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10.4.2 Manipulating Queries

section 10.3.2 Parsing Queries showed how raw textual queries can be converted into tsquery values. PostgreSQL also provides functions and operators that can be used to manipulate queries that are already in tsquery form.

tsquery && tsquery

Returns the AND-combination of the two given queries.

tsquery || tsquery

Returns the OR-combination of the two given queries.

!! tsquery

Returns the negation (NOT) of the given query.

numnode(query tsquery) returns integer

Returns the number of nodes (lexemes plus operators) in a tsquery. This function is useful to determine if the query is meaningful (returns > 0), or contains only stop words (returns 0). Examples:

SELECT numnode(plainto_tsquery('the any'));
NOTICE:  query contains only stopword(s) or doesn't 
  contain lexeme(s), ignored
 numnode
---------
       0

SELECT numnode('foo & bar'::tsquery);
 numnode
---------
       3

querytree(query tsquery) returns text

Returns the portion of a tsquery that can be used for searching an index. This function is useful for detecting unindexable queries, for example those containing only stop words or only negated terms. For example:

SELECT querytree(to_tsquery('!defined'));
 querytree
-----------