Re: Indexing timestamp columns

From: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: Pedro Alves <pmalves(at)think(dot)pt>
Cc: PostGreSQL <pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: Indexing timestamp columns
Date: 2003-03-31 18:09:33
Message-ID: 24085.1049134173@sss.pgh.pa.us
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Pedro Alves <pmalves(at)think(dot)pt> writes:
> Is it possible to make a timestamp column use a index in a query like
> select foo from bar where timestamp <= smth?

The planner will do that if it thinks it's appropriate --- which in most
cases it won't. Unless your limit is pretty close to the oldest
timestamp in the table, this query will be quite unselective and so a
seqscan is actually the better way to do it.

If you want to find out whether the planner guessed right, try forcing
it to use an indexscan (via "set enable_seqscan = off"). Compare
timings.

regards, tom lane

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