由于OBJECT_TYPE列上的DISTINCT值的个数小于254,ORACLE将会在此列上建立频率直方图，优化器将会准确的估算出CONTENTS='TABLE'的查询返回37条记录。
下面看看如下的情况：
SQL> TRUNCATE TABLE T;
Table truncated.
SQL> SET AUTOT OFF
SQL> INSERT INTO T
2 SELECT ROWNUM,OBJECT_NAME,RPAD('*',32,'*')||OBJECT_TYPE
3 FROM ALL_OBJECTS WHERE ROWNUM<=10000;
10000 rows created.
SQL> COMMIT;
Commit complete.
SQL> SELECT COUNT(1) FROM T;
COUNT(1)
----------
10000
SQL> SELECT CONTENTS ,COUNT(1) FROM T GROUP BY CONTENTS ;
CONTENTS COUNT(1)
-------------------------------------------------- ----------
********************************SEQUENCE 1
********************************LIBRARY 3
********************************WINDOW GROUP 1
********************************INDEX PARTITION 347
********************************PACKAGE 164
********************************SCHEDULE 1
********************************TABLE PARTITION 25
********************************VIEW 1150
********************************TABLE 37
********************************PROCEDURE 11
********************************CONSUMER GROUP 2
********************************INDEX SUBPARTITION 3328
********************************OPERATOR 15
********************************WINDOW 2
********************************INDEX 34
********************************FUNCTION 60
********************************SYNONYM 2552
********************************TABLE SUBPARTITION 1714
********************************TYPE 538
********************************JOB CLASS 1
********************************PACKAGE BODY 13
********************************eva lUATION CONTEXT 1
22 rows selected.
SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(USER,'T',method_opt=>'FOR COLUMNS CONTENTS SIZE 254');
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> SELECT * FROM T WHERE CONTENTS='********************************TABLE';
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 2153619298
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 10000 | 654K| 24 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| T | 10000 | 654K| 24 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
1 - filter("CONTENTS"='********************************TABLE')
由于CONTENTS列的前32位都一样，ORACLE在收集统计信息直方图的时候只考虑前32位，这会导致ORACLE认为
所有的记录的列CONTENTS都是相同的，因此优化器估算返回的行数为10000。
SQL> UPDATE T SET CONTENTS=SUBSTR(CONTENTS,2);
10000 rows updated.
SQL> COMMIT;
Commit complete.
SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(USER,'T',method_opt=>'FOR COLUMNS CONTENTS SIZE 254');
PL/SQL procedure successfully complet