SELECT

1SELECT fieldList [subquery][...]

Use the FIELDS() keyword in the fieldList to select groups of fields without knowing their names in advance. This keyword simplifies SELECT statements, avoids the need for multiple API calls, and provides a low-code method to explore the data in your org. This keyword is available in API version 51.0 and later.

Using a field list in a SOQL SELECT statement (for example, SELECT Id, Name FROM Account) can be complicated if you need to retrieve many fields. And if you don’t know what fields an object has, you must first get a description of the object. Typically, you use a call to first get a description of the object, then parse the description to identify the fields. Then you construct a SOQL query that specifies the fields, and then make another call to submit the query.

To simplify this process, the FIELDS() keyword lets you select fields easily, without knowing their names in advance. The FIELDS() keyword eliminates the need for a round trip to the server to prepare a SOQL statement, simplifies query statements, and makes it much easier to explore the shape of your objects. It also helps avoid exceeding the character limits on SOQL queries and the URI length limit for REST calls.

You can include any of these in the field list:

• FIELDS(ALL)—select all the fields of an object.
• FIELDS(CUSTOM)—select all the custom fields of an object.
• FIELDS(STANDARD)—select all the standard fields of an object.

In each case, FIELDS() respects field-level security so it only shows the fields that you have permission to access.

You can use FIELDS() as the complete field list. For example:

• SELECT FIELDS(ALL) FROM Account LIMIT 200
• SELECT FIELDS(CUSTOM) FROM Account LIMIT 200
• SELECT FIELDS(STANDARD) FROM Account

You can also use FIELDS() with other field names in the field list. For example:

• SELECT Name, Id, FIELDS(CUSTOM) FROM Account LIMIT 200
• SELECT someCustomField__c, FIELDS(STANDARD) FROM Account

The FIELDS() keyword can also be used in subqueries. For example:

1SELECT
2   Account.Name, 
3   (SELECT FIELDS(ALL) FROM Account.Contacts LIMIT 200)
4FROM Account

1SELECT Id, FIELDS(ALL) FROM User LIMIT 200

1HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
2[
3   {
4      "message" : "duplicate field selected: Id",
5      "errorCode" : "INVALID_FIELD"
6   }
7]

The FIELDS() keyword is supported in these platform features. For restrictions on what’s supported, see Bounded and Unbounded Queries.

• Apex
• The SOQL language wherever query or queryAll operations can be executed.
• Query jobs in Bulk API 2.0.
• The Salesforce CLI.
• The /query and /queryAll resources in the Lightning Platform REST API.
• The query() and queryAll() operations in the Lightning Platform SOAP API.

When building SOAP API integrations, take care when adopting FIELDS() with grouping options STANDARD, CUSTOM, and ALL.Any change to an org’s object model (such as admin modification, feature enablement, or update via major release) must be immediately reflected in the enterprise WSDL. Otherwise, an error is thrown as the query operation returns a result that doesn’t match the contract with the client.

This example uses FIELDS() with the Salesforce CLI:

1sf data query --target-org DevHub --query "SELECT FIELDS(STANDARD) FROM Account"

This example assumes that the CLI is updated to work with version 51.0 or later of the API.

This request uses FIELDS() with /query in REST API:

1GET https://yourInstance.salesforce.com/services/data/v59.0/query?​q=SELECT+FIELDS(STANDARD)+FROM+Account

1POST https://yourInstance.salesforce.com/services/Soap/c/59.0
2
3<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:urn="urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com">
4   <soapenv:Header>
5          <urn:SessionHeader>
6         <urn:sessionId>sessionId</urn:sessionId>
7      </urn:SessionHeader>
8   </soapenv:Header>
9   <soapenv:Body>
10      <urn:query>
11         <urn:queryString>SELECT FIELDS(STANDARD) FROM Account</urn:queryString>
12      </urn:query>
13   </soapenv:Body>
14</soapenv:Envelope>

This request uses FIELDS() when creating a bulk query job:

1POST https://yourInstance.salesforce.com/services/data/v59.0/jobs/query
2{
3  "operation": "query",
4  "query": "SELECT FIELDS(STANDARD) FROM Account"
5}

Keep these considerations in mind when using the FIELDS() keyword.

• If you already know which fields you want to retrieve, you’ll get better performance by specifying them explicitly rather than using FIELDS() and retrieving more fields than you need.

• FIELDS() can cause errors if you use it with operators that require aggregation.

  • For example, without FIELDS() this query works correctly:

    SELECT Id, MIN(NumberOfEmployees) FROM Account GROUP BY Id

    But adding FIELDS() to the query

    SELECT FIELDS(ALL), MIN(NumberOfEmployees) FROM Account GROUP BY Id LIMIT 200

    results in a “Field must be grouped or aggregated” error because it’s equivalent to

    SELECT IsDeleted, <etc.>,MIN(NumberOfEmployees) FROM Account GROUP BY Id LIMIT 200.

• If FIELDS() returns a large amount of data, use one of these methods to retrieve all the pages of results:

  • In SOQL, if you use OFFSET and LIMIT in your query, the number of records returned may be less than LIMIT. Check the number of results that were returned and adjust OFFSET, as required. Do not just increment OFFSET by LIMIT.

  • In Bulk API 2.0, use the Sforce-Locator response header that is returned in the job’s results.

  • In REST API, use the nextRecordsUrl that is returned by /query and /queryAll.

  • In SOAP API, use queryMore().

• If you use SELECT FIELDS(CUSTOM) on an object that doesn’t have any custom fields, the query results in an error.

  1HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
  2[ 
  3   {
  4      "message": "'FIELDS(...)' expansion function must result in at least one field being selected.",
  5      "errorCode" : "MALFORMED_QUERY"
  6   }
  7]

  If there are any fields included in the field list , there’s no error. For example, this query returns status code 200 even if the object contains no custom fields.

  1SELECT Id, FIELDS(CUSTOM) FROM User LIMIT 200

• The list of fields returned by FIELDS() reflects the current state of the org's metadata and data model. Any changes to your org’s metadata or data model affects query performance and results.