Fastest check if row exists in PostgreSQL
How about simply:
select 1 from tbl where userid = 123 limit 1;
where 123
is the userid of the batch that you're about to insert.
The above query will return either an empty set or a single row, depending on whether there are records with the given userid.
If this turns out to be too slow, you could look into creating an index on tbl.userid
.
if even a single row from batch exists in table, in that case I don't have to insert my rows because I know for sure they all were inserted.
For this to remain true even if your program gets interrupted mid-batch, I'd recommend that you make sure you manage database transactions appropriately (i.e. that the entire batch gets inserted within a single transaction).
Use the EXISTS key word for TRUE / FALSE return:
select exists(select 1 from contact where id=12)