This is a document for PGroonga 2.X and 3.X. See PGroonga 1.x document when you're using old PGroonga.

CREATE INDEX USING pgroonga

You need to specify USING pgroonga to CREATE INDEX to use PGroonga as index method. This section describes about pgroonga index method.

Syntax

This section describes only pgroonga index method related CREATE INDEX syntax. See CREATE INDEX document by PostgreSQL for full CREATE INDEX syntax.

Here is a basic syntax for creating a single column index:

CREATE INDEX ${INDEX_NAME}
          ON ${TABLE_NAME}
       USING pgroonga (${COLUMN});

This syntax can be used for the following cases:

Here is a basic syntax for creating a full text search index for a varchar type column:

CREATE INDEX ${INDEX_NAME}
          ON ${TABLE_NAME}
       USING pgroonga (${COLUMN} pgroonga_varchar_full_text_search_ops_v2);

You need to specify pgroonga_varchar_full_text_search_ops_v2 operator class for the case.

You can also use INCLUDE since 2.3.5.

Customization

You can customize the followings by WITH option of CREATE INDEX:

Normally, you don't need to customize them because the default values of them are suitable for most cases. Features to customize them are for advanced users.

Plugin and token filter aren't used by default.

Here are the default tokenizer, normalizer and lexicon type:

How to register plugins

Since 1.2.0.

Specify plugins='${PLUGIN_NAME_1}, ${PLUGIN_NAME_2}, ..., ${PLUGIN_NAME_N}' for registering plugins.

Note that you must specify plugins as the first option in CREATE INDEX. Options in CREATE INDEX are processed by the specified order. Plugins should be registered before other options are processed because tokenizer, normalizer and token filters may be included in the plugins.

Here is an example to register token_filters/stem plugin to use TokenFilterStem token filter:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_content_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH (plugins='token_filters/stem',
              token_filters='TokenFilterStem');

See How to customize token filters for token filters details.

How to customize tokenizer

Specify tokenizer='${TOKENIZER_NAME}' for customizing tokenizer. Normally, you don't need to customize tokenizer.

Here is an example to use MeCab based tokenizer. You need to specify tokenizer='TokenMecab'. TokenMecab is a name of MeCab based tokenizer.

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_content_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH (tokenizer='TokenMecab');

You can disable tokenizer by specifying tokenizer=''. If you disable tokenizer, you can search column value only by exact match search and prefix search. It reduces noise for some cases. For example, it's useful for tag search, name search and so on.

Here is an example to disable tokenizer:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_tag_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (tag)
        WITH (tokenizer='');

tokenizer='TokenDelimit' will be useful for tag search. See also TokenDelimit.

You can specify tokenizer options by tokenizer='${TOKENIZER_NAME}(...)' syntax.

It's available since 2.0.6.

Here is an example to use TokenNgram tokenizer with "n" and 3 options:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_tag_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (tag)
        WITH (tokenizer='TokenNgram("n", 3)');

See Tokenizers for other tokenizers.

Partial match in alphabetic languages

If you plan to perform partial matching searches for keywords in alphabetic languages, it is recommended to configure your tokenizer to TokenNgram with extra options. The default tokenizer in PGroonga is TokenBigram, which means that if you search for the keyword 'pp', for instance, it won't match 'Apple', 'Pineapple', or 'Ripple' in your data. To avoid this issue, it is strongly advised to set up your tokenizer as following TokenNgram example.

Here is an example to use TokenNgram based tokenizer. You need to specify tokenizer='TokenNgram'. See TokenNgram for more detail.

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_content_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH(tokenizer='TokenNgram("unify_alphabet", false, "unify_symbol", false, "unify_digit", false)');

You may also use TokenBigramBigramSplitSymbolAlphaDigit for partial match instead of TokenNgram above. (Using TokenNgram(...) is recommended).

Remarks We however do not recommend using TokenNgram("unify_...). It is advisable to use TokenNgram/TokenBigram instead, as partial matches in alphabetical languages tend to introduce a lot of noise. TokenNgram("unify_...) should only be utilized when it is truly necessary.

How to customize normalizer

You can use the following parameters to customize normalizer. Normally, you don't need to customize normalizer.

You can disable normalizer by specifying empty value such as normalizers=''. If you disable normalizer, you can search column value only by the original column value. If normalizer increases noise, it's useful.

Here is an example to disable normalizer:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_tag_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (tag)
        WITH (normalizers='');

You can specify normalizer options by normalizers='${NORMALIZER_NAME}(...)' syntax.

It's available since 2.0.6.

Here is an example to use NormalizerNFKC100 normalizer with "unify_kana" and true options:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_tag_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (tag)
        WITH (normalizers='NormalizerNFKC100("unify_kana", true)');

You can specify multiple normalizers by normalizers='${NORMALIZER_NAME1}(...), ${NORMALISER_NAME2(...), ...' syntax.

It's available since 2.3.1.

Here is a useless example to use NormalizerNFKC130 normalizer with "unify_kana" and true option and NormalizerNFKC130 with "unify_hyphen" and true option:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_tag_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (tag)
        WITH (normalizers='
                NormalizerNFKC130("unify_kana", true),
                NormalizerNFKC130("unify_hyphen", true)
              ');

See Normalizers for other normalizers.

You can use other custom normalizer for full text search, regular expression search and prefix search separately. Here are sample operator classes for them:

You can use different normalizer for each search operations by the following parameters.

If they aren't used, the normalizers parameter is used as fallback.

Here is an example to disable normalizer only for full text search:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  title text,
  content text,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_memos_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (
               title pgroonga_text_full_text_search_ops_v2,
               content pgroonga_text_regexp_ops_v2,
               tag pgroonga_text_term_search_ops_v2
             )
        WITH (full_text_search_normalizer='',
              normalizers='NormalizerAuto');

The index for title is for full text search. It doesn't use normalizer because full_text_search_normalizer is ''. Other indexes use NormalizerAuto because normalizer is 'NormalizerAuto'.

Here is an example to disable normalizer only for regular expression search:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  title text,
  content text,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_memos_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (
               title pgroonga_text_full_text_search_ops_v2,
               content pgroonga_text_regexp_ops_v2,
               tag pgroonga_text_term_search_ops_v2
             )
        WITH (regexp_search_normalizer='',
              normalizers='NormalizerAuto');

The index for content is for regular expression search. It doesn't use normalizer because regexp_search_normalizer is ''. Other indexes use NormalizerAuto because normalizers is 'NormalizerAuto'.

Here is an example to disable normalizer only for prefix search:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  title text,
  content text,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_memos_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (
               title pgroonga_text_full_text_search_ops_v2,
               content pgroonga_text_regexp_ops_v2,
               tag pgroonga_text_term_search_ops_v2
             )
        WITH (prefix_search_normalizer='',
              normalizers='NormalizerAuto');

The index for tag is for term search that includes prefix search. It doesn't use normalizer because prefix_search_normalizer is ''. Other indexes use NormalizerAuto because normalizers is 'NormalizerAuto'.

You can use normalizers_mapping='${MAPPING_IN_JSON}' to specify normalizers for the specified index targets.

It's available since 2.3.1.

Here is the syntax of ${MAPPING_IN_JSON}:

{
  "${index_target_name1}": "${normalizer1}",
  "${index_target_name2}": "${normalizer2}",
  ...
}

Here is an example to use NormalizerNFKC130("unify_kana", true) normalizer for title, NormalizerNFKC130("unify_hyphen", true) normalizer for content and NormalizerAuto for other columns:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  title text,
  content text,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_memos_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (
               title pgroonga_text_full_text_search_ops_v2,
               content pgroonga_text_regexp_ops_v2,
               tag pgroonga_text_term_search_ops_v2
             )
        WITH (normalizers_mapping='{
                "title": "NormalizerNFKC130(\"unify_kana\", true)",
                "content": "NormalizerNFKC130(\"unify_hyphen\", true)"
              }',
              normalizers='NormalizerAuto');
How to use NormalizerTable

You can use ${table:PGROONGA_INDEX_NAME} syntax in text that specifies normalizers.

It's available since 2.3.1.

It's substituted with table name in Groonga corresponding to the PGroonga's index specified as PGROONGA_INDEX_NAME. This is useful for NormalizerTable that requires table and column names in Groonga.

Here is an example to use NormalizerNFKC130 normalizer and NormalizerTable normalizer:

CREATE TABLE normalizations (
  target text,
  normalized text
);

CREATE INDEX pgrn_normalizations_index ON normalizations
 USING pgroonga (target pgroonga_text_term_search_ops_v2,
                 normalized);

INSERT INTO normalizations VALUES ('o', '0');
INSERT INTO normalizations VALUES ('ss', '55');

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_memos_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH (normalizers='
                NormalizerNFKC130,
                NormalizerTable(
                  "normalized", "${table:pgrn_normalizations_index}.normalized",
                  "target", "target"
                )
             ');

INSERT INTO memos VALUES (1, '0123455');
INSERT INTO memos VALUES (2, 'o1234ss');

SELECT * FROM memos WHERE content &@~ 'o123455';
--  id | content 
-- ----+---------
--   1 | 0123455
--   2 | o1234ss
-- (2 rows)

Note that you need to run REINDEX INDEX pgroonga_memos_index after you change normalizations table. Because normalization results are changed after normalizations table is changed.

How to use NormalizerTable with pgroonga_highlight_html

When you need using pgroonga_highlight_html function with this NormalizerTable, you need to specify not only TokenNgram with "report_source_location", true" option but also both NormalizerNFKC* and NormalizerTable with "report_source_offset", true" option for each.

Please refer pgroonga_highlight_html function for details.

How to use token filters

Since 1.2.0.

Specify token_filters='${TOKEN_FILTER_1}, ${TOKEN_FILTER_2}, ..., ${TOKEN_FILTER_N}' for using token filters.

Groonga doesn't provide any token filters by default. All token filters are provided as plugins. You need to register plugins to use token filters.

Here is an example to use TokenFilterStem token filter that is included in token_filters/stem plugin:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_content_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH (plugins='token_filters/stem',
              token_filters='TokenFilterStem');

Note that you must specify plugins before token_filters. These CREATE INDEX options are processed by the specified order. Plugins must be registered before you use token filters.

See Token filters for other token filters.

How to customize tablespace

Since 1.1.6.

Specify TABLESPACE ${TABLESPACE_NAME} for customizing tablespace. If you have fast storage, you may want to change tablespace for PGroonga indexes.

Here is an example to change tablespace:

CREATE TABLESPACE fast LOCATION '/data/fast_disk';

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  tag text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_tag_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (tag)
  TABLESPACE fast;

How to customize lexicon type

Since 2.0.6.

Specify lexicon_type='${LEXICON_TYPE}' for customizing lexicon type.

Here are available lexicon types:

Normally, you don't need to customize this because the default value is suitable for most cases.

Here is an example to use hash_table lexicon type to disable predictive token search:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_content_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH (lexicon_type='hash_table');

How to use column:... syntax in query

Since 2.1.3.

Specify query_allow_column=true to use column:... syntax in query.

If you use column:... syntax, you can use other columns and not only match operations but also other operations.

Note that column:... syntax doesn't work with sequential search. It works only with index search.

Here is an example to use query_allow_column to use other column in the same index:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS memos;
CREATE TABLE memos (
  title text,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_memo_texts_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (title, content)
        WITH (query_allow_column=true);

INSERT INTO memos VALUES
  ('PGroonga = PostgreSQL + Groonga', 'Very fast full text search extension.'),
  ('PostGIS', 'GIS extension.');

SELECT *
  FROM memos
    -- The content column must have 'extension' and
    -- the title column must have 'Groonga'.
 WHERE content &@~ 'extension title:@Groonga';
--               title              |                content                
-- ---------------------------------+---------------------------------------
--  PGroonga = PostgreSQL + Groonga | Very fast full text search extension.
-- (1 row)

Here is an example to use query_allow_column to use other operation:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS memos;
CREATE TABLE memos (
  title text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_title_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (title)
        WITH (query_allow_column=true);

INSERT INTO memos VALUES ('PGroonga');
INSERT INTO memos VALUES ('PGroonga = PostgreSQL + Groonga');

SELECT *
  FROM memos
    -- The title column must equal to 'PGroonga'.
    -- Note that this operation doesn't use index.
 WHERE title &@~ 'title:PGroonga';
--   title   
-- ----------
--  PGroonga
-- (1 row)

See Groonga's query syntax for available operations.

How to customize index column flags

Since 2.3.2.

Specify index_flags_mappings='${MAPPING_IN_JSON}' for customizing index column flags for the specified index target.

Here is the syntax of ${MAPPING_IN_JSON}:

{
  "${index_target_name1}": ["${flag1_1}", "${flag1_2}", ..., "${flag1_N}"],
  "${index_target_name2}": ["${flag2_1}", "${flag2_2}", ..., "${flag2_N}"],
  ...
}

Here are available index column flags that are corresponding to flags in Groonga:

You can't specify conflicted flags at once such as ["SMALL", "MEDIUM", "LARGE"].

Normally, you don't need to customize this because the default value is suitable for most cases.

Here is an example to use large index column for large data:

CREATE TABLE memos (
  id integer,
  content text
);

CREATE INDEX pgroonga_content_index
          ON memos
       USING pgroonga (content)
        WITH (index_flags_mapping='{
                "content": ["LARGE"]
              }');