Which is faster: "SELECT * FROM table" or "SELECT x,y,q FROM table" (from a table with 4 fields)

Question

I'm wondering, what is fastest (or lightest for the database to handle) Let's say, the db table has 4 fields: x,y,z,q I only need 3: x,y,q What way is fastest/easiest for the database to perform (using PHP).. "SELECT * FROM table" or "SELECT x,y,q FROM table"? Would the same apply if the table had 5 or more fields while I still only needed to select 3?

Accepted Answer

`SELECT x,y,z FROM table` is faster because MySQL won't have to look up what columns are in your table before executing the query.

Which is faster: "SELECT * FROM table" or "SELECT x,y,q FROM table" (from a table with 4 fields)

Solution

Problem