Can sub-selects change in one single query in a read committed transaction?

Question

I am querying the same table multiple times in a single query in a transaction with isolation level set to READ COMMITTED (which is the default in PostgreSQL). Examples are:

BEGIN;

WITH
first AS (SELECT * FROM table),
second AS (SELECT * FROM table)
SELECT ...;

END;

or

BEGIN;

SELECT * FROM table
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM table;

END;

Is it possible that the first sub-SELECT yields other results than the second sub-SELECT? I understand that SELECT queries might yield different results when executed separately (due to the characteristics of a READ COMMITTED transaction), but I am wondering what might happen if they are embedded in the same query.

I am using PostgreSQL 9.5.

Answer 1

No, that's not possible.

A single query (and even a query with many sub-queries is considered a single query) sees a consistent state of the database as it was when that query started.

It's not even necessary to use explicit transaction control as you did.