A bloom index accepts the following parameters in its WITH clause:

This is an example of creating a bloom index:

CREATE INDEX bloomidx ON tbloom USING bloom (i1,i2,i3)
       WITH (length=80, col1=2, col2=2, col3=4);

The index is created with a signature length of 80 bits, with attributes i1 and i2 mapped to 2 bits, and attribute i3 mapped to 4 bits. We could have omitted the length, col1, and col2 specifications since those have the default values.

Here is a more complete example of bloom index definition and usage, as well as a comparison with equivalent btree indexes. The bloom index is considerably smaller than the btree index, and can perform better.

=# CREATE TABLE tbloom AS
   SELECT
     (random() * 1000000)::int as i1,
     (random() * 1000000)::int as i2,
     (random() * 1000000)::int as i3,
     (random() * 1000000)::int as i4,
     (random() * 1000000)::int as i5,
     (random() * 1000000)::int as i6
   FROM
  generate_series(1,10000000);
SELECT 10000000

A sequential scan over this large table takes a long time:

=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
                                              QUERY PLAN
-------------------------------------------------------------------​-----------------------------------
 Seq Scan on tbloom  (cost=0.00..2137.14 rows=3 width=24) (actual time=16.971..16.971 rows=0 loops=1)
   Filter: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
   Rows Removed by Filter: 100000
 Planning Time: 0.346 ms
 Execution Time: 16.988 ms
(5 rows)

Even with the btree index defined the result will still be a sequential scan:

=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx ON tbloom (i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6);
CREATE INDEX
=# SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size('btreeidx'));
 pg_size_pretty
----------------
 3976 kB
(1 row)
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
                                              QUERY PLAN
-------------------------------------------------------------------​-----------------------------------
 Seq Scan on tbloom  (cost=0.00..2137.00 rows=2 width=24) (actual time=12.805..12.805 rows=0 loops=1)
   Filter: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
   Rows Removed by Filter: 100000
 Planning Time: 0.138 ms
 Execution Time: 12.817 ms
(5 rows)

Having the bloom index defined on the table is better than btree in handling this type of search:

=# CREATE INDEX bloomidx ON tbloom USING bloom (i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6);
CREATE INDEX
=# SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size('bloomidx'));
 pg_size_pretty
----------------
 1584 kB
(1 row)
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
                                                     QUERY PLAN
-------------------------------------------------------------------​--------------------------------------------------
 Bitmap Heap Scan on tbloom  (cost=1792.00..1799.69 rows=2 width=24) (actual time=0.388..0.388 rows=0 loops=1)
   Recheck Cond: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
   Rows Removed by Index Recheck: 29
   Heap Blocks: exact=28
   ->  Bitmap Index Scan on bloomidx  (cost=0.00..1792.00 rows=2 width=0) (actual time=0.356..0.356 rows=29 loops=1)
         Index Cond: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
 Planning Time: 0.099 ms
 Execution Time: 0.408 ms
(8 rows)

Now, the main problem with the btree search is that btree is inefficient when the search conditions do not constrain the leading index column(s). A better strategy for btree is to create a separate index on each column. Then the planner will choose something like this:

=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx1 ON tbloom (i1);
CREATE INDEX
=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx2 ON tbloom (i2);
CREATE INDEX
=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx3 ON tbloom (i3);
CREATE INDEX
=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx4 ON tbloom (i4);
CREATE INDEX
=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx5 ON tbloom (i5);
CREATE INDEX
=# CREATE INDEX btreeidx6 ON tbloom (i6);
CREATE INDEX
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
                                                        QUERY PLAN
-------------------------------------------------------------------​--------------------------------------------------------
 Bitmap Heap Scan on tbloom  (cost=24.34..32.03 rows=2 width=24) (actual time=0.028..0.029 rows=0 loops=1)
   Recheck Cond: ((i5 = 123451) AND (i2 = 898732))
   ->  BitmapAnd  (cost=24.34..24.34 rows=2 width=0) (actual time=0.027..0.027 rows=0 loops=1)
         ->  Bitmap Index Scan on btreeidx5  (cost=0.00..12.04 rows=500 width=0) (actual time=0.026..0.026 rows=0 loops=1)
               Index Cond: (i5 = 123451)
         ->  Bitmap Index Scan on btreeidx2  (cost=0.00..12.04 rows=500 width=0) (never executed)
               Index Cond: (i2 = 898732)
 Planning Time: 0.491 ms
 Execution Time: 0.055 ms
(9 rows)

Although this query runs much faster than with either of the single indexes, we pay a penalty in index size. Each of the single-column btree indexes occupies 2 MB, so the total space needed is 12 MB, eight times the space used by the bloom index.

An operator class for bloom indexes requires only a hash function for the indexed data type and an equality operator for searching. This example shows the operator class definition for the text data type:

CREATE OPERATOR CLASS text_ops
DEFAULT FOR TYPE text USING bloom AS
    OPERATOR    1   =(text, text),
    FUNCTION    1   hashtext(text);

Teodor Sigaev <teodor@postgrespro.ru>, Postgres Professional, Moscow, Russia

Alexander Korotkov <a.korotkov@postgrespro.ru>, Postgres Professional, Moscow, Russia

Oleg Bartunov <obartunov@postgrespro.ru>, Postgres Professional, Moscow, Russia