Which is quicker - SELECT * or SELECT field1, field2...

[Sims, John]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: valentina-bounces at lists.macserve.net 
> [mailto:valentina-bounces at lists.macserve.net] On Behalf Of Dave Addey
> Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 1:24 PM
> To: Valentina Developers
> Subject: Which is quicker - SELECT * or SELECT field1, field2...
> 
> Another question:
> 
> If I only need half of the fields in a table, which should be 
> quicker ­ SELECT * or SELECT fieldname1, fieldname2, [...], 
> fieldnameN?
> 
> I figure that * has to select more, but doesn¹t have to do 
> any working out of what to select.  Does this make it quicker?
> 
> How about SELECT ** vs SELECT fieldname1, fieldname2, [...], 
> fieldnameN?
> 
> V4RB 2.0.5, RB 5.5.5, Mac OS 10.4.3, Mach-O compile, local 
> database only.
> 
> Thanks for all the help ­ I¹m nearly there!
> 
> Dave. 

Hi Dave,

A general rule of thumb for SQL is to only ask for what you need, although that rule really tends to apply more to client/server environments to limit the amount of data going back and forth along "the pipe".  My advice would be to follow this rule even for local databases solely for the "consider the future" aspect.  You may be local now, but as time goes by you may find that you eventually take your app to the next level and make it client/server.  As far as which is faster internally for Valentina, that we'll have to leave to Ruslan to answer :-)

Take care,

-John