The SELECT * statement instructs Snowflake to returnall columnsfrom the referenced table or view. This is commonly used during data exploration, debugging, initial data profiling, and validation steps. It allows users to quickly view the complete dataset structure without manually specifying each column name.
However, while SELECT * retrieves all columns, it does not limit the number of rows. To restrict rows, developers must include aLIMITclause (e.g., SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 10;).
The query does not automatically apply DISTINCT or primary key filtering-Snowflake returns all rows exactly as stored unless additional filtering, WHERE conditions, or ordering are provided.
Though SELECT * is convenient, Snowflake best practices recommend explicitly selecting columns in production workloads to optimize performance and avoid unnecessary scanning of unused fields.