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

<sect1 id="pgoverexplain" xreflabel="pg_overexplain">
 <title>pg_overexplain &mdash; allow EXPLAIN to dump even more details</title>

 <indexterm zone="pgoverexplain">
  <primary>pg_overexplain</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <para>
  The <filename>pg_overexplain</filename> module extends <command>EXPLAIN</command>
  with new options that provide additional output. It is mostly intended to
  assist with debugging of and development of the planner, rather than for
  general use. Since this module displays internal details of planner data
  structures, it may be necessary to refer to the source code to make sense
  of the output. Furthermore, the output is likely to change whenever (and as
  often as) those data structures change.
 </para>

 <para>
  To use it, simply load it into the server.  You can load it into an
  individual session:

<programlisting>
LOAD 'pg_overexplain';
</programlisting>

  You can also preload it into some or all sessions by including
  <literal>pg_overexplain</literal> in
  <xref linkend="guc-session-preload-libraries"/> or
  <xref linkend="guc-shared-preload-libraries"/> in
  <filename>postgresql.conf</filename>.
 </para>

 <sect2 id="pgoverexplain-debug">
  <title>EXPLAIN (DEBUG)</title>

  <para>
   The <literal>DEBUG</literal> option displays miscellaneous information from
   the plan tree that is not normally shown because it is not expected to be
   of general interest. For each individual plan node, it will display the
   following fields.  See <structname>Plan</structname> in
   <filename>nodes/plannodes.h</filename> for additional documentation of these
   fields.
  </para>

  <itemizedlist>
   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Disabled Nodes</literal>. Normal <command>EXPLAIN</command>
     determines whether a node is disabled by checking whether the node's
     count of disabled nodes is larger than the sum of the counts for the
     underlying nodes. This option shows the raw counter value.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Parallel Safe</literal>. Indicates whether it would be safe for
     a plan tree node to appear beneath a <literal>Gather</literal> or
     <literal>Gather Merge</literal> node, regardless of whether it is
     actually below such a node.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Plan Node ID</literal>. An internal ID number that should be
     unique for every node in the plan tree. It is used to coordinate parallel
     query activity.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>extParam</literal> and <literal>allParam</literal>. Information
     about which numbered parameters affect this plan node or its children. In
     text mode, these fields are only displayed if they are non-empty sets.
    </para>
   </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <para>
   Once per query, the <literal>DEBUG</literal> option will display the
   following fields. See <structname>PlannedStmt</structname> in
   <filename>nodes/plannodes.h</filename> for additional detail.
  </para>

  <itemizedlist>
   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Command Type</literal>. For example, <literal>select</literal>
     or <literal>update</literal>.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Flags</literal>. A comma-separated list of Boolean structure
     member names from the <structname>PlannedStmt</structname> that are set to
     <literal>true</literal>. It covers the following structure members:
     <literal>hasReturning</literal>, <literal>hasModifyingCTE</literal>,
     <literal>canSetTag</literal>, <literal>transientPlan</literal>,
     <literal>dependsOnRole</literal>, <literal>parallelModeNeeded</literal>.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Subplans Needing Rewind</literal>. Integer IDs of subplans that
     may need to be rewound by the executor.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Relation OIDs</literal>. OIDs of relations upon which this plan
     depends.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Executor Parameter Types</literal>. Type OID for each executor parameter
     (e.g. when a nested loop is chosen and a parameter is used to pass a value down
     to an inner index scan). Does not include parameters supplied to a prepared
     statement by the user.
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     <literal>Parse Location</literal>. Location within the query string
     supplied to the planner where this query's text can be found. May be
     <literal>Unknown</literal> in some contexts. Otherwise, may be
     <literal>NNN to end</literal> for some integer <literal>NNN</literal> or
     <literal>NNN for MMM bytes</literal> for some integers
     <literal>NNN</literal> and <literal>MMM</literal>.
    </para>
   </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
 </sect2>

 <sect2 id="pgoverexplain-range-table">
  <title>EXPLAIN (RANGE_TABLE)</title>

  <para>
   The <literal>RANGE_TABLE</literal> option displays information from the
   plan tree specifically concerning the query's range table. Range table
   entries correspond roughly to items appearing in the query's
   <literal>FROM</literal> clause, but with numerous exceptions. For example,
   subqueries that are proved unnecessary may be deleted from the range table
   entirely, while inheritance expansion adds range table entries for child
   tables that are not named directly in the query.
  </para>

  <para>
   Range table entries are generally referenced within the query plan by a
   range table index, or RTI. Plan nodes that reference one or more RTIs will
   be labelled accordingly, using one of the following fields: <literal>Scan
   RTI</literal>, <literal>Nominal RTI</literal>, <literal>Exclude Relation
   RTI</literal>, <literal>Append RTIs</literal>.
  </para>

  <para>
   In addition, the query as a whole may maintain lists of range table indexes
   that are needed for various purposes. These lists will be displayed once
   per query, labelled as appropriate as <literal>Unprunable RTIs</literal> or
   <literal>Result RTIs</literal>. In text mode, these fields are only
   displayed if they are non-empty sets.
  </para>

  <para>
   Finally, but most importantly, the <literal>RANGE_TABLE</literal> option
   will display a dump of the query's entire range table. Each range table
   entry is labelled with the appropriate range table index, the kind of range
   table entry (e.g.  <literal>relation</literal>,
   <literal>subquery</literal>, or <literal>join</literal>), followed by the
   contents of various range table entry fields that are not normally part of
   <command>EXPLAIN</command> output. Some of these fields are only displayed
   for certain kinds of range table entries. For example,
   <literal>Eref</literal> is displayed for all types of range table entries,
   but <literal>CTE Name</literal> is displayed only for range table entries
   of type <literal>cte</literal>.
  </para>

  <para>
   For more information about range table entries, see the definition of
   <structname>RangeTblEntry</structname> in <filename>nodes/parsenodes.h</filename>.
  </para>
 </sect2>

 <sect2 id="pgoverexplain-author">
  <title>Author</title>

  <para>
   Robert Haas <email>rhaas@postgresql.org</email>
  </para>
 </sect2>

</sect1>
