Hi there, I'm using 7.3.2 and encounter the problem that a SELECT query that uses a function with a constant argument is quite slow. The function is declared STABLE. Here's an example:
SELECT ... FROM table WHERE col = f('xyz'); >From what I read in the docs ( http://www.postgresql.org/docs/view.php?version=7.3&idoc=0&file=sql-createfunction.html ) I thought that this function is only executed once when declared as STABLE, however the time of the query seems to indicate that it is executed for each row of "table". Below is a small script that generates some SQL commands that should show the problem. It creates a table, inserts some rows and defines a function that should just take some time when executed. In my opinion SELECT s FROM test WHERE s = f_test('abc'); should (roughly) be as fast as SELECT f_test('abc'); but it isn't. -----8<------------------ #!/bin/sh echo "CREATE TABLE test (s varchar(300));" for i in `seq 0 1000`; do echo "INSERT INTO test VALUES ('$i');" done cat << EOF CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION f_test(VARCHAR(200)) RETURNS int AS ' DECLARE r RECORD; v VARCHAR(200); a ALIAS FOR \$1; BEGIN IF a IS NULL THEN RETURN NULL; END IF; FOR r IN SELECT * FROM test LOOP v = r.s; END LOOP; RETURN 1; END; ' LANGUAGE plpgsql STABLE STRICT; EOF -----8<------------------ Thanks, Joachim -- *****PGP key available - send e-mail request**** If you fail to plan, plan to fail. ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org