Tom Lane wrote: > Steve Wampler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >>So, leave COUNT(*) alone. But it would be very handy to have a >>way to get an approximate table size that is more accurate than is >>provided by a pg_class.reltuples that is only updated on vacuums. > > If you want something cheap, you could use the same technique the > planner uses nowadays: take RelationGetNumberOfBlocks() (which is > guaranteed accurate) and multiply by reltuples/relpages. I don't > see anyplace where RelationGetNumberOfBlocks is directly exposed to > users now, but it'd be trivial to code up a couple of C functions to > provide this functionality.
Yes - this would be an excellent approximation for my needs! The solution that Dawid Kuroczko suggested (just call "explain select * on ..." and parse the result) would be equivalent these days, right? (I think in the 7.x versions the planner was just using pg_class.reltuples, which wouldn't have helped.) If true, I can handle that parsing myself easily enough without exposing RelationGetNumberOfBlocks. Thanks (Tom and Dawid)! -- Steve Wampler -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] The gods that smiled on your birth are now laughing out loud. ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly