Hi All,

I'd like to move some data from one table to another (with a possibly different schema). Straightforward solution that comes into mind is -

start a transaction with serializable isolation level;
INSERT INTO dest_table SELECT data FROM orig_table,other-tables WHERE <condition>;
DELETE FROM orig_table USING other-tables WHERE <condition>;
COMMIT;

Now what if the amount of data is rather big, and the <condition> is expensive to compute? In PostgreSQL, a RULE or a stored procedure can be used to delete data on the fly, evaluating condition only once. Which solution is better? Are there other options?