In article <BFC71945-8821-4BC9-8430-A8CACF8F3794@gmail.com>,
Ty Busby <tybusby@gmail.com> writes:
> I have a table that stores a very large starting number called
> epc_start_numeric and a quantity. I've apparently built the most
> inefficient query possible for doing the job I need: find out if any
> records overlap. Imagine the epc_start_numeric + quantity
> representing a block of numbers. I need to find out if any of these
> blocks overlap.
If I understand you correctly, you want to compare numeric intervals.
On PgFoundry you can find an interval type like that called bioseg.
This type is GiST-indexable and thus may speed up your query.
Example:
CREATE TABLE test2 ( id serial NOT NULL, seg bioseg NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id) );
-- Fill test2 with a gazillion of rows
CREATE INDEX test2_seg_ix ON test2 USING gist (seg);
SELECT t1.id, t1.seg, t2.id, t2.seg FROM test2 t1 JOIN test2 t2 ON t2.id != t1.id AND t2.seg && t1.seg;
You'll still need a seqscan for t1, but t2 will use an index scan.
You can even define a table constraint to prevent overlaps:
ALTER TABLE test2 ADD CONSTRAINT test2_seg_ex EXCLUDE USING gist (seg WITH &&);