same query, two different ways, vastly different performance - perl

Question

I have a Postgres table with more than 8 million rows. Given the following two ways of doing the same query via DBD::Pg, I get wildly different results.
$q .= '%';
## query 1
my $sql = qq{
SELECT a, b, c
FROM t
WHERE Lower( a ) LIKE '$q'
};
my $sth1 = $dbh->prepare($sql);
$sth1->execute();
## query 2
my $sth2 = $dbh->prepare(qq{
SELECT a, b, c
FROM t
WHERE Lower( a ) LIKE ?
});
$sth2->execute($q);
query 2 is at least an order of magnitude slower than query 1... seems like it is not using the indexes, while query 1 is using the index.
Would love hear why.

Answer 1

With LIKE expressions, b-tree indexes can only be used if the search pattern is left-anchored, i.e. terminated with %. More details in the manual.
Thanks to #evil otto for the link. This link to the current version.
Your first query provides this essential information at prepare time, so the query planner can use a matching index.
Your second query does not provide any information about the pattern at prepare time, so the query planner cannot use any indexes.

Answer 2

I suspect that in the first case the query compiler/optimizer detects that the clause is a constant, and can build an optimal query plan. In the second it has to compile a more generic query because the bound variable can be anything at run-time.

Answer 3

Are you running both test cases from same file using same $dbh object?
I think reason of increasing speed in second case is that you using prepared statement which is already parsed(but maybe I wrong:)).

Answer 4

Ahh, I see - I will drop out after this comment since I don't know Perl. But I would trust that the editor is correct in highlighting the $q as a constant. I'm guessing that you need to concatenate the value into the string, rather than just directly referencing the variable. So, my guess is that if + is used for string concatenation in perl, then use something like:
my $sql = qq{
SELECT a, b, c
FROM t
WHERE Lower( a ) LIKE '
} + $q + qq{'};
(Note: unless the language is tightly integrated with the database, such as Oracle/PLSQL, you usually have to create a completely valid SQL string before submitting to the database, instead of expecting the compiler to 'interpolate'/'Substitute' the value of the variable.)
I would again suggest that you get the COUNT() of the statements, to make sure that you are comparing apple to apples.

Answer 5

I don't know Postgres at all, but I think in Line 7 (WHERE Lower( a ) LIKE '$q'
), $q is actually a constant. It looks like your editor thinks so too, since it is highlighted in red. You probably still need to use the ? for the variable.
To test, do a COUNT(*), and make sure they match - I could be way offbase.