Brian, > 3. I'm trying to eliminate the union, however I have two problems. > A) I can't figure out how to have an 'or' clause in a single join that > would fetch all the correct rows. If I just do: > LEFT OUTER JOIN table2 t2 ON (t2.real_id = t.id OR t2.real_id = > t.backup_id), I end up with many less rows than the original query. B. > > I believe the issue with this is a row could have one of three > possibilities: > * part of the first query but not the second -> results in 1 row after > the union > * part of the second query but not the first -> results in 1 row after > the union > * part of the first query and the second -> results in 2 rows after the > union (see 'B)' for why) > > B) the third and fourth column in the SELECT will need to be different > depending on what column the row is joined on in the LEFT OUTER JOIN to > table2, so I may need some expensive case when logic to filter what is > put there based on whether that row came from the first join clause, or > the second. No, it doesn't: SELECT t.id, t.mycolumn1, table3.otherid as otherid1, table3a.otherid as otherid2, t.mycolumn2 FROM t LEFT OUTER JOIN table2 ON ( t.id = t2.real_id OR t.backup_id = t2.real_id ) LEFT OUTER JOIN table3 ON ( t.typeid = table3.id ) LEFT OUTER JOIN table3 as table3a ON ( table2.third_id = table3.id ) WHERE t.external_id IN ( ... ) ORDER BY t.mycolumn2, t.id -- Josh Berkus PostgreSQL Experts Inc. http://pgexperts.com -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance