hstore Functions

The hstore module implements a data type for storing sets of (key,value) pairs within a single Greenplum Database data field. This can be useful in various scenarios, such as rows with many attributes that are rarely examined, or semi-structured data.

In the current implementation, neither the key nor the value string can exceed 65535 bytes in length; an error will be thrown if this limit is exceeded. These maximum lengths may change in future releases.

Installing hstore

Before you can use hstore data type and functions, run the installation script $GPHOME/share/postgresql/contrib/hstore.sql in each database where you want the ability to query other databases:

$ psql -d testdb -f $GPHOME/share/postgresql/contrib/hstore.sql

hstore External Representation

The text representation of an hstore value includes zero or more key => value items, separated by commas. For example:

k => v
foo => bar, baz => whatever
"1-a" => "anything at all"

The order of the items is not considered significant (and may not be reproduced on output). Whitespace between items or around the => sign is ignored. Use double quotes if a key or value includes whitespace, comma, = or >. To include a double quote or a backslash in a key or value, precede it with another backslash. (Keep in mind that depending on the setting of standard_conforming_strings, you may need to double backslashes in SQL literal strings.)

A value (but not a key) can be a SQL NULL. This is represented as

key => NULL

The NULL keyword is not case-sensitive. Again, use double quotes if you want the string null to be treated as an ordinary data value.

Currently, double quotes are always used to surround key and value strings on output, even when this is not strictly necessary.

hstore Operators and Functions

Operator	Description	Example	Result
`hstore` `->` `text`	get value for key (null if not present)	`'a=>x, b=>y'::hstore -> 'a'`	`x`
`text` `=>` `text`	make single-item `hstore`	`'a' => 'b'`	`"a"=>"b"`
`hstore` `\|\|` `hstore`	concatenation	`'a=>b, c=>d'::hstore \|\| 'c=>x, d=>q'::hstore`	`"a"=>"b", "c"=>"x", "d"=>"q"`
`hstore` `?` `text`	does `hstore` contain key?	`'a=>1'::hstore ? 'a'`	`t`
`hstore` `@>` `hstore`	does left operand contain right?	`'a=>b, b=>1, c=>NULL'::hstore @> 'b=>1'`	`t`
`hstore` `<@` `hstore`	is left operand contained in right?	`'a=>c'::hstore <@ 'a=>b, b=>1, c=>NULL'`	`f`

Note: The => operator is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Use the hstore(text, text) function instead.

Table 2. hstore Functions
Function	Return Type	Description	Example	Result
`hstore(text, text)`	`hstore`	make single-item `hstore`	`hstore('a', 'b')`	`"a"=>"b"`
`akeys(hstore)`	`text[]`	get `hstore`'s keys as array	`akeys('a=>1,b=>2')`	`{a,b}`
`skeys(hstore)`	`setof text`	get `hstore`'s keys as set	`skeys('a=>1,b=>2')`	a b
`avals(hstore)`	`text[]`	get `hstore`'s values as array	`avals('a=>1,b=>2')`	`{1,2}`
`svals(hstore)`	`setof text`	get `hstore`'s values as set	`svals('a=>1,b=>2')`	1 2
`each(hstore)`	`setof (key text, value text)`	get `hstore`'s keys and values as set	`select * from each('a=>1,b=>2')`	`key\|value ---------+------------- a \| 1 b \| 2`
`exist(hstore,text)`	`boolean`	does `hstore` contain key?	`exist('a=>1','a')`	`t`
`defined(hstore,text)`	`boolean`	does `hstore` contain non-null value for key?	`defined('a=>NULL','a')`	`f`
`delete(hstore,text)`	`hstore`	delete any item matching key	`delete('a=>1,b=>2','b')`	`"a"=>"1"`

Indexes

hstore has index support for @> and ? operators. You can use the GiST index type. For example:

CREATE INDEX hidx ON testhstore USING GIST(h);

Examples

Add a key, or update an existing key with a new value:

UPDATE tab SET h = h || ('c' => '3');

Delete a key:

UPDATE tab SET h = delete(h, 'k1');

Statistics

The hstore type, because of its intrinsic liberality, could contain a lot of different keys. Checking for valid keys is the task of the application. Examples below demonstrate several techniques for checking keys and obtaining statistics.

Simple example:

SELECT * FROM each('aaa=>bq, b=>NULL, ""=>1');

Using a table:

SELECT (each(h)).key, (each(h)).value INTO stat FROM testhstore;

Online statistics:

SELECT key, count(*) FROM
  (SELECT (each(h)).key FROM testhstore) AS stat
  GROUP BY key
  ORDER BY count DESC, key;
    key    | count
-----------+-------
 line      |   883
 query     |   207
 pos       |   203
 node      |   202
 space     |   197
 status    |   195
 public    |   194
 title     |   190
 org       |   189
...................

Parent topic: Additional Supplied Modules