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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
+<!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>11.10. Operator Classes and Operator Families</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 Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="indexes-index-only-scans.html" title="11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes" /><link rel="next" href="indexes-collations.html" title="11.11. Indexes and Collations" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">11.10. Operator Classes and Operator Families</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="indexes-index-only-scans.html" title="11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="indexes.html" title="Chapter 11. Indexes">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 11. Indexes</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="indexes-collations.html" title="11.11. Indexes and Collations">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="INDEXES-OPCLASS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">11.10. Operator Classes and Operator Families</h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.10.13.2" class="indexterm"></a><a id="id-1.5.10.13.3" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ An index definition can specify an <em class="firstterm">operator
+ class</em> for each column of an index.
+</p><pre class="synopsis">
+CREATE INDEX <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> ON <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> (<em class="replaceable"><code>column</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>opclass</code></em> [ ( <em class="replaceable"><code>opclass_options</code></em> ) ] [<span class="optional"><em class="replaceable"><code>sort options</code></em></span>] [<span class="optional">, ...</span>]);
+</pre><p>
+ The operator class identifies the operators to be used by the index
+ for that column. For example, a B-tree index on the type <code class="type">int4</code>
+ would use the <code class="literal">int4_ops</code> class; this operator
+ class includes comparison functions for values of type <code class="type">int4</code>.
+ In practice the default operator class for the column's data type is
+ usually sufficient. The main reason for having operator classes is
+ that for some data types, there could be more than one meaningful
+ index behavior. For example, we might want to sort a complex-number data
+ type either by absolute value or by real part. We could do this by
+ defining two operator classes for the data type and then selecting
+ the proper class when making an index. The operator class determines
+ the basic sort ordering (which can then be modified by adding sort options
+ <code class="literal">COLLATE</code>,
+ <code class="literal">ASC</code>/<code class="literal">DESC</code> and/or
+ <code class="literal">NULLS FIRST</code>/<code class="literal">NULLS LAST</code>).
+ </p><p>
+ There are also some built-in operator classes besides the default ones:
+
+ </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
+ The operator classes <code class="literal">text_pattern_ops</code>,
+ <code class="literal">varchar_pattern_ops</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">bpchar_pattern_ops</code> support B-tree indexes on
+ the types <code class="type">text</code>, <code class="type">varchar</code>, and
+ <code class="type">char</code> respectively. The
+ difference from the default operator classes is that the values
+ are compared strictly character by character rather than
+ according to the locale-specific collation rules. This makes
+ these operator classes suitable for use by queries involving
+ pattern matching expressions (<code class="literal">LIKE</code> or POSIX
+ regular expressions) when the database does not use the standard
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">C</span>”</span> locale. As an example, you might index a
+ <code class="type">varchar</code> column like this:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+CREATE INDEX test_index ON test_table (col varchar_pattern_ops);
+</pre><p>
+ Note that you should also create an index with the default operator
+ class if you want queries involving ordinary <code class="literal">&lt;</code>,
+ <code class="literal">&lt;=</code>, <code class="literal">&gt;</code>, or <code class="literal">&gt;=</code> comparisons
+ to use an index. Such queries cannot use the
+ <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>xxx</code></em>_pattern_ops</code>
+ operator classes. (Ordinary equality comparisons can use these
+ operator classes, however.) It is possible to create multiple
+ indexes on the same column with different operator classes.
+ If you do use the C locale, you do not need the
+ <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>xxx</code></em>_pattern_ops</code>
+ operator classes, because an index with the default operator class
+ is usable for pattern-matching queries in the C locale.
+ </p></li></ul></div><p>
+ </p><p>
+ The following query shows all defined operator classes:
+
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT am.amname AS index_method,
+ opc.opcname AS opclass_name,
+ opc.opcintype::regtype AS indexed_type,
+ opc.opcdefault AS is_default
+ FROM pg_am am, pg_opclass opc
+ WHERE opc.opcmethod = am.oid
+ ORDER BY index_method, opclass_name;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ An operator class is actually just a subset of a larger structure called an
+ <em class="firstterm">operator family</em>. In cases where several data types have
+ similar behaviors, it is frequently useful to define cross-data-type
+ operators and allow these to work with indexes. To do this, the operator
+ classes for each of the types must be grouped into the same operator
+ family. The cross-type operators are members of the family, but are not
+ associated with any single class within the family.
+ </p><p>
+ This expanded version of the previous query shows the operator family
+ each operator class belongs to:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT am.amname AS index_method,
+ opc.opcname AS opclass_name,
+ opf.opfname AS opfamily_name,
+ opc.opcintype::regtype AS indexed_type,
+ opc.opcdefault AS is_default
+ FROM pg_am am, pg_opclass opc, pg_opfamily opf
+ WHERE opc.opcmethod = am.oid AND
+ opc.opcfamily = opf.oid
+ ORDER BY index_method, opclass_name;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ This query shows all defined operator families and all
+ the operators included in each family:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+SELECT am.amname AS index_method,
+ opf.opfname AS opfamily_name,
+ amop.amopopr::regoperator AS opfamily_operator
+ FROM pg_am am, pg_opfamily opf, pg_amop amop
+ WHERE opf.opfmethod = am.oid AND
+ amop.amopfamily = opf.oid
+ ORDER BY index_method, opfamily_name, opfamily_operator;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html" title="psql"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">psql</span></span></a> has
+ commands <code class="command">\dAc</code>, <code class="command">\dAf</code>,
+ and <code class="command">\dAo</code>, which provide slightly more sophisticated
+ versions of these queries.
+ </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="indexes-index-only-scans.html" title="11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="indexes.html" title="Chapter 11. Indexes">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="indexes-collations.html" title="11.11. Indexes and Collations">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">11.9. Index-Only Scans and Covering Indexes </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 11.11. Indexes and Collations</td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file