Explain and filter over subplans

Started by Chantal Kellerabout 2 years ago3 messagesgeneral
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#1Chantal Keller
chantal.keller@universite-paris-saclay.fr

Hi

I would like "explain" to output formulas for filtering over
subplans. Is it possible?

Here is a minimal example. Consider the queries:

create table t(a int);
explain (format xml, verbose true) select * from t where a >= all
(select * from t);

I put the result of the second query at the end of the e-mail.

The root node filters over "SubPlan 1", which is the materialization of
the inner "select * from t". But nothing indicates that this filtering
consists in checking that a is greater or equal than all the elements
returned by the subplan.

Is there a way to print it?

Many thanks
Chantal

QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------
<explain xmlns="http://www.postgresql.org/2009/explain&quot;&gt; +
<Query> +
<Plan> +
<Node-Type>Seq Scan</Node-Type> +
<Parallel-Aware>false</Parallel-Aware> +
<Async-Capable>false</Async-Capable> +
<Relation-Name>t</Relation-Name> +
<Schema>public</Schema> +
<Alias>t</Alias> +
<Startup-Cost>0.00</Startup-Cost> +
<Total-Cost>69688.75</Total-Cost> +
<Plan-Rows>1275</Plan-Rows> +
<Plan-Width>4</Plan-Width> +
<Output> +
<Item>t.a</Item> +
</Output> +
<Filter>(SubPlan 1)</Filter> +
<Plans> +
<Plan> +
<Node-Type>Materialize</Node-Type> +
<Parent-Relationship>SubPlan</Parent-Relationship> +
<Subplan-Name>SubPlan 1</Subplan-Name> +
<Parallel-Aware>false</Parallel-Aware> +
<Async-Capable>false</Async-Capable> +
<Startup-Cost>0.00</Startup-Cost> +
<Total-Cost>48.25</Total-Cost> +
<Plan-Rows>2550</Plan-Rows> +
<Plan-Width>4</Plan-Width> +
<Output> +
<Item>t_1.a</Item> +
</Output> +
<Plans> +
<Plan> +
<Node-Type>Seq Scan</Node-Type> +
<Parent-Relationship>Outer</Parent-Relationship>+
<Parallel-Aware>false</Parallel-Aware> +
<Async-Capable>false</Async-Capable> +
<Relation-Name>t</Relation-Name> +
<Schema>public</Schema> +
<Alias>t_1</Alias> +
<Startup-Cost>0.00</Startup-Cost> +
<Total-Cost>35.50</Total-Cost> +
<Plan-Rows>2550</Plan-Rows> +
<Plan-Width>4</Plan-Width> +
<Output> +
<Item>t_1.a</Item> +
</Output> +
</Plan> +
</Plans> +
</Plan> +
</Plans> +
</Plan> +
</Query> +
</explain>

#2Tom Lane
tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us
In reply to: Chantal Keller (#1)
Re: Explain and filter over subplans

Chantal Keller <chantal.keller@universite-paris-saclay.fr> writes:

I would like "explain" to output formulas for filtering over
subplans. Is it possible?

No, and that's been a to-do item for a long time.

Currently, EXPLAIN just ignores the "testexpr" field of SubPlan
nodes, which is what you are after. We could print it, if we
could figure out an intelligible representation. In the example
you give, the testexpr would probably render as "t.a >= $0"
where $0 represents the subplan's output column.

A very rough sketch, perhaps, is that instead of just
"(SubPlan 1)", we could print "(ALL t.a >= $0 FROM SubPlan 1)".
Some of the other SubLinkTypes might be harder to represent
in a way that makes sense to users.

I made a quick-hack patch to play with, if you're interested.

regards, tom lane

Attachments:

wip-show-subplan-testexpr-in-explain.patchtext/x-diff; charset=us-ascii; name=wip-show-subplan-testexpr-in-explain.patchDownload+34-3
#3Chantal Keller
chantal.keller@universite-paris-saclay.fr
In reply to: Tom Lane (#2)
Re: Explain and filter over subplans

Thank you very much for your quick answer and patch!

I tested and this is exactly what I was looking for :-)

Best
Chantal

Le 18/01/2024 à 18:55, Tom Lane a écrit :

Show quoted text

Chantal Keller <chantal.keller@universite-paris-saclay.fr> writes:

I would like "explain" to output formulas for filtering over
subplans. Is it possible?

No, and that's been a to-do item for a long time.

Currently, EXPLAIN just ignores the "testexpr" field of SubPlan
nodes, which is what you are after. We could print it, if we
could figure out an intelligible representation. In the example
you give, the testexpr would probably render as "t.a >= $0"
where $0 represents the subplan's output column.

A very rough sketch, perhaps, is that instead of just
"(SubPlan 1)", we could print "(ALL t.a >= $0 FROM SubPlan 1)".
Some of the other SubLinkTypes might be harder to represent
in a way that makes sense to users.

I made a quick-hack patch to play with, if you're interested.

regards, tom lane