select column by position - Mailing list pgsql-sql

<div class="Section1"><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Is there a way to select a column in a table by its position rather than the field name? If I
understandcorrectly column position in a table is fixed. I’ve not been able to find anything in the archives or docs to
indicatethat it’s possible to select by position.</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> </span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">For example:</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> </span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">CREATE TABLE Accessions (</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">    </span>accession_id INT8 PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT
nextval('accession_id_seq'),</span></font><pclass="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">    </span>accenumb VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,</span></font><p
class="MsoNormal"><fontface="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; 
font-family:Arial"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">    </span>instcode_id INT4 NOT NULL CONSTRAINT
Accessions_instcode_id_fkREFERENCES Institutions(institution_id),</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial"
size="2"><spanstyle="font-size:10.0pt; 
font-family:Arial"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">    </span>accename VARCHAR(255)</span></font><p
class="MsoNormal"><fontface="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; 
font-family:Arial">);</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> </span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">I would like to select accession_id by indicating column 1 somehow. Is this at all
possible?</span></font><pclass="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; 
font-family:Arial"> </span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Cheers,</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Jennifer</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> </span></font></div><p align="left"><font color="#0000ff"><font color="#000000" face="Tahoma"
size="2">*****************************************************************************************</font></font><p
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