Hi, I have a query for which PostgreSQL 9.0.3 and 9.1 rc1 both come up with what seems to be a very bad plan when materialize is enabled. The plan with materialize takes 5 seconds to execute, the plan without 7 ms.
Part of the plan with materialization enabled #effectively loop over all rows in the participates table -> Nested Loop (cost=0.00..84762.57 rows=391 width=8) (actual time=0.863..5074.229 rows=45 loops=1) Join Filter: (ptcp.cars_id = crs.id) #This next index scan has no condition, so all rows: -> Index Scan using ptcp_event_fk_i on participates ptcp (cost=0.00..51591.41 rows=1105378 width=16) (actual time=0.024..976.792 rows=1105028 loops=1) -> Materialize (cost=0.00..9.82 rows=2 width=8) (actual time=0.000..0.001 rows=2 loops=1105028) -> Index Scan using crs_owner on cars crs (cost=0.00..9.81 rows=2 width=8) (actual time=0.021..0.024 rows=2 loops=1) Index Cond: (owner = $3) There is an index on the cars_id column of participates There is an index on the owner column of cars What I find strange is that there is a conditionless index scan on participates, retrieving all its rows, and then a nested loop over all those rows and a materialize node. Because there is an index on ptcp.cars_id, if would expect the planner to use that index, instead of choosing to loop over 1105028 rows. When I disable materialize, this is exactly what it does -> Index Scan using crs_owner on cars crs (cost=0.00..9.81 rows=2 width=8) (actual time=0.076..0.079 rows=2 loops=1) Index Cond: (owner = $3) -> Index Scan using ptcp_car_fk_i on participates ptcp (cost=0.00..779.41 rows=196 width=16) (actual time=0.057..0.218 rows=22 loops=2) Index Cond: (ptcp.cars_id = crs.id) I know that postgresql's planner is driven by statistics, but this seems strange... Any thoughts? Kind regards, Ingmar