<!-- doc/src/sgml/indices.sgml -->

<chapter id="indexes">
 <title>Indexes</title>

 <indexterm zone="indexes">
  <primary>index</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <para>
  Indexes are a common way to enhance database performance.  An index
  allows the database server to find and retrieve specific rows much
  faster than it could do without an index.  But indexes also add
  overhead to the database system as a whole, so they should be used
  sensibly.
 </para>


 <sect1 id="indexes-intro">
  <title>Introduction</title>

  <para>
   Suppose we have a table similar to this:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE test1 (
    id integer,
    content varchar
);
</programlisting>
   and the application issues many queries of the form:
<programlisting>
SELECT content FROM test1 WHERE id = <replaceable>constant</replaceable>;
</programlisting>
   With no advance preparation, the system would have to scan the entire
   <structname>test1</structname> table, row by row, to find all
   matching entries.  If there are many rows in
   <structname>test1</structname> and only a few rows (perhaps zero
   or one) that would be returned by such a query, this is clearly an
   inefficient method.  But if the system has been instructed to maintain an
   index on the <structfield>id</structfield> column, it can use a more
   efficient method for locating matching rows.  For instance, it
   might only have to walk a few levels deep into a search tree.
  </para>

  <para>
   A similar approach is used in most non-fiction books:  terms and
   concepts that are frequently looked up by readers are collected in
   an alphabetic index at the end of the book.  The interested reader
   can scan the index relatively quickly and flip to the appropriate
   page(s), rather than having to read the entire book to find the
   material of interest.  Just as it is the task of the author to
   anticipate the items that readers are likely to look up,
   it is the task of the database programmer to foresee which indexes
   will be useful.
  </para>

  <para>
   The following command can be used to create an index on the
   <structfield>id</structfield> column, as discussed:
<programlisting>
CREATE INDEX test1_id_index ON test1 (id);
</programlisting>
   The name <structname>test1_id_index</structname> can be chosen
   freely, but you should pick something that enables you to remember
   later what the index was for.
  </para>

  <para>
   To remove an index, use the <command>DROP INDEX</command> command.
   Indexes can be added to and removed from tables at any time.
  </para>

  <para>
   Once an index is created, no further intervention is required: the
   system will update the index when the table is modified, and it will
   use the index in queries when it thinks doing so would be more efficient
   than a sequential table scan.  But you might have to run the
   <command>ANALYZE</command> command regularly to update
   statistics to allow the query planner to make educated decisions.
   See <xref linkend="performance-tips"/> for information about
   how to find out whether an index is used and when and why the
   planner might choose <emphasis>not</emphasis> to use an index.
  </para>

  <para>
   Indexes can also benefit <command>UPDATE</command> and
   <command>DELETE</command> commands with search conditions.
   Indexes can moreover be used in join searches.  Thus,
   an index defined on a column that is part of a join condition can
   also significantly speed up queries with joins.
  </para>

  <para>
   In general, <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> indexes can be used
   to optimize queries that contain one or more <literal>WHERE</literal>
   or <literal>JOIN</literal> clauses of the form

<synopsis>
<replaceable>indexed-column</replaceable> <replaceable>indexable-operator</replaceable> <replaceable>comparison-value</replaceable>
</synopsis>

   Here, the <replaceable>indexed-column</replaceable> is whatever
   column or expression the index has been defined on.
   The <replaceable>indexable-operator</replaceable>