acp3012

 Profile 

• Sep 17th, 2006

 

DESCRIBE is not a SQL Server Command. This a command used in ORACLE & MYSQL to display the sturcture of a Table.

Lehman

• Sep 19th, 2006

 

What is the command in SQL Server to display the structure of the table?

Anu

• Sep 20th, 2006

 

Suppose if u want to get the structure of table categories

use the following command in sql server

sp_columns categories

This will work.. Like wise if u want to see the list of tables in ur database, use

sp_tables

 

Regards,

Anu

 

opbang

 Profile Answers by opbang 

• Sep 21st, 2006

 

Use sp_help <tablename> to display table structure in Query Analyzer

Rajneesh Kaur

• Dec 13th, 2006

 

DESCRIBE command is used to view the structure of a table..

Eg. a table named employee and we want to see the structure of a table then we will use command as:

DESC employee

This will display whole structure of employee table.

Kewlshiva

 Profile Answers by Kewlshiva 

• Mar 26th, 2008

 

you can get the same type of results in SQL SERVER also using the following Stored Proc

CREATE  procedure describe
(
 @tablename varchar(256)
)
as
begin
SELECT distinct sCols.colid as 'order', sCols.name, sTyps.name, sCols.length
FROM [syscolumns] sCols
 INNER JOIN [systypes] sTyps ON sCols.xtype = sTyps.xtype
 INNER JOIN [sysobjects] sObjs ON sObjs.id = sCols.[id]
  and UPPER(sObjs.name) = UPPER(@tablename)
order by sCols.colid
end

srilakshmi.b

 Profile Answers by srilakshmi.b 

• May 29th, 2008

 

to view the structure of the table in sql
it is
sp_help table_name

jrhoward

 Profile Answers by jrhoward 

• May 30th, 2008

 

Therefore sp_columns dataloader.rescomps will display column names and their descriptions.

cybersavvy

 Profile Answers by cybersavvy 

• Feb 5th, 2009

 

To display the structure of the table in SQL server , we use sp_help table_name

michealfrank

 Profile Answers by michealfrank 

• Aug 24th, 2009

 

It is used to view the table structure.

p24time

 Profile Answers by p24time 

• Mar 6th, 2010

 

sp_help table name to describe the table

raaghav

 Profile Answers by raaghav 

• Dec 9th, 2010

 

Use the Following Code to Get the Structure or Description of the Table in SQL Server. 

sp_columns 'TableName' (e.g. sp_columns 'Employee') 

or 

SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'TableName'
(e.g.
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'Employee'
)

vs_varun1988

 Profile Answers by vs_varun1988 

• Dec 15th, 2010

 

exec sp_columns table name

papubhakta

 Profile Answers by papubhakta 

• Apr 29th, 2011

 

sp_help table_name

kevaburg

 Profile Answers by kevaburg 

• May 1st, 2011

 

The DESCRIBE command does not exist in MS SQL SERVER.  This is an Oracle command used to describe the structure of objects within a given database.

To achieve the same task in MSSQL Server, there are a series of stored procedures with the prefix SP_ that can be used.  In your case, to view the structure of a table within the current database, use the command sp_help 'TABLE_NAME';

Hope this helps!

suji

 Profile Answers by suji Questions by suji

• Nov 5th, 2011

 

Here are multiple ways to get the table information.

The DESCRIBE command does not exist in MS SQL SERVER. This is an Oracle command used to describe the structure of objects within a given database. To achieve the same task in MSSQL Server, there are a series of stored procedures with the prefix SP_ that can be used.

To view the structure of a table within the current database,

use the command

Code
sp_help 'TABLE_NAME';

If you would like to see more details, Create your custom procedure

Code
CREATE procedure DESCRIBE 


(


@tablename varchar(256)


)


AS 


begin


SELECT DISTINCT sCols.colid AS 'order', sCols.name, sTyps.name, sCols.length


FROM [syscolumns] sCols


INNER JOIN [systypes] sTyps ON sCols.xtype = sTyps.xtype


INNER JOIN [sysobjects] sObjs ON sObjs.id = sCols.[id]


AND UPPER(sObjs.name) = UPPER(@tablename)


ORDER BY sCols.colid


end

Here is another alternative way to get the same information

Code
sp_columns 'TableName' (e.g. sp_columns 'Employee')


sp_columns [ @table_name = ] object [ , [ @table_owner = ] owner ] 


[ , [ @table_qualifier = ] qualifier ] 


[ , [ @column_name = ] COLUMN ] 


[ , [ @ODBCVer = ] ODBCVer ]

Here is the usage :

Code
EXEC sp_columns @table_name = 'Department', @table_owner = 'sa';


SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'TableName'

Contributors for the editorial answer : Kewlshiva, srilakshmi.b, raaghav,kevaburg

Nirav

• Dec 29th, 2011

 

This will give you the best information of your table in SQL Server. Like Name of Table, Column Name, Identity, Row Guid Col, Data Located On Filegroup, Index Name and Constraint Type.

EXECUTE sp_help

Code
EXECUTE sp_help <tableName>

gangireddy

• Feb 22nd, 2012

 

To see the structure (description ) of the table in Sql Server the followed command surely works....
sp_help person

Note:***
to display the structure of the table in Sql Server wer use the followed command ...it has the accurate rating ****
sp_help
sp_help person

Saket Kale

• Oct 24th, 2012

 

sp_help dbo.customers;

worked for me just fine.

Thanks to the OP, this runs perfectly on SQL 2008 R2, do not know about other versions

Rooshi

• Oct 17th, 2014

 

sp_help will give all the details about the table columns, indexes, partitions etc.