PostgreSQL: Documentation: 15: 69.2. Built-in Operator Classes

September 4, 2025: PostgreSQL 18 RC 1 Released!

Supported Versions: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13

Unsupported versions: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9.6 / 9.5 / 9.4

69.2. Built-in Operator Classes
Prev	Up	Chapter 69. SP-GiST Indexes	Home	Next

69.2. Built-in Operator Classes

The core PostgreSQL distribution includes the SP-GiST operator classes shown in Table 69.1.

Table 69.1. Built-in SP-GiST Operator Classes

Name	Indexable Operators	Ordering Operators
`box_ops`	`<< (box,box)`	`<-> (box,point)`
	`&< (box,box)`
	`&> (box,box)`
	`>> (box,box)`
	`<@ (box,box)`
	`@> (box,box)`
	`~= (box,box)`
	`&& (box,box)`
	`<<\| (box,box)`
	`&<\| (box,box)`
	`\|&> (box,box)`
	`\|>> (box,box)`
`inet_ops`	`<< (inet,inet)`
	`<<= (inet,inet)`
	`>> (inet,inet)`
	`>>= (inet,inet)`
	`= (inet,inet)`
	`<> (inet,inet)`
	`< (inet,inet)`
	`<= (inet,inet)`
	`> (inet,inet)`
	`>= (inet,inet)`
	`&& (inet,inet)`
`kd_point_ops`	`\|>> (point,point)`	`<-> (point,point)`
	`<< (point,point)`
	`>> (point,point)`
	`<<\| (point,point)`
	`~= (point,point)`
	`<@ (point,box)`
`poly_ops`	`<< (polygon,polygon)`	`<-> (polygon,point)`
	`&< (polygon,polygon)`
	`&> (polygon,polygon)`
	`>> (polygon,polygon)`
	`<@ (polygon,polygon)`
	`@> (polygon,polygon)`
	`~= (polygon,polygon)`
	`&& (polygon,polygon)`
	`<<\| (polygon,polygon)`
	`&<\| (polygon,polygon)`
	`\|>> (polygon,polygon)`
	`\|&> (polygon,polygon)`
`quad_point_ops`	`\|>> (point,point)`	`<-> (point,point)`
	`<< (point,point)`
	`>> (point,point)`
	`<<\| (point,point)`
	`~= (point,point)`
	`<@ (point,box)`
`range_ops`	`= (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`&& (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`@> (anyrange,anyelement)`
	`@> (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`<@ (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`<< (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`>> (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`&< (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`&> (anyrange,anyrange)`
	`-\|- (anyrange,anyrange)`
`text_ops`	`= (text,text)`
	`< (text,text)`
	`<= (text,text)`
	`> (text,text)`
	`>= (text,text)`
	`~<~ (text,text)`
	`~<=~ (text,text)`
	`~>=~ (text,text)`
	`~>~ (text,text)`
	`^@ (text,text)`

Of the two operator classes for type point, quad_point_ops is the default. kd_point_ops supports the same operators but uses a different index data structure that may offer better performance in some applications.

The quad_point_ops, kd_point_ops and poly_ops operator classes support the <-> ordering operator, which enables the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) search over indexed point or polygon data sets.

Prev	Up	Next
69.1. Introduction	Home	69.3. Extensibility

Submit correction

If you see anything in the documentation that is not correct, does not match your experience with the particular feature or requires further clarification, please use this form to report a documentation issue.