Use of wildcard * in SELECT statement

Question

I have read that the use of the wildcard * in a SELECT statement cannot be utilized when using the INSERT INTO or other queries where data column/field alignment is critical. I have noted that the INSERT INTO column/fields must be in the same order
as the SELECT statement (as there is no alignment to column/field names). Can someone please provide me with the information or article that covered this scenario?

Answer 1

It is consider a good practice to specify columns name, however , SQL Server is smart enough to insert the data without too , but only if the table does not have an IDENTITY property
CREATE TABLE #t (c1 int, c2 char(1),c3 real, c4 bit)
CREATE TABLE #t1 (c1 int, c2 char(1),c3 real, c4 bit)
---Same thing with INSERT  like SELECT * you asked
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (1,'A',2.5,0) 
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (2,'B',3.5,1)
INSERT INTO #t1 VALUES (3,'C',4.5,0)
INSERT INTO #t SELECT * FROM #t1
SELECT * FROM #t
Best Regards,Uri Dimant SQL Server MVP,
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/uri_dimant/
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