Thread: I came here to determine how much storage a boolean variable uses

I came here to determine how much storage a boolean variable uses

From
PG Doc comments form
Date:
The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:

Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/datatype.html
Description:

I'd like to see a fourth column added to Table 8-1 that contains the size or
size range of the data type. Maybe a note about the amount of space in the
row that a NULL column uses vs a NOT NULL.
Troy.
#

Re: I came here to determine how much storage a boolean variable uses

From
"David G. Johnston"
Date:
On Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 11:59 PM PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org> wrote:
The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:

Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/datatype.html
Description:

I'd like to see a fourth column added to Table 8-1 that contains the size or
size range of the data type.

I would argue this is sufficiently provided by the pg_attribute catalog's attlen and attalign fields, as pointed to on the same page linked below.

Maybe a note about the amount of space in the
row that a NULL column uses vs a NOT NULL.


Implementation detail that is covered in the internals section:


David J.

Re: I came here to determine how much storage a boolean variable uses

From
"Jonathan S. Katz"
Date:
On 8/30/21 11:31 AM, David G. Johnston wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 11:59 PM PG Doc comments form
> <noreply@postgresql.org <mailto:noreply@postgresql.org>> wrote:
>
>     The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:
>
>     Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/datatype.html
>     <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/datatype.html>
>     Description:
>
>     I'd like to see a fourth column added to Table 8-1 that contains the
>     size or
>     size range of the data type.
>
>
> I would argue this is sufficiently provided by the pg_attribute
> catalog's attlen and attalign fields, as pointed to on the same page
> linked below.
>
>     Maybe a note about the amount of space in the
>     row that a NULL column uses vs a NOT NULL.
>
>
> Implementation detail that is covered in the internals section:
>
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/storage-page-layout.html#STORAGE-TUPLE-LAYOUT
> <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/storage-page-layout.html#STORAGE-TUPLE-LAYOUT>

Well, it is provided one level deeper in the data type docs, e.g.:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/datatype-boolean.html

I think it's a reasonable request to consider. It potentially duplicates
the info in the data types section (i.e. one more thing to maintain),
but it does provide some convenience for scanning it across the
consolidated table.

Jonathan


Attachment

Re: I came here to determine how much storage a boolean variable uses

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 12:16:13PM -0400, Jonathan Katz wrote:
> > https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/storage-page-layout.html#STORAGE-TUPLE-LAYOUT
> > <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/storage-page-layout.html#STORAGE-TUPLE-LAYOUT>
> 
> Well, it is provided one level deeper in the data type docs, e.g.:
> 
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/datatype-boolean.html
> 
> I think it's a reasonable request to consider. It potentially duplicates
> the info in the data types section (i.e. one more thing to maintain),
> but it does provide some convenience for scanning it across the
> consolidated table.

FYI, I usually use psql's \dTS+.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  If only the physical world exists, free will is an illusion.