GIN indexes on an = ANY(array) clause - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Corey Huinker
Subject GIN indexes on an = ANY(array) clause
Date
Msg-id CADkLM=ez70=KuNgZpPExWczFDK9dqE4woRP+QOJXrD_OrH+Q9A@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
Responses Re: GIN indexes on an = ANY(array) clause
List pgsql-hackers
(moving this over from pgsql-performance) 

A client had an issue with a where that had a where clause something like this:

WHERE 123456 = ANY(integer_array_column)

I was surprised that this didn't use the pre-existing GIN index on integer_array_column, whereas recoding as

WHERE ARRAY[123456] <@ integer_array_column

did cause the GIN index to be used. Is this a known/expected behavior? If so, is there any logical reason why we couldn't have the planner pick up on that?

Flo Rance (tourance@gmail.com) was nice enough to show that yes, this is expected behavior.

Which leaves the questions: 
- is the transformation I made is algebraically correct in a general case?
- if so, could we have the planner do that automatically when in the presence of a matching GIN index?

This seems like it might tie in with the enforcement of foreign keys within an array thread (which I can't presently find...).

pgsql-hackers by date:

Previous
From: Robert Haas
Date:
Subject: Re: performance issue in remove_from_unowned_list()
Next
From: John Naylor
Date:
Subject: Re: WIP: Avoid creation of the free space map for small tables