Why is using '*' to build a view bad?

Question

Why is using \'*\' to build a view bad ?

Suppose that you have a complex join and all fields may be used somewhere.

Then you just have to chose fields needed

Answer 1

And if you have joins using select * automatically means you are returning more data than you need as the data in the join fields is repeated. This is wasteful of database and network resources.

If you are naive enough to use views that call other views, using select * can make them even worse performers (This is technique that is bad for performance on its own, calling mulitple columns you don't need makes it much worse).

Answer 2

A SQL query is basically a functional unit designed by a programmer for use in some context. For long-term stability and supportability (possibly by someone other than you) everything in a functional unit should be there for a purpose, and it should be reasonably evident (or documented) why it's there - especially every element of data.

If I were to come along two years from now with the need or desire to alter your query, I would expect to grok it pretty thoroughly before I would be confident that I could mess with it. Which means I would need to understand why all the columns are called out. (This is even more obviously true if you are trying to reuse the query in more than one context. Which is problematic in general, for similar reasons.) If I were to see columns in the output that I couldn't relate to some purpose, I'd be pretty sure that I didn't understand what it did, and why, and what the consequences would be of changing it.

Answer 3

It's because you don't always need every variable, and also to make sure that you are thinking about what you specifically need.

There's no point getting all the hashed passwords out of the database when building a list of users on your site for instance, so a select * would be unproductive.

Answer 4

I think it depends on the language you are using. I prefer to use select * when the language or DB driver returns a dict(Python, Perl, etc.) or associative array(PHP) of the results. It makes your code alot easier to understand if you are referring to the columns by name instead of as an index in an array.

Answer 5

The situation on SQL Server is actually even worse than the answer by @user12861 implies: if you use SELECT * against multiple tables, adding columns to a table referenced early in the query will actually cause your view to return the values of the new columns under the guise of the old columns. See the example below:

-- create two tables
CREATE TABLE temp1 (ColumnA INT, ColumnB DATE, ColumnC DECIMAL(2,1))
CREATE TABLE temp2 (ColumnX INT, ColumnY DATE, ColumnZ DECIMAL(2,1))
GO


-- populate with dummy data
INSERT INTO temp1 (ColumnA, ColumnB, ColumnC) VALUES (1, '1/1/1900', 0.5)
INSERT INTO temp2 (ColumnX, ColumnY, ColumnZ) VALUES (1, '1/1/1900', 0.5)
GO


-- create a view with a pair of SELECT * statements
CREATE VIEW vwtemp AS 
SELECT *
FROM temp1 INNER JOIN temp2 ON 1=1
GO


-- SELECT showing the columns properly assigned
SELECT * FROM vwTemp 
GO


-- add a few columns to the first table referenced in the SELECT 
ALTER TABLE temp1 ADD ColumnD varchar(1)
ALTER TABLE temp1 ADD ColumnE varchar(1)
ALTER TABLE temp1 ADD ColumnF varchar(1)
GO


-- populate those columns with dummy data
UPDATE temp1 SET ColumnD = 'D', ColumnE = 'E', ColumnF = 'F'
GO


-- notice that the original columns have the wrong data in them now, causing any datatype-specific queries (e.g., arithmetic, dateadd, etc.) to fail
SELECT *
FROM vwtemp
GO

-- clean up
DROP VIEW vwTemp
DROP TABLE temp2
DROP TABLE temp1

Answer 6

These other answers all have good points, but on SQL server at least they also have some wrong points. Try this:

create table temp (i int, j int)
go
create view vtemp as select * from temp
go
insert temp select 1, 1
go
alter table temp add k int
go
insert temp select 1, 1, 1
go
select * from vtemp

SQL Server doesn't learn about the "new" column when it is added. Depending on what you want this could be a good thing or a bad thing, but either way it's probably not good to depend on it. So avoiding it just seems like a good idea.

To me this weird behavior is the most compelling reason to avoid select * in views.

The comments have taught me that MySQL has similar behavior and Oracle does not (it will learn about changes to the table). This inconsistency to me is all the more reason not to use select * in views.