On Thu, 2010-10-28 at 12:25 -0700, Ben wrote: > i think we are talking about two different things here: the constraints on the table, and the where-clause constraints in a query which may or may not trigger constraint exclusion. i understand that table constraints have to be constants -- it doesn't make much sense otherwise. what i am wondering about is, will constraint exclusion be triggered for queries where the column that is being partitioned on is being constrained things that are not static constants, for instance, in a join. (i'm pretty sure the answer is no, because i think constraint exclusion happens before real query planning.) a concrete example : > > create table foo (i integer not null, j float not null); > create table foo_1 (check ( i >= 0 and i < 10) ) inherits (foo); > create table foo_2 (check ( i >= 10 and i < 20) ) inherits (foo); > create table foo_3 (check ( i >= 20 and i < 30) ) inherits (foo); > etc.. > > create table bar (i integer not null, k float not null); > > my understanding is that a query like > > select * from foo, bar using (i); > > can't use constraint exclusion, even if the histogram of i-values on table bar says they only live in the range 0-9, and so the query will touch all of the tables. i think this is not favorable compared to a single foo table with a well-maintained btree index on i. > My tests show you are incorrect: part_test=# explain analyze select * from foo join bar using (i) where i=9; QUERY PLAN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nested Loop (cost=34.26..106.76 rows=200 width=20) (actual time=0.004..0.004 rows=0 loops=1) -> Append (cost=0.00..68.50 rows=20 width=12) (actual time=0.004..0.004 rows=0 loops=1) -> Seq Scan on foo (cost=0.00..34.25 rows=10 width=12) (actual time=0.001..0.001 rows=0 loops=1) Filter: (i = 9) -> Seq Scan on foo_1 foo (cost=0.00..34.25 rows=10 width=12) (actual time=0.000..0.000 rows=0 loops=1) Filter: (i = 9) -> Materialize (cost=34.26..34.36 rows=10 width=12) (never executed) -> Seq Scan on bar (cost=0.00..34.25 rows=10 width=12) (never executed) Filter: (i = 9) Total runtime: 0.032 ms (10 rows) -- PostgreSQL.org Major Contributor Command Prompt, Inc: http://www.commandprompt.com/ - 509.416.6579 Consulting, Training, Support, Custom Development, Engineering http://twitter.com/cmdpromptinc | http://identi.ca/commandprompt -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance