Re: alter table add column - specify where the column will go?

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 09:37:02AM +0000, Grzegorz Jaśkiewicz wrote:
> just never use SELECT *, but always call columns by names. You'll
> avoid having to depend on the order of columns, which is never
> guaranteed, even if the table on disk is one order, the return columns
> could be in some other.

People have been saying that on this list forever, and I agree you
shouldn't *depend* on column order, but why does INSERT syntax allow
you to omit the column names?

INSERT INTO sometable VALUES (1, 2, 3);

If columns inherently don't have an ordering, this shouldn't be
possible because it would make no sense.

Things like this INSERT syntax and the fact that columns are always
returned in the same order when you "SELECT *" or when you check the
table definition with \d condition people to expect being able to
influence the order of columns.

Cheers,
Peter
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