Thread: Weird query speed

Almoust identical querys are having very different exec speed (Postgresql
7.2.4).

query: select "NP_ID" from a WHERE "NP_ID" > '0'
Index Scan using NP_ID_a on a  (cost=0.00..13.01 rows=112 width=4) (actual
time=16.89..18.11 rows=93 loops=1)
Total runtime: 18.32 msec
-------------------------------------------------
query: select "NP_ID" from a WHERE "NP_ID" > '1'
Index Scan using NP_ID_a on a  (cost=0.00..13.01 rows=112 width=4) (actual
time=0.08..1.36 rows=93 loops=1)
Total runtime: 1.56 msec

From where such difference comes?

There are about 37K rows and only about 100 of then are not "NP_ID" = 0

For a workaround i use WHERE "NP_ID" >= '1' and if works as speedy as '> 1'

Rigmor Ukuhe
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"Rigmor Ukuhe" <rigmor.ukuhe@finestmedia.com> writes:
> query: select "NP_ID" from a WHERE "NP_ID" > '0'  [is slow]
>
> query: select "NP_ID" from a WHERE "NP_ID" > '1'  [is fast]
>
> There are about 37K rows and only about 100 of then are not "NP_ID" = 0

Yeah, it's scanning over all the zero values when you say "> 0" :-(

This is fixed for 7.5:

2003-12-20 20:23  tgl

    * src/: backend/access/nbtree/nbtinsert.c,
    backend/access/nbtree/nbtpage.c, backend/access/nbtree/nbtsearch.c,
    include/access/nbtree.h: Improve btree's
    initial-positioning-strategy code so that we never need to step
    more than one entry after descending the search tree to arrive at
    the correct place to start the scan.  This can improve the behavior
    substantially when there are many entries equal to the chosen
    boundary value.  Per suggestion from Dmitry Tkach, 14-Jul-03.

            regards, tom lane