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Geospatial relationship functions

The following functions express relationships between two different geometries that you specify as input and return results of type boolean. The order in which you specify the pair of geometries matters: the first geometry value is called the left geometry, the second geometry value is called the right geometry.

These functions return:

ST_Contains(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry contains the right geometry. Examples:

SELECT ST_Contains('POLYGON((0 2,1 1,0 -1,0 2))', 'POLYGON((-1 3,2 1,0 -3,-1 3))')

SELECT ST_Contains('POLYGON((0 2,1 1,0 -1,0 2))', ST_Point(0, 0))

SELECT ST_Contains(ST_GeometryFromText('POLYGON((0 2,1 1,0 -1,0 2))'), ST_GeometryFromText('POLYGON((-1 3,2 1,0 -3,-1 3))'))

ST_Crosses(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry crosses the right geometry. Example:

SELECT ST_Crosses(ST_Line('linestring(1 1, 2 2 )'), ST_Line('linestring(0 1, 2 2)'))

ST_Disjoint(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the intersection of the left geometry and the right geometry is empty. Example:

SELECT ST_Disjoint(ST_Line('linestring(0 0, 0 1)'), ST_Line('linestring(1 1, 1 0)'))

ST_Equals(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry equals the right geometry. Example:

SELECT ST_Equals(ST_Line('linestring( 0 0, 1 1)'), ST_Line('linestring(1 3, 2 2)'))

ST_Intersects(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry intersects the right geometry. Example:

SELECT ST_Intersects(ST_Line('linestring(8 7, 7 8)'), ST_Polygon('polygon((1 1, 4 1, 4 4, 1 4))'))

ST_Overlaps(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry overlaps the right geometry. Example:

SELECT ST_Overlaps(ST_Polygon('polygon((2 0, 2 1, 3 1))'), ST_Polygon('polygon((1 1, 1 4, 4 4, 4 1))'))

ST_Relate(geometry, geometry, varchar)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry has the specified dimensionally extended nine-intersection model (DE-9IM) relationship with the right geometry. The third (varchar) input takes the relationship. Example:

SELECT ST_Relate(ST_Line('linestring(0 0, 3 3)'), ST_Line('linestring(1 1, 4 4)'), 'T********')

ST_Touches(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry touches the right geometry.

Example:

SELECT ST_Touches(ST_Point(8, 8), ST_Polygon('polygon((1  1, 1  4, 4  4, 4 1))'))

ST_Within(geometry, geometry)

Returns TRUE if and only if the left geometry is within the right geometry.

Example:

SELECT ST_Within(ST_Point(8, 8), ST_Polygon('polygon((1  1, 1  4, 4  4, 4 1))'))