forcing use of a specific (expression) index?

From: "Dan Weber" <weberdan(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: forcing use of a specific (expression) index?
Date: 2007-05-02 20:18:32
Message-ID: 5dfa06e10705021318t3743ab67s52a1dbc18616ca0c@mail.gmail.com
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I've got a table with about 15 columns and 200,000 rows. I have indexes on a
lot of my columns, but postgres doesn't seem to be grabbing the ideal index --
in this case, an expression index that exactly matches my WHERE clause.

I have the following query:

SELECT columns FROM my_table WHERE (bool_1 or int_1 = 0)
AND (int_2 IS NULL) AND (int_3 IS NULL) AND (protocol =
2) ORDER BY id LIMIT 1;

Here is an explain analyze:

Limit (cost=0.00..8.43 rows=1 width=111) (actual
time=17511.939..17511.940 rows=1 loops=1)

-> Index Scan using my_table_id_key on my_table
(cost=0.00..384000.58 rows=45562 width=111) (actual
time=17511.935..17511.935 rows=1 loops=1)

Filter: ((bool_1 OR (int_1 = 0)) AND (int_2
IS NULL) AND (int_3 IS NULL) AND (protocol = 2))

Total runtime: 17512.031 ms

I made an expression index specifically for that where clause:

CREATE INDEX special_testing_idx on my_table (((bool_1 or
int_1 = 0) AND (int_2 IS NULL) AND (int_3 IS
NULL) AND (protocol = 2)));

It looks like the database is letting the ORDER BY id LIMIT 1 override
the above index. I suppose I could live with that, except removing both
the ORDER and LIMIT clauses doesn't make it use that index.

Here is the EXPLAIN ANALYZE without the ORDER or LIMIT:

Bitmap Heap Scan on my_table (cost=1558.71..10154.01 rows=45562
width=111) (actual time=7442.835..14391.969 rows=678 loops=1)

Filter: ((bool_1 OR (int_1 = 0)) AND (int_2 IS
NULL) AND (int_3 IS NULL) AND (protocol = 2))

-> Bitmap Index Scan on my_table_int_2_null_idx
(cost=0.00..1558.71 rows=122487 width=0) (actual
time=7081.952..7081.952 rows=123001 loops=1)

Index Cond: ((int_2 IS NULL) = true)

Total runtime: 14392.966 ms

I've done lots of ANALYZEs of my_table, as well as tried setting
enable_seqscan to off.

Have I just created too many indexes? Is there some syntax I can use
to make the database recognize my big hairy WHERE clause? Would I be
better of making a special boolean column that resolves to that expression,
and then indexing that column?

Responses

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