Presents your 
SQL SERVER E-NEWSLETTER for May 13, 2003

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DISCOVER OTHER USES FOR THE ASTERISK

In most SELECT statements, the asterisk (*) is a method to reference all
columns in a given table. Yet the asterisk can also help you get
information about a table's structure and can be used as a method of 
filtering
data in a query.

When the asterisk is used without a qualifier, the order of the columns
in the result set is the same order in which they were specified in the
CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, or CREATE VIEW statements. In other words, 
even
if a table has been altered, the asterisk will return the latest 
columns
in the most recent table state.

In this example, let's take a small table like Shippers from the
Northwind database. Shippers has three rows, each with a ShipperID, 
CompanyName,
and Phone column, in that order.

If we use the following query, our result set will return data in the
same order.

USE NORTHWIND
GO

SELECT *
FROM SHIPPERS
GO

ShipperID         CompanyName                        Phone
-----------       ----------------                    ------------
1                 Speedy Express                     (503) 555-9831
2                 United Package                     (503) 555-3199
3                 Federal Shipping                   (503) 555-9931

(3 row(s) affected)

Used with a table or view qualifier, the asterisk will return all the
columns in that table or view. This is useful in more complex queries 
when
you need specific conditions to be met for the returned data.

For example, using the Northwind database, we want all columns in the
Shippers table returned that meet our JOIN requirements.

USE Northwind
GO
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Shippers.*
FROM Shippers
             JOIN
            Orders
            ON (Shippers.ShipperID = Orders.ShipVia)
ORDER BY Orders.OrderID
GO

OrderID         ShipperID       CompanyName         Phone
------          ---------      ----------------      ------        
10248              3           Federal Shipping    (503) 555-9931
10249              1           Speedy Express      (503) 555-9831
11076              2           United Package      (503) 555-3199
11077              2           United Package      (503) 555-3199

(830 row(s) affected)

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