In response to Thom Brown : > On 18 February 2010 11:55, AI Rumman <rummandba@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > "Not like" operation does not use index. > > > > select * from vtiger_contactscf where lower(cf_1253) not like > > lower('Former%') > > > > I created index on lower(cf_1253). > > > > How can I ensure index usage in not like operation? > > Anyone please help. > > > > How many rows do you have in your table? If there are relatively few, > it probably guesses it to be cheaper to do a sequential scan and > calculate lower values on-the-fly rather than bother with the index. That's one reason, an other reason, i think, is, that a btree-index can't search with an 'not like' - operator. test=*# insert into words select 'fucking example' from generate_series(1,10000); INSERT 0 10000 test=*# insert into words select 'abc' from generate_series(1,10); INSERT 0 10 test=*# explain select * from words where lower(w) like lower('a%') or lower(w) like lower('b%'); QUERY PLAN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bitmap Heap Scan on words (cost=1538.75..6933.39 rows=55643 width=36) Recheck Cond: ((lower(w) ~~ 'a%'::text) OR (lower(w) ~~ 'b%'::text)) Filter: ((lower(w) ~~ 'a%'::text) OR (lower(w) ~~ 'b%'::text)) -> BitmapOr (cost=1538.75..1538.75 rows=57432 width=0) -> Bitmap Index Scan on idx_words (cost=0.00..1027.04 rows=39073 width=0) Index Cond: ((lower(w) ~>=~ 'a'::text) AND (lower(w) ~<~ 'b'::text)) -> Bitmap Index Scan on idx_words (cost=0.00..483.90 rows=18359 width=0) Index Cond: ((lower(w) ~>=~ 'b'::text) AND (lower(w) ~<~ 'c'::text)) (8 rows) test=*# explain select * from words where lower(w) not like lower('a%') or lower(w) like lower('b%'); QUERY PLAN ------------------------------------------------------------------- Seq Scan on words (cost=0.00..10624.48 rows=282609 width=36) Filter: ((lower(w) !~~ 'a%'::text) OR (lower(w) ~~ 'b%'::text)) (2 rows) In other words: revert your where-condition from 'not like' to multiple 'like' conditions for all letters except 'f%'. Andreas -- Andreas Kretschmer Kontakt: Heynitz: 035242/47150, D1: 0160/7141639 (mehr: -> Header) GnuPG: 0x31720C99, 1006 CCB4 A326 1D42 6431 2EB0 389D 1DC2 3172 0C99 -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance