Re: FROM clause before SELECT

On 27/07/2026 15:30, Andrey Borodin wrote:
> Hi hackers!
>
> At the sessions where I show newcomers around the codebase, we need a
> first patch every time: small enough to finish in an hour, in a part of
> the DBMSs everyone has an opinion about. The one we usually write makes
> this work:
>
> FROM pg_stat_activity SELECT *;

I am generally in favor of this. (Notice: I haven't read the patch)

> What I deliberately did not do: accept the section keywords in any order
> at all (Vik's suggestion),

That wasn't really a serious suggestion.  Allegedly.

> or allow SELECT last after GROUP BY (Andreas
> Karlsson's). Both are defensible, but let's keep the surface minimal
> and tied to the completion argument.

This is a lot more serious, and if we are going to move the SELECT
clause, I agree with Andreas K. that it belongs after HAVING or possibly
even later.

> If the consensus is that our grammar should stay standard-only, that is
> a perfectly good answer, and I will restore the punchline for the next
> session.

The standard is never going to move the SELECT, so we are free to do so
as an extension to the standard.  The main problem is it has become a
mush-mash of random stuff so its proper placement is a bit vague.

--

Vik Fearing