Columns with a name specified as a wildcard character
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
If the column name specified is a wildcard character (*), the content of that column is inserted as if there's no column name specified. If this column is a non-xml type column, the column content is inserted as a text node, as shown in the following example:
USE AdventureWorks2022;
GO
SELECT E.BusinessEntityID "@EmpID",
FirstName "*",
MiddleName "*",
LastName "*"
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS E
INNER JOIN Person.Person AS P
ON E.BusinessEntityID = P.BusinessEntityID
WHERE E.BusinessEntityID=1
FOR XML PATH;
This is the result:
<row EmpID="1">KenJSánchez</row>
If the column is of xml type, the corresponding XML tree is inserted. For example, the following query specifies "*" for the column name that contains the XML returned by the XQuery against the Instructions column.
SELECT
ProductModelID,
Name,
Instructions.query('declare namespace MI="https://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/adventure-works/ProductModelManuInstructions"
/MI:root/MI:Location
') as "*"
FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID=7
FOR XML PATH;
This is the result. The XML returned by XQuery is inserted without a wrapping element.
<row>
<ProductModelID>7</ProductModelID>
<Name>HL Touring Frame</Name>
<MI:Location LocationID="10">...</MI:Location>
<MI:Location LocationID="20">...</MI:Location>
...
</row>