SQL exclude a column using SELECT * [except columnA] FROM tableA?

Question

We all know that to select all columns from a table, we can use

SELECT * FROM tableA

Is there a way to exclude column(s) from a table witho

Answer 1

The automated way to do this in SQL (SQL Server) is:

declare @cols varchar(max), @query varchar(max);
SELECT  @cols = STUFF
    (
        ( 
            SELECT DISTINCT '], [' + name
            FROM sys.columns
            where object_id = (
                select top 1 object_id from sys.objects
                where name = 'MyTable'
            )
            and name not in ('ColumnIDontWant1', 'ColumnIDontWant2')
            FOR XML PATH('')
        ), 1, 2, ''
    ) + ']';

SELECT @query = 'select ' + @cols + ' from MyTable';  
EXEC (@query);