Thread: Index scan for PK constraint validation

Index scan for PK constraint validation

From
Philippe VIEGAS
Date:

Hi all,

I was wondering why the index statistics usage were not reflecting the index usage for primary key constraint validation ?

When we create a table with a primary key, PostgreSQL creates a Btree index for the validation of this constraint : index is defined unique (indisunique=t) and primary (indisprimary=t) from the pg_index and pg_class catalogs.

Inserting data on the above created table and selecting based on the primary key column will increment the idx_scan from `pg_stat_user_indexes` view.
But if we insert again in this table with a conflicting id, the primary key is being validated using the index as stated in our example :

ERROR: 23505: duplicate key value violates unique constraint "testpkidx_pkey"
DETAIL: Key (id)=(1) already exists.
SCHEMA NAME: public
TABLE NAME: testpkidx
CONSTRAINT NAME: testpkidx_pkey
LOCATION: _bt_check_unique, nbtinsert.c:664

But checking again the `pg_stat_user_indexes` view, the idx_scan attribute does not seem to be incremented.

Is the statistics of index usage for constraint validation being computed elsewhere ?


Are we missing something ?


Thanks in advance.

Regards.

--
Philippe VIEGAS

Re: Index scan for PK constraint validation

From
"David G. Johnston"
Date:


On Wednesday, February 8, 2023, Philippe VIEGAS <p.viegas@loxodata.com> wrote:

Hi all,

I was wondering why the index statistics usage were not reflecting the index usage for primary key constraint validation ?

When we create a table with a primary key, PostgreSQL creates a Btree index for the validation of this constraint : index is defined unique (indisunique=t) and primary (indisprimary=t) from the pg_index and pg_class catalogs.

Inserting data on the above created table and selecting based on the primary key column will increment the idx_scan from `pg_stat_user_indexes` view.


The select produces the index scan, not the insert.  The insert doesn’t scan, it populates and aborts if that population fails.  It doesn’t check first.

David J.