Tom, Hmmm ... I'm seeing an issue with IN() optimization -- or rather the lack of it -- in 8.0rc5. It seems to me that this worked better in 7.4, although I've not been able to load this particular database and test
dm=# explain dm-# SELECT personid FROM mr.person_attributes_old dm-# WHERE personid NOT IN (SELECT personid FROM mr.person_attributes); QUERY PLAN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seq Scan on person_attributes_old (cost=0.00..3226144059.85 rows=235732 width=4) Filter: (NOT (subplan)) SubPlan -> Seq Scan on person_attributes (cost=0.00..12671.07 rows=405807 width=4) (4 rows) dm=# explain select pao.personid from mr.person_attributes_old pao dm-# left outer join mr.person_attributes p on pao.personid = p.personid dm-# where p.personid is null; QUERY PLAN --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Merge Left Join (cost=0.00..34281.83 rows=471464 width=4) Merge Cond: ("outer".personid = "inner".personid) Filter: ("inner".personid IS NULL) -> Index Scan using idx_opa_person on person_attributes_old pao (cost=0.00..13789.29 rows=471464 width=4) -> Index Scan using idx_pa_person on person_attributes p (cost=0.00..14968.25 rows=405807 width=4) (5 rows) It seems like the planner ought to recognize that the first form of the query is optimizable into the 2nd form, and that I've seen it do so in 7.4. However, *no* amount of manipulation of query parameters I did on the 1st form of the query were successful in getting the planner to recognize that it could use indexes for the IN() form of the query. Thoughts? -- Josh Berkus Aglio Database Solutions San Francisco ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 9: the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not match