Hello, On 3/18/08, Erik Jones <erik@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Observe: > > CREATE SEQUENCE part_seq; > CREATE TABLE parent ( > id integer PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT nextval('part_seq'), > foo text > ); > > CREATE TABLE child1 ( > bar text, > CHECK(foo='some_type1'), > PRIMARY KEY (id) > ) INHERITS (parent); > > CREATE TABLE child2 ( > baz text, > CHECK(foo='some_type2'), > PRIMARY KEY (id) > ) INHERITS (parent); > > Now, both child1 and child2 have id and foo fields, child1 will only > allow entries with foo='some_type1', child2 will only allow entries > with foo='some_type2', and both children have extra fields that > weren't present in the parent. Excuse me for bumping this up again, but I still don't understand how to use this approach to sequentially walk through all different child tables in one select, without having to JOIN these tables all the time -- or will the planner 'understand' a query such as this: SELECT parent.*, child1.*, child2.* FROM parent LEFT JOIN child1 ON (parent.id = child1.id) LEFT JOIN child2 ON (parent.id = child2.id); When running explain on this, as I interpret it, it shows that the query plan will join both child1 and child2 on all the rows inside the parent table: QUERY PLAN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hash Left Join (cost=56.00..189.50 rows=2760 width=172) Hash Cond: (public.parent.id = child1.id) -> Hash Left Join (cost=28.00..123.55 rows=2760 width=104) Hash Cond: (public.parent.id = child2.id) -> Append (cost=0.00..57.60 rows=2760 width=36) -> Seq Scan on parent (cost=0.00..21.60 rows=1160 width=36) -> Seq Scan on child1 parent (cost=0.00..18.00 rows=800 width=36) -> Seq Scan on child2 parent (cost=0.00..18.00 rows=800 width=36) -> Hash (cost=18.00..18.00 rows=800 width=68) -> Seq Scan on child2 (cost=0.00..18.00 rows=800 width=68) -> Hash (cost=18.00..18.00 rows=800 width=68) -> Seq Scan on child1 (cost=0.00..18.00 rows=800 width=68) Now, of course there must be something I'm missing here.. but this seems like the solution of table inheritance will only result in the same problem I was having before -- either I need to JOIN every row on all child tables, or I need to specifically iterate over all the child tables, one child table at a time (which will probably result in even worse performance, since the 'parent' table is huge). Am I misunderstanding something here, or is there simple no solution for what I want ? Regards, Leon Mergen -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general