I guess the real question is:
what is more efficient - a join on a LIKE or a PLPGSQL function that
has 2 loops, 1 for each bottom level child and one that takes the
substring of that child one character at a time to get each parent?
It sounds like you are saying that the join will actaully use
If you use a btree index on the column, you should be able to use it in
the like:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/indexes-types.html.
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TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend