What does the `width` field mean in PostgreSQL's EXPLAIN?

Question

For example, from the EXPLAIN documentation:

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM tenk1;

                         QUERY PLAN
-------------------------------------------------------------
 Seq Scan on tenk1  (cost=0.00..458.00 rows=10000 width=244)

What does width=244 mean?

Reed Copsey · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-09 20:27:50Z

53

This is the "Estimated average width (in bytes) of rows output by this plan node"

Basically each row returned will be 244 bytes.

See Explain for more details.

answered Jun 9, 2012 at 20:27

Reed Copsey

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4 Comments

David Wolever Over a year ago

Ah, it looks like the documentation for 8.1 (which I was reading) does not explain the meaning of width, but the documentation for 8.3 (which you linked to) does. That would explain why I didn't notice it.

user330315 Over a year ago

@DavidWolever: you should not read the manual of outdated versions. Read the manual that corresponds to your version. Btw: 8.3 is going to be de-supported as well soon, so if you really use that you should prepare to update as soon as possible. Preferrably to 9.1

David Wolever Over a year ago

Lesson learned. I won't be grabbing the first version Google hands me in the future.

Daniel Over a year ago

Pro tip: Always use the postgresql version you use in queries to google :).

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