Groups > comp.databases.postgresql > #274

Re: Column Order

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From	Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.databases.postgresql
Subject	Re: Column Order
Date	Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:39:23 +0100
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On 11/04/2011 12:18 PM, Michael Hufschmidt wrote:
> When I do a "SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE ..." using psql I want to have
> the columns displayed in a meaningful order by default. I want to avoid
> a "SELECT firstname, lastname, <many other cols to follow> ...". Is it
> possible to modify the order of columns with an
> ALTER TABLE myTable ALTER COLUMN lastname <put behind firstname>
>
> Same holds for adding a new column, how can I
> ALTER TABLE myTable ADD COLUMN title VARCHAR(255) <put before firstname>
>
> This is possible in mySQL, not in PostgreSQL?
>
> Any ideas are welcome - Michael

IMHO it is generally a bad idea to rely on column order because that may 
change etc.  It's usually best to explicitly select columns in the order 
that you desire.  You could define a view with the proper order on the 
table but you'll have to update that view definition every time your 
table has a new column.

Bottom line: do not use "SELECT *" other than for briefly checking 
column contents.  In any sort of application I would always name only 
those columns explicit which I need for the query.  That may also save 
you a lot of network bandwidth between client and database server.

Kind regards

	robert

Thread

Column Order Michael Hufschmidt <Michael.Hufschmidt@omnis.net> - 2011-11-04 12:18 +0100
  Re: Column Order Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2011-11-04 17:39 +0100
    Re: Column Order Matthew Woodcraft <mattheww@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2011-11-04 18:29 +0000
  Re: Column Order Matthew Woodcraft <mattheww@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2011-11-04 18:23 +0000

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