Thread: selecting all columns but one

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 9:12 AM, blackwater dev<blackwaterdev@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a table with a lot of columns.  One of the columns I want to alias so
> have a query of:
> select *, column as newname from mytable.
> The problem is I now have column and newname in the results.  I don't want
> to select column by column.  How can I do a select * but omit one?
> Thanks!

there is no easy way.  the only way I can think of is to build the
query with dynamic sql (either in pl/pgsql or the client), and query
the system catalogs so you can build the column list filtering out the
column you don't want.

merlin

blackwater dev, 28.07.2009 15:12:
> I have a table with a lot of columns.  One of the columns I want to
> alias so have a query of:
>
> select *, column as newname from mytable.
>
> The problem is I now have column and newname in the results.  I don't
> want to select column by column.  How can I do a select * but omit one?

You need to list all columns that you want explicitely.

Using SELECT * in a production application is considered bad practice anyway

Thomas

In response to blackwater dev :
> I have a table with a lot of columns.  One of the columns I want to alias so
> have a query of:
>
> select *, column as newname from mytable.
>
> The problem is I now have column and newname in the results.  I don't want to
> select column by column.  How can I do a select * but omit one?

You can't.

The only way: ask information_schema.columns and build a string that
contains all except the special column and execute that string. (within
a function, plpgsql).


Regards, Andreas
--
Andreas Kretschmer
Kontakt:  Heynitz: 035242/47150,   D1: 0160/7141639 (mehr: -> Header)
GnuPG-ID:   0x3FFF606C, privat 0x7F4584DA   http://wwwkeys.de.pgp.net