Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 20:06:12 -0800
From: andrew@pillette.com
Message-Id: <200602200406.k1K46CB09448@pillette.com>
Subject: How to optimize a JOIN with BETWEEN?
To: pgsql-performance@postgresql.org
Cc: 
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Here's a simplified version of the schema:

Table A has an ID field, an observation date, and other stuff. There are about 20K IDs and 3K observations per ID. Table B has a matching ID field, minimum and maximum dates, a code, and other stuff, about 0-50 records per ID. For a given ID, the dates in B never overlap. On A, the PK is (id, obsdate). On B, the PK is (id, mindate). I want

SELECT a.id, b.code, AVG(other stuff) FROM A LEFT JOIN B ON a.id=b.id AND a.obsdate BETWEEN b.mindate AND b.maxdate GROUP BY 1,2;

Is there a way to smarten the query to take advantage of the fact at most one record of B matches A? Also, I have a choice between using a LEFT JOIN or inserting dummy records into B to fill in the gaps in the covered dates, which would make exactly one matching record. Would this make a difference?

Thanks.