Configuration parameter

geqo_selection_bias — PostgreSQL configuration parameter

Category Query Planning

Controls the selection bias used by GEQO.

At a glance

Property Value
Parameter geqo_selection_bias
Category Query Planning
Default (see documentation)
Value type floating point
Change scope Per-session (SET)
Available in PostgreSQL 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 (added in 12)

What it does

Controls the selection bias used by GEQO. The selection bias is the selective pressure within the population. Values can be from 1.50 to 2.00; the latter is the default.

(Description quoted from the official PostgreSQL documentation.)

How to apply a change

Can be set per session with SET, per role/database with ALTER ROLE/DATABASE ... SET, or globally in postgresql.conf.

Inspect the current value and source with SHOW geqo_selection_bias; or SELECT name, setting, unit, context, source FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'geqo_selection_bias';.

Tuning guidance

This parameter is rarely a performance lever. Leave it at the default unless you have a specific, documented reason to change it, change it on one session or one role/database first, and confirm the effect with pg_settings and your own measurements before rolling it out cluster-wide.

Reference

PostgreSQL documentation — geqo_selection_bias.

Keep going

Related & next steps

Was this helpful?

← All configuration parameters