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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 12:15:05 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 12:15:05 +0000
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Adding upstream version 14.5.upstream/14.5upstream
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+<!--
+doc/src/sgml/ref/explain.sgml
+PostgreSQL documentation
+-->
+
+<refentry id="sql-explain">
+ <indexterm zone="sql-explain">
+ <primary>EXPLAIN</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <indexterm zone="sql-explain">
+ <primary>prepared statements</primary>
+ <secondary>showing the query plan</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <indexterm zone="sql-explain">
+ <primary>cursor</primary>
+ <secondary>showing the query plan</secondary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>EXPLAIN</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv>
+ <refname>EXPLAIN</refname>
+ <refpurpose>show the execution plan of a statement</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsynopsisdiv>
+<synopsis>
+EXPLAIN [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [, ...] ) ] <replaceable class="parameter">statement</replaceable>
+EXPLAIN [ ANALYZE ] [ VERBOSE ] <replaceable class="parameter">statement</replaceable>
+
+<phrase>where <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> can be one of:</phrase>
+
+ ANALYZE [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ VERBOSE [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ COSTS [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ SETTINGS [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ BUFFERS [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ WAL [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ TIMING [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ SUMMARY [ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> ]
+ FORMAT { TEXT | XML | JSON | YAML }
+</synopsis>
+ </refsynopsisdiv>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Description</title>
+
+ <para>
+ This command displays the execution plan that the
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> planner generates for the
+ supplied statement. The execution plan shows how the table(s)
+ referenced by the statement will be scanned &mdash; by plain sequential scan,
+ index scan, etc. &mdash; and if multiple tables are referenced, what join
+ algorithms will be used to bring together the required rows from
+ each input table.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The most critical part of the display is the estimated statement execution
+ cost, which is the planner's guess at how long it will take to run the
+ statement (measured in cost units that are arbitrary, but conventionally
+ mean disk page fetches). Actually two numbers
+ are shown: the start-up cost before the first row can be returned, and
+ the total cost to return all the rows. For most queries the total cost
+ is what matters, but in contexts such as a subquery in <literal>EXISTS</literal>, the planner
+ will choose the smallest start-up cost instead of the smallest total cost
+ (since the executor will stop after getting one row, anyway).
+ Also, if you limit the number of rows to return with a <literal>LIMIT</literal> clause,
+ the planner makes an appropriate interpolation between the endpoint
+ costs to estimate which plan is really the cheapest.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The <literal>ANALYZE</literal> option causes the statement to be actually
+ executed, not only planned. Then actual run time statistics are added to
+ the display, including the total elapsed time expended within each plan
+ node (in milliseconds) and the total number of rows it actually returned.
+ This is useful for seeing whether the planner's estimates
+ are close to reality.
+ </para>
+
+ <important>
+ <para>
+ Keep in mind that the statement is actually executed when
+ the <literal>ANALYZE</literal> option is used. Although
+ <command>EXPLAIN</command> will discard any output that a
+ <command>SELECT</command> would return, other side effects of the
+ statement will happen as usual. If you wish to use
+ <command>EXPLAIN ANALYZE</command> on an
+ <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>,
+ <command>DELETE</command>, <command>CREATE TABLE AS</command>,
+ or <command>EXECUTE</command> statement
+ without letting the command affect your data, use this approach:
+<programlisting>
+BEGIN;
+EXPLAIN ANALYZE ...;
+ROLLBACK;
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+ </important>
+
+ <para>
+ Only the <literal>ANALYZE</literal> and <literal>VERBOSE</literal> options
+ can be specified, and only in that order, without surrounding the option
+ list in parentheses. Prior to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 9.0,
+ the unparenthesized syntax was the only one supported. It is expected that
+ all new options will be supported only in the parenthesized syntax.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Parameters</title>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>ANALYZE</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Carry out the command and show actual run times and other statistics.
+ This parameter defaults to <literal>FALSE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>VERBOSE</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Display additional information regarding the plan. Specifically, include
+ the output column list for each node in the plan tree, schema-qualify
+ table and function names, always label variables in expressions with
+ their range table alias, and always print the name of each trigger for
+ which statistics are displayed. The query identifier will also be
+ displayed if one has been computed, see <xref
+ linkend="guc-compute-query-id"/> for more details. This parameter
+ defaults to <literal>FALSE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>COSTS</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include information on the estimated startup and total cost of each
+ plan node, as well as the estimated number of rows and the estimated
+ width of each row.
+ This parameter defaults to <literal>TRUE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>SETTINGS</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include information on configuration parameters. Specifically, include
+ options affecting query planning with value different from the built-in
+ default value. This parameter defaults to <literal>FALSE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>BUFFERS</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include information on buffer usage. Specifically, include the number of
+ shared blocks hit, read, dirtied, and written, the number of local blocks
+ hit, read, dirtied, and written, the number of temp blocks read and
+ written, and the time spent reading and writing data file blocks
+ (in milliseconds) if <xref linkend="guc-track-io-timing"/> is enabled.
+ A <emphasis>hit</emphasis> means that a read was avoided because the block was
+ found already in cache when needed.
+ Shared blocks contain data from regular tables and indexes;
+ local blocks contain data from temporary tables and indexes;
+ while temp blocks contain short-term working data used in sorts, hashes,
+ Materialize plan nodes, and similar cases.
+ The number of blocks <emphasis>dirtied</emphasis> indicates the number of
+ previously unmodified blocks that were changed by this query; while the
+ number of blocks <emphasis>written</emphasis> indicates the number of
+ previously-dirtied blocks evicted from cache by this backend during
+ query processing.
+ The number of blocks shown for an
+ upper-level node includes those used by all its child nodes. In text
+ format, only non-zero values are printed. It defaults to
+ <literal>FALSE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>WAL</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include information on WAL record generation. Specifically, include the
+ number of records, number of full page images (fpi) and the amount of WAL
+ generated in bytes. In text format, only non-zero values are printed.
+ This parameter may only be used when <literal>ANALYZE</literal> is also
+ enabled. It defaults to <literal>FALSE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>TIMING</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include actual startup time and time spent in each node in the output.
+ The overhead of repeatedly reading the system clock can slow down the
+ query significantly on some systems, so it may be useful to set this
+ parameter to <literal>FALSE</literal> when only actual row counts, and
+ not exact times, are needed. Run time of the entire statement is
+ always measured, even when node-level timing is turned off with this
+ option.
+ This parameter may only be used when <literal>ANALYZE</literal> is also
+ enabled. It defaults to <literal>TRUE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>SUMMARY</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include summary information (e.g., totaled timing information) after the
+ query plan. Summary information is included by default when
+ <literal>ANALYZE</literal> is used but otherwise is not included by
+ default, but can be enabled using this option. Planning time in
+ <command>EXPLAIN EXECUTE</command> includes the time required to fetch
+ the plan from the cache and the time required for re-planning, if
+ necessary.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>FORMAT</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Specify the output format, which can be TEXT, XML, JSON, or YAML.
+ Non-text output contains the same information as the text output
+ format, but is easier for programs to parse. This parameter defaults to
+ <literal>TEXT</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Specifies whether the selected option should be turned on or off.
+ You can write <literal>TRUE</literal>, <literal>ON</literal>, or
+ <literal>1</literal> to enable the option, and <literal>FALSE</literal>,
+ <literal>OFF</literal>, or <literal>0</literal> to disable it. The
+ <replaceable class="parameter">boolean</replaceable> value can also
+ be omitted, in which case <literal>TRUE</literal> is assumed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><replaceable class="parameter">statement</replaceable></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Any <command>SELECT</command>, <command>INSERT</command>, <command>UPDATE</command>,
+ <command>DELETE</command>, <command>VALUES</command>, <command>EXECUTE</command>,
+ <command>DECLARE</command>, <command>CREATE TABLE AS</command>, or
+ <command>CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW AS</command> statement, whose execution
+ plan you wish to see.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Outputs</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The command's result is a textual description of the plan selected
+ for the <replaceable class="parameter">statement</replaceable>,
+ optionally annotated with execution statistics.
+ <xref linkend="using-explain"/> describes the information provided.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Notes</title>
+
+ <para>
+ In order to allow the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> query
+ planner to make reasonably informed decisions when optimizing
+ queries, the <link
+ linkend="catalog-pg-statistic"><structname>pg_statistic</structname></link>
+ data should be up-to-date for all tables used in the query. Normally
+ the <link linkend="autovacuum">autovacuum daemon</link> will take care
+ of that automatically. But if a table has recently had substantial
+ changes in its contents, you might need to do a manual
+ <link linkend="sql-analyze"><command>ANALYZE</command></link> rather than wait for autovacuum to catch up
+ with the changes.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ In order to measure the run-time cost of each node in the execution
+ plan, the current implementation of <command>EXPLAIN
+ ANALYZE</command> adds profiling overhead to query execution.
+ As a result, running <command>EXPLAIN ANALYZE</command>
+ on a query can sometimes take significantly longer than executing
+ the query normally. The amount of overhead depends on the nature of
+ the query, as well as the platform being used. The worst case occurs
+ for plan nodes that in themselves require very little time per
+ execution, and on machines that have relatively slow operating
+ system calls for obtaining the time of day.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Examples</title>
+
+ <para>
+ To show the plan for a simple query on a table with a single
+ <type>integer</type> column and 10000 rows:
+
+<programlisting>
+EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM foo;
+
+ QUERY PLAN
+---------------------------------------------------------
+ Seq Scan on foo (cost=0.00..155.00 rows=10000 width=4)
+(1 row)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is the same query, with JSON output formatting:
+<programlisting>
+EXPLAIN (FORMAT JSON) SELECT * FROM foo;
+ QUERY PLAN
+--------------------------------
+ [ +
+ { +
+ "Plan": { +
+ "Node Type": "Seq Scan",+
+ "Relation Name": "foo", +
+ "Alias": "foo", +
+ "Startup Cost": 0.00, +
+ "Total Cost": 155.00, +
+ "Plan Rows": 10000, +
+ "Plan Width": 4 +
+ } +
+ } +
+ ]
+(1 row)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If there is an index and we use a query with an indexable
+ <literal>WHERE</literal> condition, <command>EXPLAIN</command>
+ might show a different plan:
+
+<programlisting>
+EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM foo WHERE i = 4;
+
+ QUERY PLAN
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+ Index Scan using fi on foo (cost=0.00..5.98 rows=1 width=4)
+ Index Cond: (i = 4)
+(2 rows)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is the same query, but in YAML format:
+<programlisting>
+EXPLAIN (FORMAT YAML) SELECT * FROM foo WHERE i='4';
+ QUERY PLAN
+-------------------------------
+ - Plan: +
+ Node Type: "Index Scan" +
+ Scan Direction: "Forward"+
+ Index Name: "fi" +
+ Relation Name: "foo" +
+ Alias: "foo" +
+ Startup Cost: 0.00 +
+ Total Cost: 5.98 +
+ Plan Rows: 1 +
+ Plan Width: 4 +
+ Index Cond: "(i = 4)"
+(1 row)
+</programlisting>
+
+ XML format is left as an exercise for the reader.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Here is the same plan with cost estimates suppressed:
+
+<programlisting>
+EXPLAIN (COSTS FALSE) SELECT * FROM foo WHERE i = 4;
+
+ QUERY PLAN
+----------------------------
+ Index Scan using fi on foo
+ Index Cond: (i = 4)
+(2 rows)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example of a query plan for a query using an aggregate
+ function:
+
+<programlisting>
+EXPLAIN SELECT sum(i) FROM foo WHERE i &lt; 10;
+
+ QUERY PLAN
+-------------------------------------------------------------------&zwsp;--
+ Aggregate (cost=23.93..23.93 rows=1 width=4)
+ -&gt; Index Scan using fi on foo (cost=0.00..23.92 rows=6 width=4)
+ Index Cond: (i &lt; 10)
+(3 rows)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Here is an example of using <command>EXPLAIN EXECUTE</command> to
+ display the execution plan for a prepared query:
+
+<programlisting>
+PREPARE query(int, int) AS SELECT sum(bar) FROM test
+ WHERE id &gt; $1 AND id &lt; $2
+ GROUP BY foo;
+
+EXPLAIN ANALYZE EXECUTE query(100, 200);
+
+ QUERY PLAN
+-------------------------------------------------------------------&zwsp;-----------------------------------------------------
+ HashAggregate (cost=9.54..9.54 rows=1 width=8) (actual time=0.156..0.161 rows=11 loops=1)
+ Group Key: foo
+ -&gt; Index Scan using test_pkey on test (cost=0.29..9.29 rows=50 width=8) (actual time=0.039..0.091 rows=99 loops=1)
+ Index Cond: ((id &gt; $1) AND (id &lt; $2))
+ Planning time: 0.197 ms
+ Execution time: 0.225 ms
+(6 rows)
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Of course, the specific numbers shown here depend on the actual
+ contents of the tables involved. Also note that the numbers, and
+ even the selected query strategy, might vary between
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> releases due to planner
+ improvements. In addition, the <command>ANALYZE</command> command
+ uses random sampling to estimate data statistics; therefore, it is
+ possible for cost estimates to change after a fresh run of
+ <command>ANALYZE</command>, even if the actual distribution of data
+ in the table has not changed.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Compatibility</title>
+
+ <para>
+ There is no <command>EXPLAIN</command> statement defined in the SQL standard.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>See Also</title>
+
+ <simplelist type="inline">
+ <member><xref linkend="sql-analyze"/></member>
+ </simplelist>
+ </refsect1>
+</refentry>