cost=0.00..23890756.52 rows=12164924 width=4) (actual time=713.764..713.764 rows=1 loops=1)
                 Filter: (indexed_value1 IS NOT NULL)
 Total runtime: 713.861 ms
(6 rows)



^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread

* Re: max/min and index usage
  2006-12-06 03:01 max/min and index usage Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
@ 2006-12-06 03:29 ` Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
  2006-12-06 03:35   ` Re: max/min and index usage Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread

From: Tom Lane @ 2006-12-06 03:29 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>; +Cc: pgsql-performance

Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com> writes:
> We're using 8.1 - I thought such a construct was safe in pg 8.1:
>  select max(indexed_value) from huge_table;
> while earlier we had to use:
>  select indexed_value from huge_table order by indexed_value desc limit 1;

These are not actually exactly the same thing.  In particular, I suppose
your table contains a lot of nulls?

			regards, tom lane



^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread

* Re: max/min and index usage
  2006-12-06 03:01 max/min and index usage Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
  2006-12-06 03:29 ` Re: max/min and index usage Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
@ 2006-12-06 03:35   ` Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread

From: Tobias Brox @ 2006-12-06 03:35 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>; +Cc: Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>; pgsql-performance

[Tom Lane - Tue at 10:29:53PM -0500]
> These are not actually exactly the same thing.  In particular, I suppose
> your table contains a lot of nulls?

Yes; I'm sorry I was a bit quick with the first posting.



^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread

* Re: max/min and index usage
@ 2006-12-06 03:17 Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread

From: Tobias Brox @ 2006-12-06 03:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>; +Cc: pgsql-performance

[Tobias Brox - Wed at 04:01:56AM +0100]
> We're using 8.1 - I thought such a construct was safe in pg 8.1:
> 
>  select max(indexed_value) from huge_table;
> 
> while earlier we had to use:
> 
>  select indexed_value from huge_table order by indexed_value desc limit 1;
> 
> seems like I was wrong:

The difference is all about those NULL values ... those columns are quite
sparsely populated in the table.  The second query gives NULL, which is
not much useful :-)

However, I made a partial index to solve this problem - this query is
able to use the partial index:

  select indexed_value from huge_table where indexed_value is not NULL
  order by indexed_value desc limit 1;

while this one is not:

  select max(indexed_value) from huge_table;

I guess this is a bug? :-)



^ permalink  raw  reply  [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread


end of thread, other threads:[~2006-12-06 03:35 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages (download: mbox mbox.gz follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2006-12-06 03:01 max/min and index usage Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
2006-12-06 03:29 ` Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
2006-12-06 03:35   ` Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>
2006-12-06 03:17 Re: max/min and index usage Tobias Brox <tobias@nordicbet.com>

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