SELECT * FROM Account

Although it is highly discourage to write a query like this, rather than listing the fields you need to retrieve, it is possible in Apex and this is how: String table = 'Account'; Map<String, Schema.SObjectType> m = Schema.getGlobalDescribe() ; Schema.SObjectType s = m.get(table) ; Schema.DescribeSObjectResult r = s.getDescribe() ; Map<String, Schema.SObjectField> fields = r.fields.getMap() ; string soql = ''; for (String fieldName : fields.keyset()) {     if (soql != '') {         soql += ', ';     }     soql += fieldName; } soql = 'SELECT ' + soql + ' FROM ' + table; System.debug(soql); List<Account> acs = Database.query(soql); System.debug(acs.get(0));