Postgresql ILIKE versus TSEARCH

Question

I have a query with a number of test fields something like this:

SELECT * FROM some-table
  WHERE field1 ILIKE \"%thing%\"
     OR field2 ILIKE \"%thing\"
           


        

Answer 1

One thing that is very important: NO B-TREE INDEX will ever improve this kind of search:

where field ilike '%SOMETHING%'

What I am saying is that if you do a:

create index idx_name on some_table(field);

The only access you will improve is where field like 'something%'. (when you search for values starting with some literal). So, you will get no benefit by adding a regular index to field column in this case.

If you need to improve your search response time, definitely consider using FULL TEXT SEARCH.