EDUCBA

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Free Tutorials
  • Free Courses
  • Certification Courses
  • 360+ Courses All in One Bundle
  • Login
Home Data Science Data Science Tutorials SQL Tutorial SQL DESCRIBE TABLE
Secondary Sidebar
SQL Tutorial
  • Advanced
    • MDF File in SQL Server
    • SQL Aliases
    • SQL Hosting
    • SQL Auto Increment
    • SQL Injection
    • SQL Wildcards
    • SQL Check
    • SQL Indexes
    • Select Distinct
    • SQL BETWEEN
    • SQLPlus spool
    • SQL Create Table
    • SQL Schema
    • Comparison Operators in SQL
    • SQL_plus
    • SQL Formatter
    • SQL LEFT INNER JOIN
    • SQL Plus Command
    • SQLPlus not found
    • SQL Injection Attack
    • Aggregate Functions in SQL
    • SQL REVOKE
    • SQL Select Distinct Count
    • IF ELSE Statement in SQL
    • SQL CASE Statement
    • SQL While Loop
    • SQL BIGINT
    • SQL Crosstab
    • SQL Wildcard Character
    • SQL INSTR()
    • SQL now
    • SQL synonyms
    • SQLite?export to csv
    • What is Procedure in SQL
    • Stored Procedure in SQL?
    • SQL Server Constraints
    • SQL DELETE ROW
    • Column in SQL
    • Table in SQL
    • SQL Virtual Table
    • SQL Merge Two Tables
    • SQL Table Partitioning
    • SQL Temporary Table
    • SQL Clone Table
    • SQL Rename Table
    • SQL LOCK TABLE
    • SQL Clear Table
    • SQL DESCRIBE TABLE
    • SQL Mapping
    • Cursors in SQL
    • AND in SQL
    • Wildcard in SQL
    • SQL FETCH NEXT
    • SQL Views
    • SQL Delete View
    • Triggers in SQL
    • SQL UPDATE Trigger
    • SQL AFTER UPDATE Trigger
    • SQL Update Statement
    • SQL DROP TRIGGER
    • SQL DROP Table
    • Types of SQL Views
    • SQL Port
    • SQL Clustered Index
    • SQL COMMIT
    • Distinct Keyword in SQL
    • PARTITION BY in SQL
    • SQL Set Operators
    • SQL UNION ALL
    • Metadata in SQL
    • SQL Bulk Insert
    • Array in SQL
    • SQL REGEXP
    • JSON in SQL
    • SQL For loop
    • EXPLAIN in SQL
    • ROLLUP in SQL
    • Escape Character SQL
    • SQL Cluster
    • SQL Backup
    • SQL Pattern Matching
    • SQL Users
    • ISNULL SQL Server
    • SQL pivot
    • SQL Import CSV
    • SQL if then else
    • SQL ignore-case
    • SQL Matches
    • SQL Search String
    • SQL Column Alias
    • SQL extensions
    • SQL Substring Function
    • Charindex SQL
  • Basic
    • What is SQL
    • Careers in SQL
    • Careers in SQL Server
    • IS SQL Microsoft?
    • SQL Management Tools
    • What is SQL Developer
    • Uses of SQL
    • How to Install SQL Server
    • What is SQL Server
    • SQL Quick References
    • SQL Like Wildcard
    • SQL Like with Multiple Values
    • SQL Examples
    • SQL Server Versions
    • SQL DROP DB
    • SQL Case Insensitive
    • SQL Expressions
    • Database in SQL
    • SQL Data Types
    • SQL Keywords
    • Composite Key in SQL
    • SQL WAITFOR
    • SQL Constraints
    • Transactions in SQL
    • First Normal Form
    • SQL Server Data Types
    • SQL Administration
    • SQL Variables
    • SQL Enum
    • SQL GROUP BY WHERE
    • SQL ROW
    • SQL EXECUTE
    • SQL EXCLUDE
    • SQL Performance Tuning
    • SQL UUID
    • Begin SQL
    • SQL Update Join
    • SQL Between Dates
    • Cheat sheet SQL
  • Operators
    • SQL Operators
    • SQL Arithmetic Operators
    • SQL Logical Operators
    • SQL String Operators
    • Ternary Operator in SQL
  • Commands
    • SQL Commands
    • sqlplus set commands
    • SQL Alter Command
    • SQL Commands Update
    • SQL DML Commands
    • SQL DDL Commands
    • FETCH in SQL
  • Clause
    • SQL Clauses
    • SQL IN Operator
    • SQL SELECT DISTINCT Multiple Columns
    • SQL Null Values
    • SQL LIKE
    • SQL LIKE Query
    • SQL LIKE Operator
    • SQL LIKE Clause
    • SQL NOT Operator
    • SQL Minus
    • SQL WHERE Clause
    • SQL with Clause
    • SQL HAVING Clause
    • SQL HAVING Clause
    • SQL GROUP BY DAY
    • ORDER BY Clause in SQL
    • SQL ORDER BY CASE
    • SQL ORDER BY DESC
    • SQL ORDER BY DATE
    • SQL ORDER BY Alphabetical
    • SQL ORDER BY Ascending
    • SQL Order by Count
    • SQL GROUP BY Month
    • SQL GROUP BY Multiple Columns
    • SQL GROUPING SETS
  • Queries
    • SQL Insert Query
    • SQL SELECT Query
    • SQL SELECT RANDOM
    • SQL Except Select
    • SQL Subquery
    • SQL SELECT DISTINCT
    • SQL WITH AS Statement
  • Keys
    • SQL Keys
    • SQL Foreign Key
    • Primary Key in SQL
    • Foreign Key in SQL
    • Unique Key in SQL
    • SQL UNIQUE Constraint
    • SQL Primary Key
    • Alternate Key in SQL
    • SQL Super Key
  • Functions
    • SQL Date Function
    • SQL Server Functions
    • SQL String Functions
    • SQL Compare String
    • Timestamp to Date in SQL
    • SQL REGEX
    • SQL Window Functions
    • SQL Syntax
    • SQL CONCAT
    • SQL ALTER TABLE
    • SQL MOD()
    • SQL Timestamp
    • SQL Min and Max
    • SQL TO_DATE()
    • SQL DATEADD()
    • SQL DATEDIFF()
    • SQL HOUR()
    • SQLite? functions
    • ANY in SQL
    • LIKE Query in SQL
    • SQL NOT NULL
    • SQL NOT IN
    • SQL MAX()
    • SQL MIN()
    • SQL SUM()
    • SQL COUNT
    • SQL identity
    • SQL DELETE Trigger
    • SQL Declare Variable
    • SQL Text Search
    • SQL COUNT DISTINCT
    • SQL TEXT
    • SQL Limit Order By
    • BETWEEN in SQL
    • LTRIM() in SQL
    • TOP in SQL
    • SQL Select Top
    • Merge SQL
    • SQL TRUNCATE()
    • SQL UNION
    • SQL ALL
    • SQL INTERSECT
    • SQL Alias
    • SQL Server Substring
    • CUBE in SQL
    • SQL RANK()
    • SQL CTE
    • SQL LAG()
    • SQL MID
    • SQL avg()
    • SQL WEEK
    • SQL DELETE
    • SQL DATEPART()
    • SQL DECODE()
    • SQL DENSE_RANK()
    • SQL NTILE()
    • SQL NULLIF()
    • SQL Stuff
    • SQL Ceiling
    • SQL EXISTS
    • SQL LEAD()
    • SQL COALESCE
    • SQL BLOB
    • SQL ROW_NUMBER
    • SQL Server Replace
    • SQL Ranking Function
    • SQL Server Permission
  • T-SQL
    • T-SQL pivot
    • T-SQL Formatter
    • T-SQL TRY CATCH
    • T-SQL CTE
    • T-SQL CASE
    • T-SQL DATEPART
    • T-SQL Date Format
    • T-SQL ROUND
    • T-SQL Loop
    • T-SQL IIF
    • T-SQL Union
    • T-SQL CREATE TABLE
    • T-SQL INSERT
    • T-SQL Stuff
    • T-SQL ISNULL
    • T-SQL ADD Column
    • T-SQL DATEDIFF
  • Joins
    • Join Query in SQL
    • Types of Joins in SQL
    • Types of Joins in SQL Server
    • SQL Inner Join
    • SQL Join Two Tables
    • SQL Delete Join
    • SQL Left Join
    • LEFT OUTER JOIN in SQL
    • SQL Right Join
    • SQL Cross Join
    • SQL Outer Join
    • SQL Full Join
    • SQL Self Join
    • Natural Join SQL
    • SQL Multiple Join
  • SqlAlchemy
    • What is SQLAlchemy
    • SqlAlchemy ORM
    • SQLAlchemy count
    • SQLAlchemy update object
    • SQLAlchemy pip
    • SQLAlchemy Connection
    • SQLAlchemy Metadata
    • SQLAlchemy Raw SQL
    • SQLAlchemy Filter in List
    • SQLAlchemy Alias
    • SQLAlchemy unique
    • SQLAlchemy JSONB
    • SQLAlchemy Async
    • SQLAlchemy Types
    • SQLAlchemy Many to Many
    • SQLAlchemy Example
    • SQLAlchemy Model
    • SQLAlchemy Data Types
    • SQLAlchemy Filter
    • SQLAlchemy SQLite
    • SQLAlchemy DateTime
    • SQLAlchemy create_engine
    • SQLAlchemy Delete
    • SQLAlchemy Migrations
  • NoSQL
    • NoSQL Databases List
    • NoSQL Data Modeling
    • Types of NoSQL Databases
    • NoSQL Injection
    • NoSQL vs SQL Databases
    • NoSQL Use Cases
    • NoSQL Key Value
  • Interview Questions
    • SQL Interview Questions
    • Advance SQL Interview Questions
    • SQL Joins Interview Questions
    • SQL Server Interview Questions
    • SQL Current Month

Related Courses

JDBC Training Course

PHP course

Windows 10 Training

SQL Course Training

PL/SQL Certification Courses

Oracle Certification Courses

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE

Introduction to SQL DESCRIBE TABLE

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE is a SQL statement that is accountable for telling something about a specific table in the database. If we want to show the structure of a database table or tables in the server then, we will use the SQL command DESCRIBE or other keyword DESC, which is identical to DESCRIBE one. To get information about the table present in the database and find the attributes related to it, we will use either DESCRIBE or DESC, where both are Case Insensitive and produce a similar output. We implement the DESCRIBE TABLE statement for getting the info about the name of the column, data type of the column, NULL or NOT NULL attributes of column, and table with database size accuracy along with If NUMERIC type scale.

Syntax of SQL DESCRIBE TABLE

Let us elaborate the elementary syntax to show the structure of DESCRIBE TABLE command in SQL server:

Start Your Free Data Science Course

Hadoop, Data Science, Statistics & others

DESCRIBE | DESC [TableName | ViewName];

The terms mentioned above are described below:

All in One Data Science Bundle(360+ Courses, 50+ projects)
Python TutorialMachine LearningAWSArtificial Intelligence
TableauR ProgrammingPowerBIDeep Learning
Price
View Courses
360+ Online Courses | 50+ projects | 1500+ Hours | Verifiable Certificates | Lifetime Access
4.7 (86,768 ratings)
  • The TableName denotes the name of the table in the database for which we want to see the structure.
  • ViewName also denotes the name of the view created for the table and we wish to describe the view structure.

We can also monitor another syntax type in advance level as follows:

[DESCRIBE | DESC] TABLE{name}[ TYPE = (STAGE | COLUMNS) ];

  • Here, the {name} defines an identifier for the particular table mentioned to describe it. We can enclose the whole string using double quotes which are case-sensitive when the identifier includes spaces or special characters.
  • The TYPE = (STAGE | COLUMNS) term defines whether to show the table columns or the stage properties which comprises of their default and current values for the table.
  • But by default the server uses TYPE = COLUMNS, if the TYPE keyword not provided in the query.
  • Also, it should be remembered that the query with criteria TYPE = STAGE cannot be applied for views as views do not contain stage properties.

How to DESCRIBE TABLE in SQL?

  • DESCRIBE can be said as a synonym for the command EXPLAIN TABLE. These both statements when executed will provide information about all table columns.
  • Therefore, using DESCRIBE TABLE in SQL it will tell you either about the columns present in that specific table or its current values type and also the default values for a table’s stage properties.
  • When we execute DESCRIBE TABLE command in our database we will be able to view the structure of the table in a describe tab but not on the console tab of the system software.
  • The SQL DESCRIBE TABLE query will make us to know about the organization of table that consists of name of table column with data type values such as VARCHAR, CHAR, INT, FLOAT, TIME, DATE, NUMBER or any XML type, used for the respective fields in the table, also it displays column having NULL or NOT NULL database objects that says if the column do include null values or not.
  • Thus, the SQL DESCRIBE TABLE is beneficial for fetching out details about the current table present in the database.

Examples of SQL DESCRIBE TABLE

Given below are the examples of SQL DESCRIBE TABLE:

Example #1

Simple Example using DESCRIBE TABLE command.

Suppose, we have taken a table as demo to use the DESCRIBE. TABLE command on it and view the result. We have a table named Books in our database with fields as BookID, BookName, Language, Price and each having different data type defined at the time of table creation.

The contents of the table can be shown as below:

Code:

SELECT * FROM Books;

Output:

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE 1

Now, let us apply simply the DESCRIBE TABLE query written as below:

Code:

DESCRIBE Books;

Output:

Books

As you can see in the output above that the column names of the table Books with Type, NULL attribute, Key, Default values and even Extra attribute are described by the DESCRIBE TABLE statement.

The data type values with its length and NULL attribute with YES/NO values for its presence and PRIMARY key are also provided in the structure of the table. Note that the YES in NULL column says that the value for that specific column of table can be NULL and NO denotes we cannot place or insert NULL values.

Example #2

Example using DESC TABLE command.

Assume that we are having a table named Emp_Data present in our database created as follows:

Code:

CREATE TABLE Emp_Data(Emp_ID INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, Emp_Name VARCHAR(255), Emp_Salary INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0);

After completing the structure of table let us fill in some records as below:

Code:

INSERT INTO `emp_data`(`Emp_ID`, `Emp_Name`, `Emp_Salary`) VALUES
(10,'Rita',5000),
(11, 'Sahil',7500)
(13, 'Nikhil',7300);

Now, displaying the contents of table Emp_Data:

Code:

SELECT * FROM Emp_Data;

Output:

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE 3

Next, we will query using DESC TABLE command to get the details of the table by the statement below:

Code:

DESC Emp_Data;
OR,
DESCRIBE Emp_Data;

Output:

DESC

As you can view while creating we have added default value for the Emp_Salary column and therefore when described the result shows DEFAULT as 0 in Emp_Salary row. Similarly, for in Emp_ID row you can see the auto_increment value in the Extra column which is the attribute added in table making time as mentioned in the above query.

Example #3

Example with DESCRIBE TABLE command Vs EXPLAIN TABLE command.

Let us take the table Customer with fields: CustomerID, CustomerName, Credit_Limit and City having their respective data types and other attributes.

View the table:

Code:

SELECT * FROM Customer;

Output:

Vs EXPLAIN

The EXPLAIN Table and DESCRIBE Table commands are similar in working and generates the same result rows. We can say that both are synonyms to each other and any of them in SQL server can be applied to retrieve information about a particular table.

See the queries below with output simultaneously:

Code:

DESCRIBE Customer;

Output:

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE 6

Code:

EXPLAIN Customer;

Output:

SQL DESCRIBE TABLE 7

As you can see both outputs are identical with DESCRIBE and EXPLAIN Table commands as well.

Conclusion

The DESCRIBE query in SQL is implemented to display the definitions of a list of columns for a specified database table. SQL DESCRIBE Table command should be executed on only our system software not it any editor because it won’t run there. We need to run this DESCRIBE query on the database installed on our own system server.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to SQL DESCRIBE TABLE. Here we discuss the introduction, how to DESCRIBE TABLE in SQL? and examples respectively. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

  1.  SQL DML Commands
  2. What is SQL
  3. SQL with Clause
  4. SQL TRUNCATE()
Popular Course in this category
JDBC Training (6 Courses, 7+ Projects)
  6 Online Courses |  7 Hands-on Projects |  37+ Hours |  Verifiable Certificate of Completion
4.5
Price

View Course

Related Courses

PHP Training (5 Courses, 3 Project)4.9
Windows 10 Training (4 Courses, 4+ Projects)4.8
SQL Training Program (7 Courses, 8+ Projects)4.7
PL SQL Training (4 Courses, 2+ Projects)4.7
Oracle Training (14 Courses, 8+ Projects)4.7
0 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Primary Sidebar
Footer
About Us
  • Blog
  • Who is EDUCBA?
  • Sign Up
  • Live Classes
  • Corporate Training
  • Certificate from Top Institutions
  • Contact Us
  • Verifiable Certificate
  • Reviews
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  •  
Apps
  • iPhone & iPad
  • Android
Resources
  • Free Courses
  • Database Management
  • Machine Learning
  • All Tutorials
Certification Courses
  • All Courses
  • Data Science Course - All in One Bundle
  • Machine Learning Course
  • Hadoop Certification Training
  • Cloud Computing Training Course
  • R Programming Course
  • AWS Training Course
  • SAS Training Course

ISO 10004:2018 & ISO 9001:2015 Certified

© 2022 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA
Free Data Science Course

SPSS, Data visualization with Python, Matplotlib Library, Seaborn Package

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

EDUCBA
Free Data Science Course

Hadoop, Data Science, Statistics & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Let’s Get Started

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to our Privacy Policy

Loading . . .
Quiz
Question:

Answer:

Quiz Result
Total QuestionsCorrect AnswersWrong AnswersPercentage

Explore 1000+ varieties of Mock tests View more