Refer to column number in query (A XP)

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Is it possible to refer to a column by its position in a query, rather than by its name? Something like:

SELECT 1 FROM MyTable WHERE 2 = true ORDER BY 3

to display the first column where the second column is true, sorted by the third column. I could have sworn that I recently saw a method for doing so, but can’t find it again. Actually, I found several articles that say it *can’t* be done. Am I losing it…?

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You can only use relative positions in the ORDER BY clause, for example

SELECT * FROM MyTable ORDER BY 4, 2 DESC

This will sort ascending on the 4th column and then descending on the second column.

But you can’t use relative positions in the SELECT or WHERE clauses because it would be impossible for SQL to determine whether you mean a numeric value or a relative position.

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Aha! I *knew* I had seen something about the column number. Thanks for the clarification.

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