get_relations_by_pattern does not build downstream tables

[jeremy-thomas-roc]

Describe the bug

When using the get_relations_by_pattern macro to populate a table with them in a union, when trying to build the table using the + selector on the model name, it does not build the downstream tables and results in a failed model build.

Steps to reproduce

{{ config(materialized="table") }}

{% set relations = dbt_utils.get_relations_by_pattern(target.schema, "%my%pattern%") %}

with unions as ({{ dbt_utils.union_relations(relations=relations) }})

select *
from unions

Expected results

I would expect to be able to use these macros to generate upstream models without having to manually generate the downstream models, negating the usefulness of this macro. I understand that this macro reads from information_schema (in Snowflake) to populate, but without the ability to generate the models, how would we use this to build upstream models with a single command?

Actual results

Model fails to build because the union_relations macro does not have any relations, creating invalid SQL.

Screenshots and log output

14:58:39    Database Error in model stg_addresses (models/my_model.sql)
  001003 (42000): SQL compilation error:
  syntax error line 11 at position 4 unexpected ')'.
  compiled code at target/run/my_project/models/my_model.sql

Generated file at target/run/my_project/models/my_model.sql:

with unions as (
    )

select *
from unions

System information

The contents of your packages.yml file:

Which database are you using dbt with?

• postgres
• redshift
• bigquery
• snowflake
• other (specify: ____________)

The output of dbt --version:

Core:
  - installed: 1.8.8
  - latest:    1.8.8 - Up to date!

Plugins:
  - snowflake: 1.8.4 - Up to date!

Additional context

Are you interested in contributing the fix?

With some direction, I have attempted to contribute to dbt before and was not successful. If there is a fix to be made, I am happy to take a shot at it.