I said: > [hmm, I wonder why plpgsql seems to have gotten slower in 7.4...]
False alarm --- or at least, it wasn't plpgsql's fault. I copied Joe's function definition, which was CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.locate(bpchar, bpchar) RETURNS int4 AS ' But since position() takes arguments of type TEXT, there are two bpchar->text coercions involved inside the function. This was a "free" binary coercion in 7.3, but 7.4 interprets it as invoking rtrim(). The extra rtrim operations account for most of the slowdown. Using functions declared like "locate(text, text)" to avoid the unwanted type coercions, I get these kinds of numbers: 7.4 7.3 position() 1 usec/call 1 usec/call SQL func 1 usec/call 90 usec/call plpgsql func 110 usec/call 100 usec/call regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs/FAQ.html