Hi, The attached patch adds a sentence to the asterisk item in section 4.1.4, saying that system columns are not included in * and must be selected by name, with the suggested example and a link to the System Columns section.
I built the docs locally (make check and make html) and the new text and link render fine. Thanks & Regards, On Wed, Oct 28, 2026 at 1:40 PM PG Doc comments form <[email protected]> wrote: > > The following documentation comment has been logged on the website: > > Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/sql-syntax-lexical.html > Description: > > >> The asterisk (*) is used in some contexts to denote all the fields of a > table row or composite value. > > As for Postgres specifically, you can add an example like `SELECT ctid, * > FROM t;` and a link to Section 5.6, “System Columns.” > > > > > -- Arvind Kandpal Junior Software Engineer (+91) 9650266413 www.ksolves.com Years of listing on
From 11ece8b43624801a0f31d1587eb22e395565a292 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Arvind Kandpal <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:38:26 +0530 Subject: [PATCH v1] doc: Mention that * does not include system columns Point out that system columns must be selected by name, and link to the System Columns section. Discussion: 178782026936.2606573.10270614257871556098@wrigleys.postgresql.org">https://postgr.es/m/178782026936.2606573.10270614257871556098@wrigleys.postgresql.org --- doc/src/sgml/syntax.sgml | 5 ++++- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/syntax.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/syntax.sgml index a697218c8b3..f7a4d079512 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/syntax.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/syntax.sgml @@ -918,7 +918,10 @@ CAST ( '<replaceable>string</replaceable>' AS <replaceable>type</replaceable> ) <listitem> <para> The asterisk (<literal>*</literal>) is used in some contexts to denote - all the fields of a table row or composite value. It also + all the fields of a table row or composite value. System columns + are not included and must be selected by name, as in + <literal>SELECT ctid, * FROM t</literal>. (See <xref + linkend="ddl-system-columns"/>.) The asterisk also has a special meaning when used as the argument of an aggregate function, namely that the aggregate does not require any explicit parameter. -- 2.43.0
