Thread: My indexes aren't being used (according to EXPLAIN)

My indexes aren't being used (according to EXPLAIN)

From
Erik Norvelle
Date:
<fixed><fontfamily><param>Courier New</param>Greetings:


Apologies if this question has already been answered, but I was unable
to locate a prior answer in the archives...


I have a table with approximately 10 million records, called
"indethom", and with an INTEGER column called "clavis" which is set up
as a primary key.  When I try to perform a select on the table,
restricting the result to only the first 100 records, PostgreSQL
performs a sequence scan, rather than an index scan (as shown by using
EXPLAIN).  Needless to say the sequence scan takes forever.  Is there
some way to get PostgreSQL to use my wonderful indexes?  Have I
somehow built the indexes incorrectly or something?


Here's the description of the table:


====================== PSQL Output Snip =========================


it=> \d indethom

              Table "public.indethom"

    Column     |         Type          | Modifiers

---------------+-----------------------+-----------

 numeoper      | smallint              | not null

 nomeoper      | character(3)          | not null

... (numerous columns skipped) ...

 verbum        | character varying(22) | not null

 poslinop      | integer               | not null

 posverli      | smallint              | not null

 posverop      | integer               | not null

 clavis        | integer               | not null

 articref      | integer               |

 sectref       | integer               |

 query_counter | integer               |

Indexes: indethom_pkey primary key btree (clavis),

         indethom_articulus_ndx btree (nomeoper, refere1a, refere1b,
refere2a, refere2b, refere3a, refere3b),

         indethom_sectio_ndx btree (nomeoper, refere1a, refere1b,
refere2a, refere2b, refere3a, refere3b, refere4a, refere4b),

         it_clavis_ndx btree (clavis),

         verbum_ndx btree (verbum)


it=> explain select * from indethom where clavis << 25;

                              QUERY PLAN

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Seq Scan on indethom  (cost=0.00..1336932.65 rows=3543991 width=236)

   Filter: (clavis << 25)

(2 rows)


================== End Snip =====================


Feel free to point me to any FAQ or previous message that already
answers this question.  Thanks in advance!


-Erik Norvelle

</fontfamily></fixed>
Greetings:

Apologies if this question has already been answered, but I was unable
to locate a prior answer in the archives...

I have a table with approximately 10 million records, called
"indethom", and with an INTEGER column called "clavis" which is set up
as a primary key.  When I try to perform a select on the table,
restricting the result to only the first 100 records, PostgreSQL
performs a sequence scan, rather than an index scan (as shown by using
EXPLAIN).  Needless to say the sequence scan takes forever.  Is there
some way to get PostgreSQL to use my wonderful indexes?  Have I somehow
built the indexes incorrectly or something?

Here's the description of the table:

====================== PSQL Output Snip =========================

it=> \d indethom
               Table "public.indethom"
     Column     |         Type          | Modifiers
---------------+-----------------------+-----------
  numeoper      | smallint              | not null
  nomeoper      | character(3)          | not null
... (numerous columns skipped) ...
  verbum        | character varying(22) | not null
  poslinop      | integer               | not null
  posverli      | smallint              | not null
  posverop      | integer               | not null
  clavis        | integer               | not null
  articref      | integer               |
  sectref       | integer               |
  query_counter | integer               |
Indexes: indethom_pkey primary key btree (clavis),
          indethom_articulus_ndx btree (nomeoper, refere1a, refere1b,
refere2a, refere2b, refere3a, refere3b),
          indethom_sectio_ndx btree (nomeoper, refere1a, refere1b,
refere2a, refere2b, refere3a, refere3b, refere4a, refere4b),
          it_clavis_ndx btree (clavis),
          verbum_ndx btree (verbum)

it=> explain select * from indethom where clavis < 25;
                               QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Seq Scan on indethom  (cost=0.00..1336932.65 rows=3543991 width=236)
    Filter: (clavis < 25)
(2 rows)

================== End Snip =====================

Feel free to point me to any FAQ or previous message that already
answers this question.  Thanks in advance!

-Erik Norvelle

Re: My indexes aren't being used (according to EXPLAIN)

From
Andrew Sullivan
Date:
On Mon, Dec 01, 2003 at 02:40:30PM +0100, Erik Norvelle wrote:
>
> it=> explain select * from indethom where clavis < 25;

What's the percentage of the table where clavis < 25?  Have you
ANALYSEd recently?  What does the pg_stats view tell you about this
table?

> Feel free to point me to any FAQ or previous message that already
> answers this question.  Thanks in advance!

This is a pretty common sort of problem.  See the archives of this
list for several fairly recent discussions of these sorts of
problems.

A

--
----
Andrew Sullivan                         204-4141 Yonge Street
Afilias Canada                        Toronto, Ontario Canada
<andrew@libertyrms.info>                              M2P 2A8
                                         +1 416 646 3304 x110


Re: My indexes aren't being used (according to EXPLAIN)

From
Erik Norvelle
Date:
The ANALYSE did the trick... Thanks!  Will also read through the
archives...

-Erik

On lunes, dici 1, 2003, at 15:04 Europe/Madrid, Andrew Sullivan wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 01, 2003 at 02:40:30PM +0100, Erik Norvelle wrote:
>>
>> it=> explain select * from indethom where clavis < 25;
>
> What's the percentage of the table where clavis < 25?  Have you
> ANALYSEd recently?  What does the pg_stats view tell you about this
> table?
>
>> Feel free to point me to any FAQ or previous message that already
>> answers this question.  Thanks in advance!
>
> This is a pretty common sort of problem.  See the archives of this
> list for several fairly recent discussions of these sorts of
> problems.
>
> A
>
> --
> ----
> Andrew Sullivan                         204-4141 Yonge Street
> Afilias Canada                        Toronto, Ontario Canada
> <andrew@libertyrms.info>                              M2P 2A8
>                                          +1 416 646 3304 x110
>
>
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> broadcast)---------------------------
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>
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