Add Output Explain Query Plan In Different Formats as a Postgres TIL

README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
 
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-_1528 TILs and counting..._
+_1529 TILs and counting..._
 
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@@ -828,6 +828,7 @@ _1528 TILs and counting..._
 - [Manage Major Versions With Brew And Direnv](postgres/manage-major-versions-with-brew-and-direnv.md)
 - [Max Identifier Length Is 63 Bytes](postgres/max-identifier-length-is-63-bytes.md)
 - [Open Heroku Database In Postico From Terminal](postgres/open-heroku-database-in-postico-from-terminal.md)
+- [Output Explain Query Plan In Different Formats](postgres/output-explain-query-plan-in-different-formats.md)
 - [pg Prefix Is Reserved For System Schemas](postgres/pg-prefix-is-reserved-for-system-schemas.md)
 - [Postgres Does Not Support Unsigned Integers](postgres/postgres-does-not-support-unsigned-integers.md)
 - [Prepare, Execute, And Deallocate Statements](postgres/prepare-execute-and-deallocate-statements.md)

postgres/output-explain-query-plan-in-different-formats.md

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# Output Explain Query Plan In Different Formats
+
+The output of an [`explain` (or `explain analyze`) query
+plan](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-explain.html) for a given
+query defaults to a `TEXT` format that is meant to be read by a person.
+
+```sql
+> explain (analyze) select title from books where created_at > now() - '1 year'::interval;
+                                           QUERY PLAN
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ Seq Scan on books  (cost=0.00..1.28 rows=5 width=32) (actual time=0.011..0.017 rows=22 loops=1)
+   Filter: (created_at > (now() - '1 year'::interval))
+ Planning Time: 0.052 ms
+ Execution Time: 0.027 ms
+(4 rows)
+```
+
+If we instead want the query plan in a standardized format that is parseable
+and readable by a program, we can specify an alternate format like `JSON`,
+`YAML`, or `XML`.
+
+Here is the same plan with `format json`:
+
+```sql
+> explain (analyze, format json) select title from books where created_at > now() - '1 year'::interval;
+                           QUERY PLAN
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+ [                                                             +
+   {                                                           +
+     "Plan": {                                                 +
+       "Node Type": "Seq Scan",                                +
+       "Parallel Aware": false,                                +
+       "Async Capable": false,                                 +
+       "Relation Name": "books",                               +
+       "Alias": "books",                                       +
+       "Startup Cost": 0.00,                                   +
+       "Total Cost": 1.28,                                     +
+       "Plan Rows": 5,                                         +
+       "Plan Width": 32,                                       +
+       "Actual Startup Time": 0.008,                           +
+       "Actual Total Time": 0.014,                             +
+       "Actual Rows": 22,                                      +
+       "Actual Loops": 1,                                      +
+       "Filter": "(created_at > (now() - '1 year'::interval))",+
+       "Rows Removed by Filter": 0                             +
+     },                                                        +
+     "Planning Time": 0.050,                                   +
+     "Triggers": [                                             +
+     ],                                                        +
+     "Execution Time": 0.023                                   +
+   }                                                           +
+ ]
+(1 row)
+```
+
+I present all four formats for a complex query plan [in this
+Gist](https://gist.github.com/jbranchaud/731b1a68f5cc70c4f7a9e1f5ef570836).