What is the reason not to use select *?

Question

I\'ve seen a number of people claim that you should specifically name each column you want in your select query.

Assuming I\'m going to use all of the columns anyway

Answer 1

I actually noticed a strange behaviour when I used select * in views in SQL Server 2005.

Run the following query and you will see what I mean.

IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[starTest]') AND type in (N'U'))
DROP TABLE [dbo].[starTest]
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[starTest](
    [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [A] [varchar](50) NULL,
    [B] [varchar](50) NULL,
    [C] [varchar](50) NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]

GO

insert into dbo.starTest
select 'a1','b1','c1'
union all select 'a2','b2','c2'
union all select 'a3','b3','c3'

go
IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.views WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[vStartest]'))
DROP VIEW [dbo].[vStartest]
go
create view dbo.vStartest as
select * from dbo.starTest
go

go
IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.views WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[vExplicittest]'))
DROP VIEW [dbo].[vExplicittest]
go
create view dbo.[vExplicittest] as
select a,b,c from dbo.starTest
go


select a,b,c from dbo.vStartest
select a,b,c from dbo.vExplicitTest

IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[starTest]') AND type in (N'U'))
DROP TABLE [dbo].[starTest]
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[starTest](
    [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [A] [varchar](50) NULL,
    [B] [varchar](50) NULL,
    [D] [varchar](50) NULL,
    [C] [varchar](50) NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]

GO

insert into dbo.starTest
select 'a1','b1','d1','c1'
union all select 'a2','b2','d2','c2'
union all select 'a3','b3','d3','c3'

select a,b,c from dbo.vStartest
select a,b,c from dbo.vExplicittest

Compare the results of last 2 select statements. I believe what you will see is a result of Select * referencing columns by index instead of name.

If you rebuild the view it will work fine again.

EDIT

I have added a separate question, *“select * from table” vs “select colA, colB, etc. from table” interesting behaviour in SQL Server 2005* to look into that behaviour in more details.