Re: [PERFORM] Poor Performance for large queries

[Richard Huxton <dev(at)archonet(dot)com>]

John Meinel wrote:
> So notice that when doing the actual select it is able to do the index 
> query. But for some reason with a prepared statement, it is not able to 
> do it.
>
> Any ideas?

In the index-using example, PG knows the value you are comparing to. So, 
it can make a better estimate of how many rows will be returned. With 
the prepared/compiled version it has to come up with a plan that makes 
sense for any value.

If you look back at the explain output you'll see PG is guessing 181,923 
rows will match with the prepared query but only 1 for the second query. 
If in fact you returned that many rows, you wouldn't want to use the 
index - it would mean fetching values twice.

The only work-around if you are using plpgsql functions is to use 
EXECUTE to make sure your queries are planned for each value provided.

--
  Richard Huxton
  Archonet Ltd