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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>37.16. Interfacing Extensions to Indexes</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.79.1" /><link rel="prev" href="xoper-optimization.html" title="37.15. Operator Optimization Information" /><link rel="next" href="extend-extensions.html" title="37.17. Packaging Related Objects into an Extension" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">37.16. Interfacing Extensions to Indexes</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="xoper-optimization.html" title="37.15. Operator Optimization Information">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="extend.html" title="Chapter 37. Extending SQL">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 37. Extending <acronym xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="acronym">SQL</acronym></th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 13.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="extend-extensions.html" title="37.17. Packaging Related Objects into an Extension">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="sect1" id="XINDEX"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">37.16. Interfacing Extensions to Indexes</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPCLASS">37.16.1. Index Methods and Operator Classes</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-STRATEGIES">37.16.2. Index Method Strategies</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-SUPPORT">37.16.3. Index Method Support Routines</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-EXAMPLE">37.16.4. An Example</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPFAMILY">37.16.5. Operator Classes and Operator Families</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPCLASS-DEPENDENCIES">37.16.6. System Dependencies on Operator Classes</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-ORDERING-OPS">37.16.7. Ordering Operators</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPCLASS-FEATURES">37.16.8. Special Features of Operator Classes</a></span></dt></dl></div><a id="id-1.8.3.19.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ The procedures described thus far let you define new types, new
+ functions, and new operators. However, we cannot yet define an
+ index on a column of a new data type. To do this, we must define an
+ <em class="firstterm">operator class</em> for the new data type. Later in this
+ section, we will illustrate this concept in an example: a new
+ operator class for the B-tree index method that stores and sorts
+ complex numbers in ascending absolute value order.
+ </p><p>
+ Operator classes can be grouped into <em class="firstterm">operator families</em>
+ to show the relationships between semantically compatible classes.
+ When only a single data type is involved, an operator class is sufficient,
+ so we'll focus on that case first and then return to operator families.
+ </p><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-OPCLASS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.1. Index Methods and Operator Classes</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ The <code class="classname">pg_am</code> table contains one row for every
+ index method (internally known as access method). Support for
+ regular access to tables is built into
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, but all index methods are
+ described in <code class="classname">pg_am</code>. It is possible to add a
+ new index access method by writing the necessary code and
+ then creating an entry in <code class="classname">pg_am</code> — but that is
+ beyond the scope of this chapter (see <a class="xref" href="indexam.html" title="Chapter 61. Index Access Method Interface Definition">Chapter 61</a>).
+ </p><p>
+ The routines for an index method do not directly know anything
+ about the data types that the index method will operate on.
+ Instead, an <em class="firstterm">operator
+ class</em><a id="id-1.8.3.19.5.3.2" class="indexterm"></a>
+ identifies the set of operations that the index method needs to use
+ to work with a particular data type. Operator classes are so
+ called because one thing they specify is the set of
+ <code class="literal">WHERE</code>-clause operators that can be used with an index
+ (i.e., can be converted into an index-scan qualification). An
+ operator class can also specify some <em class="firstterm">support
+ function</em> that are needed by the internal operations of the
+ index method, but do not directly correspond to any
+ <code class="literal">WHERE</code>-clause operator that can be used with the index.
+ </p><p>
+ It is possible to define multiple operator classes for the same
+ data type and index method. By doing this, multiple
+ sets of indexing semantics can be defined for a single data type.
+ For example, a B-tree index requires a sort ordering to be defined
+ for each data type it works on.
+ It might be useful for a complex-number data type
+ to have one B-tree operator class that sorts the data by complex
+ absolute value, another that sorts by real part, and so on.
+ Typically, one of the operator classes will be deemed most commonly
+ useful and will be marked as the default operator class for that
+ data type and index method.
+ </p><p>
+ The same operator class name
+ can be used for several different index methods (for example, both B-tree
+ and hash index methods have operator classes named
+ <code class="literal">int4_ops</code>), but each such class is an independent
+ entity and must be defined separately.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-STRATEGIES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.2. Index Method Strategies</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ The operators associated with an operator class are identified by
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">strategy numbers</span>”</span>, which serve to identify the semantics of
+ each operator within the context of its operator class.
+ For example, B-trees impose a strict ordering on keys, lesser to greater,
+ and so operators like <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">less than</span>”</span> and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">greater than or equal
+ to</span>”</span> are interesting with respect to a B-tree.
+ Because
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> allows the user to define operators,
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> cannot look at the name of an operator
+ (e.g., <code class="literal">&lt;</code> or <code class="literal">&gt;=</code>) and tell what kind of
+ comparison it is. Instead, the index method defines a set of
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">strategies</span>”</span>, which can be thought of as generalized operators.
+ Each operator class specifies which actual operator corresponds to each
+ strategy for a particular data type and interpretation of the index
+ semantics.
+ </p><p>
+ The B-tree index method defines five strategies, shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-BTREE-STRAT-TABLE" title="Table 37.3. B-Tree Strategies">Table 37.3</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-BTREE-STRAT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.3. B-Tree Strategies</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="B-Tree Strategies" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Operation</th><th>Strategy Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>less than</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>less than or equal</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>equal</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>greater than or equal</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>greater than</td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ Hash indexes support only equality comparisons, and so they use only one
+ strategy, shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-HASH-STRAT-TABLE" title="Table 37.4. Hash Strategies">Table 37.4</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-HASH-STRAT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.4. Hash Strategies</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Hash Strategies" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Operation</th><th>Strategy Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>equal</td><td>1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ GiST indexes are more flexible: they do not have a fixed set of
+ strategies at all. Instead, the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">consistency</span>”</span> support routine
+ of each particular GiST operator class interprets the strategy numbers
+ however it likes. As an example, several of the built-in GiST index
+ operator classes index two-dimensional geometric objects, providing
+ the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">R-tree</span>”</span> strategies shown in
+ <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-RTREE-STRAT-TABLE" title="Table 37.5. GiST Two-Dimensional “R-tree” Strategies">Table 37.5</a>. Four of these are true
+ two-dimensional tests (overlaps, same, contains, contained by);
+ four of them consider only the X direction; and the other four
+ provide the same tests in the Y direction.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-RTREE-STRAT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.5. GiST Two-Dimensional <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">R-tree</span>”</span> Strategies</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="GiST Two-Dimensional R-tree Strategies" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Operation</th><th>Strategy Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>strictly left of</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>does not extend to right of</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>overlaps</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>does not extend to left of</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>strictly right of</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>same</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>contains</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>contained by</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>does not extend above</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>strictly below</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>strictly above</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>does not extend below</td><td>12</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ SP-GiST indexes are similar to GiST indexes in flexibility: they don't have
+ a fixed set of strategies. Instead the support routines of each operator
+ class interpret the strategy numbers according to the operator class's
+ definition. As an example, the strategy numbers used by the built-in
+ operator classes for points are shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-SPGIST-POINT-STRAT-TABLE" title="Table 37.6. SP-GiST Point Strategies">Table 37.6</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-SPGIST-POINT-STRAT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.6. SP-GiST Point Strategies</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="SP-GiST Point Strategies" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Operation</th><th>Strategy Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>strictly left of</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>strictly right of</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>same</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>contained by</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>strictly below</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>strictly above</td><td>11</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ GIN indexes are similar to GiST and SP-GiST indexes, in that they don't
+ have a fixed set of strategies either. Instead the support routines of
+ each operator class interpret the strategy numbers according to the
+ operator class's definition. As an example, the strategy numbers used by
+ the built-in operator class for arrays are shown in
+ <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-GIN-ARRAY-STRAT-TABLE" title="Table 37.7. GIN Array Strategies">Table 37.7</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-GIN-ARRAY-STRAT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.7. GIN Array Strategies</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="GIN Array Strategies" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Operation</th><th>Strategy Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>overlap</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>contains</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>is contained by</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>equal</td><td>4</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ BRIN indexes are similar to GiST, SP-GiST and GIN indexes in that they
+ don't have a fixed set of strategies either. Instead the support routines
+ of each operator class interpret the strategy numbers according to the
+ operator class's definition. As an example, the strategy numbers used by
+ the built-in <code class="literal">Minmax</code> operator classes are shown in
+ <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-BRIN-MINMAX-STRAT-TABLE" title="Table 37.8. BRIN Minmax Strategies">Table 37.8</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-BRIN-MINMAX-STRAT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.8. BRIN Minmax Strategies</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="BRIN Minmax Strategies" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Operation</th><th>Strategy Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>less than</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>less than or equal</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>equal</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>greater than or equal</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>greater than</td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ Notice that all the operators listed above return Boolean values. In
+ practice, all operators defined as index method search operators must
+ return type <code class="type">boolean</code>, since they must appear at the top
+ level of a <code class="literal">WHERE</code> clause to be used with an index.
+ (Some index access methods also support <em class="firstterm">ordering operators</em>,
+ which typically don't return Boolean values; that feature is discussed
+ in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-ORDERING-OPS" title="37.16.7. Ordering Operators">Section 37.16.7</a>.)
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-SUPPORT"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.3. Index Method Support Routines</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ Strategies aren't usually enough information for the system to figure
+ out how to use an index. In practice, the index methods require
+ additional support routines in order to work. For example, the B-tree
+ index method must be able to compare two keys and determine whether one
+ is greater than, equal to, or less than the other. Similarly, the
+ hash index method must be able to compute hash codes for key values.
+ These operations do not correspond to operators used in qualifications in
+ SQL commands; they are administrative routines used by
+ the index methods, internally.
+ </p><p>
+ Just as with strategies, the operator class identifies which specific
+ functions should play each of these roles for a given data type and
+ semantic interpretation. The index method defines the set
+ of functions it needs, and the operator class identifies the correct
+ functions to use by assigning them to the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">support function numbers</span>”</span>
+ specified by the index method.
+ </p><p>
+ Additionally, some opclasses allow users to specify parameters which
+ control their behavior. Each builtin index access method has an optional
+ <code class="function">options</code> support function, which defines a set of
+ opclass-specific parameters.
+ </p><p>
+ B-trees require a comparison support function,
+ and allow four additional support functions to be
+ supplied at the operator class author's option, as shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-BTREE-SUPPORT-TABLE" title="Table 37.9. B-Tree Support Functions">Table 37.9</a>.
+ The requirements for these support functions are explained further in
+ <a class="xref" href="btree-support-funcs.html" title="63.3. B-Tree Support Functions">Section 63.3</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-BTREE-SUPPORT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.9. B-Tree Support Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="B-Tree Support Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="col2" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Support Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>
+ Compare two keys and return an integer less than zero, zero, or
+ greater than zero, indicating whether the first key is less than,
+ equal to, or greater than the second
+ </td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>
+ Return the addresses of C-callable sort support function(s)
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>
+ Compare a test value to a base value plus/minus an offset, and return
+ true or false according to the comparison result (optional)
+ </td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>
+ Determine if it is safe for indexes that use the operator
+ class to apply the btree deduplication optimization (optional)
+ </td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>
+ Defines a set of options that are specific to this operator class
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ Hash indexes require one support function, and allow two additional ones to
+ be supplied at the operator class author's option, as shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-HASH-SUPPORT-TABLE" title="Table 37.10. Hash Support Functions">Table 37.10</a>.
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-HASH-SUPPORT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.10. Hash Support Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Hash Support Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="col2" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Support Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Compute the 32-bit hash value for a key</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>
+ Compute the 64-bit hash value for a key given a 64-bit salt; if
+ the salt is 0, the low 32 bits of the result must match the value
+ that would have been computed by function 1
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>
+ Defines a set of options that are specific to this operator class
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>3</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ GiST indexes have ten support functions, three of which are optional,
+ as shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-GIST-SUPPORT-TABLE" title="Table 37.11. GiST Support Functions">Table 37.11</a>.
+ (For more information see <a class="xref" href="gist.html" title="Chapter 64. GiST Indexes">Chapter 64</a>.)
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-GIST-SUPPORT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.11. GiST Support Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="GiST Support Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="col2" /><col class="col3" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Description</th><th>Support Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="function">consistent</code></td><td>determine whether key satisfies the
+ query qualifier</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">union</code></td><td>compute union of a set of keys</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">compress</code></td><td>compute a compressed representation of a key or value
+ to be indexed</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">decompress</code></td><td>compute a decompressed representation of a
+ compressed key</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">penalty</code></td><td>compute penalty for inserting new key into subtree
+ with given subtree's key</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">picksplit</code></td><td>determine which entries of a page are to be moved
+ to the new page and compute the union keys for resulting pages</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">equal</code></td><td>compare two keys and return true if they are equal</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">distance</code></td><td>determine distance from key to query value (optional)</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">fetch</code></td><td>compute original representation of a compressed key for
+ index-only scans (optional)</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">options</code></td><td>
+ Defines a set of options that are specific to this operator class
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>10</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ SP-GiST indexes have six support functions, one of which is optional, as
+ shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-SPGIST-SUPPORT-TABLE" title="Table 37.12. SP-GiST Support Functions">Table 37.12</a>.
+ (For more information see <a class="xref" href="spgist.html" title="Chapter 65. SP-GiST Indexes">Chapter 65</a>.)
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-SPGIST-SUPPORT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.12. SP-GiST Support Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="SP-GiST Support Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="col2" /><col class="col3" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Description</th><th>Support Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="function">config</code></td><td>provide basic information about the operator class</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">choose</code></td><td>determine how to insert a new value into an inner tuple</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">picksplit</code></td><td>determine how to partition a set of values</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">inner_consistent</code></td><td>determine which sub-partitions need to be searched for a
+ query</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">leaf_consistent</code></td><td>determine whether key satisfies the
+ query qualifier</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">options</code></td><td>
+ Defines a set of options that are specific to this operator class
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>6</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ GIN indexes have seven support functions, four of which are optional,
+ as shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-GIN-SUPPORT-TABLE" title="Table 37.13. GIN Support Functions">Table 37.13</a>.
+ (For more information see <a class="xref" href="gin.html" title="Chapter 66. GIN Indexes">Chapter 66</a>.)
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-GIN-SUPPORT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.13. GIN Support Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="GIN Support Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="col2" /><col class="col3" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Description</th><th>Support Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="function">compare</code></td><td>
+ compare two keys and return an integer less than zero, zero,
+ or greater than zero, indicating whether the first key is less than,
+ equal to, or greater than the second
+ </td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">extractValue</code></td><td>extract keys from a value to be indexed</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">extractQuery</code></td><td>extract keys from a query condition</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">consistent</code></td><td>
+ determine whether value matches query condition (Boolean variant)
+ (optional if support function 6 is present)
+ </td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">comparePartial</code></td><td>
+ compare partial key from
+ query and key from index, and return an integer less than zero, zero,
+ or greater than zero, indicating whether GIN should ignore this index
+ entry, treat the entry as a match, or stop the index scan (optional)
+ </td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">triConsistent</code></td><td>
+ determine whether value matches query condition (ternary variant)
+ (optional if support function 4 is present)
+ </td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">options</code></td><td>
+ Defines a set of options that are specific to this operator class
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>7</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ BRIN indexes have five basic support functions, one of which is optional,
+ as shown in <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-BRIN-SUPPORT-TABLE" title="Table 37.14. BRIN Support Functions">Table 37.14</a>. Some versions of
+ the basic functions require additional support functions to be provided.
+ (For more information see <a class="xref" href="brin-extensibility.html" title="67.3. Extensibility">Section 67.3</a>.)
+ </p><div class="table" id="XINDEX-BRIN-SUPPORT-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 37.14. BRIN Support Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="BRIN Support Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="col2" /><col class="col3" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>Function</th><th>Description</th><th>Support Number</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="function">opcInfo</code></td><td>
+ return internal information describing the indexed columns'
+ summary data
+ </td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">add_value</code></td><td>add a new value to an existing summary index tuple</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">consistent</code></td><td>determine whether value matches query condition</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">union</code></td><td>
+ compute union of two summary tuples
+ </td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td><code class="function">options</code></td><td>
+ Defines a set of options that are specific to this operator class
+ (optional)
+ </td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
+ Unlike search operators, support functions return whichever data
+ type the particular index method expects; for example in the case
+ of the comparison function for B-trees, a signed integer. The number
+ and types of the arguments to each support function are likewise
+ dependent on the index method. For B-tree and hash the comparison and
+ hashing support functions take the same input data types as do the
+ operators included in the operator class, but this is not the case for
+ most GiST, SP-GiST, GIN, and BRIN support functions.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-EXAMPLE"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.4. An Example</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ Now that we have seen the ideas, here is the promised example of
+ creating a new operator class.
+ (You can find a working copy of this example in
+ <code class="filename">src/tutorial/complex.c</code> and
+ <code class="filename">src/tutorial/complex.sql</code> in the source
+ distribution.)
+ The operator class encapsulates
+ operators that sort complex numbers in absolute value order, so we
+ choose the name <code class="literal">complex_abs_ops</code>. First, we need
+ a set of operators. The procedure for defining operators was
+ discussed in <a class="xref" href="xoper.html" title="37.14. User-Defined Operators">Section 37.14</a>. For an operator class on
+ B-trees, the operators we require are:
+
+ </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist compact" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem">absolute-value less-than (strategy 1)</li><li class="listitem">absolute-value less-than-or-equal (strategy 2)</li><li class="listitem">absolute-value equal (strategy 3)</li><li class="listitem">absolute-value greater-than-or-equal (strategy 4)</li><li class="listitem">absolute-value greater-than (strategy 5)</li></ul></div><p>
+ </p><p>
+ The least error-prone way to define a related set of comparison operators
+ is to write the B-tree comparison support function first, and then write the
+ other functions as one-line wrappers around the support function. This
+ reduces the odds of getting inconsistent results for corner cases.
+ Following this approach, we first write:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+#define Mag(c) ((c)-&gt;x*(c)-&gt;x + (c)-&gt;y*(c)-&gt;y)
+
+static int
+complex_abs_cmp_internal(Complex *a, Complex *b)
+{
+ double amag = Mag(a),
+ bmag = Mag(b);
+
+ if (amag &lt; bmag)
+ return -1;
+ if (amag &gt; bmag)
+ return 1;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+</pre><p>
+
+ Now the less-than function looks like:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(complex_abs_lt);
+
+Datum
+complex_abs_lt(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ Complex *a = (Complex *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(0);
+ Complex *b = (Complex *) PG_GETARG_POINTER(1);
+
+ PG_RETURN_BOOL(complex_abs_cmp_internal(a, b) &lt; 0);
+}
+
+</pre><p>
+
+ The other four functions differ only in how they compare the internal
+ function's result to zero.
+ </p><p>
+ Next we declare the functions and the operators based on the functions
+ to SQL:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE FUNCTION complex_abs_lt(complex, complex) RETURNS bool
+ AS '<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>', 'complex_abs_lt'
+ LANGUAGE C IMMUTABLE STRICT;
+
+CREATE OPERATOR &lt; (
+ leftarg = complex, rightarg = complex, procedure = complex_abs_lt,
+ commutator = &gt; , negator = &gt;= ,
+ restrict = scalarltsel, join = scalarltjoinsel
+);
+</pre><p>
+ It is important to specify the correct commutator and negator operators,
+ as well as suitable restriction and join selectivity
+ functions, otherwise the optimizer will be unable to make effective
+ use of the index.
+ </p><p>
+ Other things worth noting are happening here:
+
+ </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
+ There can only be one operator named, say, <code class="literal">=</code>
+ and taking type <code class="type">complex</code> for both operands. In this
+ case we don't have any other operator <code class="literal">=</code> for
+ <code class="type">complex</code>, but if we were building a practical data
+ type we'd probably want <code class="literal">=</code> to be the ordinary
+ equality operation for complex numbers (and not the equality of
+ the absolute values). In that case, we'd need to use some other
+ operator name for <code class="function">complex_abs_eq</code>.
+ </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
+ Although <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> can cope with
+ functions having the same SQL name as long as they have different
+ argument data types, C can only cope with one global function
+ having a given name. So we shouldn't name the C function
+ something simple like <code class="filename">abs_eq</code>. Usually it's
+ a good practice to include the data type name in the C function
+ name, so as not to conflict with functions for other data types.
+ </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
+ We could have made the SQL name
+ of the function <code class="filename">abs_eq</code>, relying on
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> to distinguish it by
+ argument data types from any other SQL function of the same name.
+ To keep the example simple, we make the function have the same
+ names at the C level and SQL level.
+ </p></li></ul></div><p>
+ </p><p>
+ The next step is the registration of the support routine required
+ by B-trees. The example C code that implements this is in the same
+ file that contains the operator functions. This is how we declare
+ the function:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE FUNCTION complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex)
+ RETURNS integer
+ AS '<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>'
+ LANGUAGE C IMMUTABLE STRICT;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Now that we have the required operators and support routine,
+ we can finally create the operator class:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OPERATOR CLASS complex_abs_ops
+ DEFAULT FOR TYPE complex USING btree AS
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; ,
+ FUNCTION 1 complex_abs_cmp(complex, complex);
+
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ And we're done! It should now be possible to create
+ and use B-tree indexes on <code class="type">complex</code> columns.
+ </p><p>
+ We could have written the operator entries more verbosely, as in:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (complex, complex) ,
+</pre><p>
+ but there is no need to do so when the operators take the same data type
+ we are defining the operator class for.
+ </p><p>
+ The above example assumes that you want to make this new operator class the
+ default B-tree operator class for the <code class="type">complex</code> data type.
+ If you don't, just leave out the word <code class="literal">DEFAULT</code>.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-OPFAMILY"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.5. Operator Classes and Operator Families</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ So far we have implicitly assumed that an operator class deals with
+ only one data type. While there certainly can be only one data type in
+ a particular index column, it is often useful to index operations that
+ compare an indexed column to a value of a different data type. Also,
+ if there is use for a cross-data-type operator in connection with an
+ operator class, it is often the case that the other data type has a
+ related operator class of its own. It is helpful to make the connections
+ between related classes explicit, because this can aid the planner in
+ optimizing SQL queries (particularly for B-tree operator classes, since
+ the planner contains a great deal of knowledge about how to work with them).
+ </p><p>
+ To handle these needs, <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
+ uses the concept of an <em class="firstterm">operator
+ family</em><a id="id-1.8.3.19.9.3.3" class="indexterm"></a>.
+ An operator family contains one or more operator classes, and can also
+ contain indexable operators and corresponding support functions that
+ belong to the family as a whole but not to any single class within the
+ family. We say that such operators and functions are <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">loose</span>”</span>
+ within the family, as opposed to being bound into a specific class.
+ Typically each operator class contains single-data-type operators
+ while cross-data-type operators are loose in the family.
+ </p><p>
+ All the operators and functions in an operator family must have compatible
+ semantics, where the compatibility requirements are set by the index
+ method. You might therefore wonder why bother to single out particular
+ subsets of the family as operator classes; and indeed for many purposes
+ the class divisions are irrelevant and the family is the only interesting
+ grouping. The reason for defining operator classes is that they specify
+ how much of the family is needed to support any particular index.
+ If there is an index using an operator class, then that operator class
+ cannot be dropped without dropping the index — but other parts of
+ the operator family, namely other operator classes and loose operators,
+ could be dropped. Thus, an operator class should be specified to contain
+ the minimum set of operators and functions that are reasonably needed
+ to work with an index on a specific data type, and then related but
+ non-essential operators can be added as loose members of the operator
+ family.
+ </p><p>
+ As an example, <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> has a built-in
+ B-tree operator family <code class="literal">integer_ops</code>, which includes operator
+ classes <code class="literal">int8_ops</code>, <code class="literal">int4_ops</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">int2_ops</code> for indexes on <code class="type">bigint</code> (<code class="type">int8</code>),
+ <code class="type">integer</code> (<code class="type">int4</code>), and <code class="type">smallint</code> (<code class="type">int2</code>)
+ columns respectively. The family also contains cross-data-type comparison
+ operators allowing any two of these types to be compared, so that an index
+ on one of these types can be searched using a comparison value of another
+ type. The family could be duplicated by these definitions:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY integer_ops USING btree;
+
+CREATE OPERATOR CLASS int8_ops
+DEFAULT FOR TYPE int8 USING btree FAMILY integer_ops AS
+ -- standard int8 comparisons
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint8cmp(int8, int8) ,
+ FUNCTION 2 btint8sortsupport(internal) ,
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int8, int8, int8, boolean, boolean) ,
+ FUNCTION 4 btequalimage(oid) ;
+
+CREATE OPERATOR CLASS int4_ops
+DEFAULT FOR TYPE int4 USING btree FAMILY integer_ops AS
+ -- standard int4 comparisons
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint4cmp(int4, int4) ,
+ FUNCTION 2 btint4sortsupport(internal) ,
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int4, int4, int4, boolean, boolean) ,
+ FUNCTION 4 btequalimage(oid) ;
+
+CREATE OPERATOR CLASS int2_ops
+DEFAULT FOR TYPE int2 USING btree FAMILY integer_ops AS
+ -- standard int2 comparisons
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint2cmp(int2, int2) ,
+ FUNCTION 2 btint2sortsupport(internal) ,
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int2, int2, int2, boolean, boolean) ,
+ FUNCTION 4 btequalimage(oid) ;
+
+ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY integer_ops USING btree ADD
+ -- cross-type comparisons int8 vs int2
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (int8, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= (int8, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = (int8, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= (int8, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; (int8, int2) ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint82cmp(int8, int2) ,
+
+ -- cross-type comparisons int8 vs int4
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (int8, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= (int8, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = (int8, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= (int8, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; (int8, int4) ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint84cmp(int8, int4) ,
+
+ -- cross-type comparisons int4 vs int2
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (int4, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= (int4, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = (int4, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= (int4, int2) ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; (int4, int2) ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint42cmp(int4, int2) ,
+
+ -- cross-type comparisons int4 vs int8
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (int4, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= (int4, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = (int4, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= (int4, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; (int4, int8) ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint48cmp(int4, int8) ,
+
+ -- cross-type comparisons int2 vs int8
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (int2, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= (int2, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = (int2, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= (int2, int8) ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; (int2, int8) ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint28cmp(int2, int8) ,
+
+ -- cross-type comparisons int2 vs int4
+ OPERATOR 1 &lt; (int2, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 2 &lt;= (int2, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 3 = (int2, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 4 &gt;= (int2, int4) ,
+ OPERATOR 5 &gt; (int2, int4) ,
+ FUNCTION 1 btint24cmp(int2, int4) ,
+
+ -- cross-type in_range functions
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int4, int4, int8, boolean, boolean) ,
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int4, int4, int2, boolean, boolean) ,
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int2, int2, int8, boolean, boolean) ,
+ FUNCTION 3 in_range(int2, int2, int4, boolean, boolean) ;
+
+</pre><p>
+
+ Notice that this definition <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">overloads</span>”</span> the operator strategy and
+ support function numbers: each number occurs multiple times within the
+ family. This is allowed so long as each instance of a
+ particular number has distinct input data types. The instances that have
+ both input types equal to an operator class's input type are the
+ primary operators and support functions for that operator class,
+ and in most cases should be declared as part of the operator class rather
+ than as loose members of the family.
+ </p><p>
+ In a B-tree operator family, all the operators in the family must sort
+ compatibly, as is specified in detail in <a class="xref" href="btree-behavior.html" title="63.2. Behavior of B-Tree Operator Classes">Section 63.2</a>.
+ For each
+ operator in the family there must be a support function having the same
+ two input data types as the operator. It is recommended that a family be
+ complete, i.e., for each combination of data types, all operators are
+ included. Each operator class should include just the non-cross-type
+ operators and support function for its data type.
+ </p><p>
+ To build a multiple-data-type hash operator family, compatible hash
+ support functions must be created for each data type supported by the
+ family. Here compatibility means that the functions are guaranteed to
+ return the same hash code for any two values that are considered equal
+ by the family's equality operators, even when the values are of different
+ types. This is usually difficult to accomplish when the types have
+ different physical representations, but it can be done in some cases.
+ Furthermore, casting a value from one data type represented in the operator
+ family to another data type also represented in the operator family via
+ an implicit or binary coercion cast must not change the computed hash value.
+ Notice that there is only one support function per data type, not one
+ per equality operator. It is recommended that a family be complete, i.e.,
+ provide an equality operator for each combination of data types.
+ Each operator class should include just the non-cross-type equality
+ operator and the support function for its data type.
+ </p><p>
+ GiST, SP-GiST, and GIN indexes do not have any explicit notion of
+ cross-data-type operations. The set of operators supported is just
+ whatever the primary support functions for a given operator class can
+ handle.
+ </p><p>
+ In BRIN, the requirements depends on the framework that provides the
+ operator classes. For operator classes based on <code class="literal">minmax</code>,
+ the behavior required is the same as for B-tree operator families:
+ all the operators in the family must sort compatibly, and casts must
+ not change the associated sort ordering.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ Prior to <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 8.3, there was no concept
+ of operator families, and so any cross-data-type operators intended to be
+ used with an index had to be bound directly into the index's operator
+ class. While this approach still works, it is deprecated because it
+ makes an index's dependencies too broad, and because the planner can
+ handle cross-data-type comparisons more effectively when both data types
+ have operators in the same operator family.
+ </p></div></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-OPCLASS-DEPENDENCIES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.6. System Dependencies on Operator Classes</h3></div></div></div><a id="id-1.8.3.19.10.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> uses operator classes to infer the
+ properties of operators in more ways than just whether they can be used
+ with indexes. Therefore, you might want to create operator classes
+ even if you have no intention of indexing any columns of your data type.
+ </p><p>
+ In particular, there are SQL features such as <code class="literal">ORDER BY</code> and
+ <code class="literal">DISTINCT</code> that require comparison and sorting of values.
+ To implement these features on a user-defined data type,
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> looks for the default B-tree operator
+ class for the data type. The <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">equals</span>”</span> member of this operator
+ class defines the system's notion of equality of values for
+ <code class="literal">GROUP BY</code> and <code class="literal">DISTINCT</code>, and the sort ordering
+ imposed by the operator class defines the default <code class="literal">ORDER BY</code>
+ ordering.
+ </p><p>
+ If there is no default B-tree operator class for a data type, the system
+ will look for a default hash operator class. But since that kind of
+ operator class only provides equality, it is only able to support grouping
+ not sorting.
+ </p><p>
+ When there is no default operator class for a data type, you will get
+ errors like <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">could not identify an ordering operator</span>”</span> if you
+ try to use these SQL features with the data type.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ In <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> versions before 7.4,
+ sorting and grouping operations would implicitly use operators named
+ <code class="literal">=</code>, <code class="literal">&lt;</code>, and <code class="literal">&gt;</code>. The new
+ behavior of relying on default operator classes avoids having to make
+ any assumption about the behavior of operators with particular names.
+ </p></div><p>
+ Sorting by a non-default B-tree operator class is possible by specifying
+ the class's less-than operator in a <code class="literal">USING</code> option,
+ for example
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT * FROM mytable ORDER BY somecol USING ~&lt;~;
+</pre><p>
+ Alternatively, specifying the class's greater-than operator
+ in <code class="literal">USING</code> selects a descending-order sort.
+ </p><p>
+ Comparison of arrays of a user-defined type also relies on the semantics
+ defined by the type's default B-tree operator class. If there is no
+ default B-tree operator class, but there is a default hash operator class,
+ then array equality is supported, but not ordering comparisons.
+ </p><p>
+ Another SQL feature that requires even more data-type-specific knowledge
+ is the <code class="literal">RANGE</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>offset</code></em>
+ <code class="literal">PRECEDING</code>/<code class="literal">FOLLOWING</code> framing option
+ for window functions (see <a class="xref" href="sql-expressions.html#SYNTAX-WINDOW-FUNCTIONS" title="4.2.8. Window Function Calls">Section 4.2.8</a>).
+ For a query such as
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT sum(x) OVER (ORDER BY x RANGE BETWEEN 5 PRECEDING AND 10 FOLLOWING)
+ FROM mytable;
+</pre><p>
+ it is not sufficient to know how to order by <code class="literal">x</code>;
+ the database must also understand how to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">subtract 5</span>”</span> or
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">add 10</span>”</span> to the current row's value of <code class="literal">x</code>
+ to identify the bounds of the current window frame. Comparing the
+ resulting bounds to other rows' values of <code class="literal">x</code> is
+ possible using the comparison operators provided by the B-tree operator
+ class that defines the <code class="literal">ORDER BY</code> ordering — but
+ addition and subtraction operators are not part of the operator class, so
+ which ones should be used? Hard-wiring that choice would be undesirable,
+ because different sort orders (different B-tree operator classes) might
+ need different behavior. Therefore, a B-tree operator class can specify
+ an <em class="firstterm">in_range</em> support function that encapsulates the
+ addition and subtraction behaviors that make sense for its sort order.
+ It can even provide more than one in_range support function, in case
+ there is more than one data type that makes sense to use as the offset
+ in <code class="literal">RANGE</code> clauses.
+ If the B-tree operator class associated with the window's <code class="literal">ORDER
+ BY</code> clause does not have a matching in_range support function,
+ the <code class="literal">RANGE</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>offset</code></em>
+ <code class="literal">PRECEDING</code>/<code class="literal">FOLLOWING</code>
+ option is not supported.
+ </p><p>
+ Another important point is that an equality operator that
+ appears in a hash operator family is a candidate for hash joins,
+ hash aggregation, and related optimizations. The hash operator family
+ is essential here since it identifies the hash function(s) to use.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-ORDERING-OPS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.7. Ordering Operators</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ Some index access methods (currently, only GiST and SP-GiST) support the concept of
+ <em class="firstterm">ordering operators</em>. What we have been discussing so far
+ are <em class="firstterm">search operators</em>. A search operator is one for which
+ the index can be searched to find all rows satisfying
+ <code class="literal">WHERE</code>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>indexed_column</code></em>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>operator</code></em>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>constant</code></em>.
+ Note that nothing is promised about the order in which the matching rows
+ will be returned. In contrast, an ordering operator does not restrict the
+ set of rows that can be returned, but instead determines their order.
+ An ordering operator is one for which the index can be scanned to return
+ rows in the order represented by
+ <code class="literal">ORDER BY</code>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>indexed_column</code></em>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>operator</code></em>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>constant</code></em>.
+ The reason for defining ordering operators that way is that it supports
+ nearest-neighbor searches, if the operator is one that measures distance.
+ For example, a query like
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT * FROM places ORDER BY location &lt;-&gt; point '(101,456)' LIMIT 10;
+
+</pre><p>
+ finds the ten places closest to a given target point. A GiST index
+ on the location column can do this efficiently because
+ <code class="literal">&lt;-&gt;</code> is an ordering operator.
+ </p><p>
+ While search operators have to return Boolean results, ordering operators
+ usually return some other type, such as float or numeric for distances.
+ This type is normally not the same as the data type being indexed.
+ To avoid hard-wiring assumptions about the behavior of different data
+ types, the definition of an ordering operator is required to name
+ a B-tree operator family that specifies the sort ordering of the result
+ data type. As was stated in the previous section, B-tree operator families
+ define <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>'s notion of ordering, so
+ this is a natural representation. Since the point <code class="literal">&lt;-&gt;</code>
+ operator returns <code class="type">float8</code>, it could be specified in an operator
+ class creation command like this:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+OPERATOR 15 &lt;-&gt; (point, point) FOR ORDER BY float_ops
+
+</pre><p>
+ where <code class="literal">float_ops</code> is the built-in operator family that includes
+ operations on <code class="type">float8</code>. This declaration states that the index
+ is able to return rows in order of increasing values of the
+ <code class="literal">&lt;-&gt;</code> operator.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="XINDEX-OPCLASS-FEATURES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">37.16.8. Special Features of Operator Classes</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ There are two special features of operator classes that we have
+ not discussed yet, mainly because they are not useful
+ with the most commonly used index methods.
+ </p><p>
+ Normally, declaring an operator as a member of an operator class
+ (or family) means that the index method can retrieve exactly the set of rows
+ that satisfy a <code class="literal">WHERE</code> condition using the operator. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT * FROM table WHERE integer_column &lt; 4;
+</pre><p>
+ can be satisfied exactly by a B-tree index on the integer column.
+ But there are cases where an index is useful as an inexact guide to
+ the matching rows. For example, if a GiST index stores only bounding boxes
+ for geometric objects, then it cannot exactly satisfy a <code class="literal">WHERE</code>
+ condition that tests overlap between nonrectangular objects such as
+ polygons. Yet we could use the index to find objects whose bounding
+ box overlaps the bounding box of the target object, and then do the
+ exact overlap test only on the objects found by the index. If this
+ scenario applies, the index is said to be <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">lossy</span>”</span> for the
+ operator. Lossy index searches are implemented by having the index
+ method return a <em class="firstterm">recheck</em> flag when a row might or might
+ not really satisfy the query condition. The core system will then
+ test the original query condition on the retrieved row to see whether
+ it should be returned as a valid match. This approach works if
+ the index is guaranteed to return all the required rows, plus perhaps
+ some additional rows, which can be eliminated by performing the original
+ operator invocation. The index methods that support lossy searches
+ (currently, GiST, SP-GiST and GIN) allow the support functions of individual
+ operator classes to set the recheck flag, and so this is essentially an
+ operator-class feature.
+ </p><p>
+ Consider again the situation where we are storing in the index only
+ the bounding box of a complex object such as a polygon. In this
+ case there's not much value in storing the whole polygon in the index
+ entry — we might as well store just a simpler object of type
+ <code class="type">box</code>. This situation is expressed by the <code class="literal">STORAGE</code>
+ option in <code class="command">CREATE OPERATOR CLASS</code>: we'd write something like:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE OPERATOR CLASS polygon_ops
+ DEFAULT FOR TYPE polygon USING gist AS
+ ...
+ STORAGE box;
+</pre><p>
+
+ At present, only the GiST, GIN and BRIN index methods support a
+ <code class="literal">STORAGE</code> type that's different from the column data type.
+ The GiST <code class="function">compress</code> and <code class="function">decompress</code> support
+ routines must deal with data-type conversion when <code class="literal">STORAGE</code>
+ is used. In GIN, the <code class="literal">STORAGE</code> type identifies the type of
+ the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">key</span>”</span> values, which normally is different from the type
+ of the indexed column — for example, an operator class for
+ integer-array columns might have keys that are just integers. The
+ GIN <code class="function">extractValue</code> and <code class="function">extractQuery</code> support
+ routines are responsible for extracting keys from indexed values.
+ BRIN is similar to GIN: the <code class="literal">STORAGE</code> type identifies the
+ type of the stored summary values, and operator classes' support
+ procedures are responsible for interpreting the summary values
+ correctly.
+ </p></div></div><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navfooter"><hr></hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="xoper-optimization.html" title="37.15. Operator Optimization Information">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="extend.html" title="Chapter 37. Extending SQL">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="extend-extensions.html" title="37.17. Packaging Related Objects into an Extension">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">37.15. Operator Optimization Information </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 13.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 37.17. Packaging Related Objects into an Extension</td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file