Recompile Hints Can’t Fix Every SQL Server Query Performance Problem

Fast 1

After blogging recently (maybe?) about filters, there was a Stack Exchange question about a performance issue when a variable was declared with a max type.

After looking at it for a minute, I realized that I had never actually checked to see if a recompile hint would allow the optimizer more freedom when dealing with them.

CREATE INDEX u 
    ON dbo.Users(DisplayName);

DECLARE @d nvarchar(MAX) = N'Jon Skeet';

SELECT 
    COUNT_BIG(*) AS records
FROM dbo.Users AS u
WHERE u.DisplayName = @d;

SELECT 
    COUNT_BIG(*) AS records
FROM dbo.Users AS u
WHERE u.DisplayName = @d
OPTION(RECOMPILE);

Turns out that it won’t, which is surprising.

Even though both plans have sort of a weird seek, the filter operator remains as a weird sort of residual predicate.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further

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