What is the equivalent of 'describe table' in SQL Server?

Question

What is the equivalent of 'describe table' in SQL Server?

I have a SQL Server database and I want to know what columns and types it has. I'd prefer to do this through a query rather than using a GUI like Enterprise Manager. Is there a way to do this?

sql-server sql

3 years ago by aashaykumar

3 Answers

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**rahul07** · Answer 1 · 2021-07-08T12:55:13

rahul07

You can use the sp_columns stored procedure:



exec sp_columns MyTable

3 years ago

**sandhya6gczb** · Answer 2 · 2021-07-09T17:05:54

There are a few methods to get metadata about a table:



EXEC sp_help tablename

Will return several result sets, describing the table, it's columns and constraints.

The INFORMATION_SCHEMA views will give you the information you want, though unfortunately you have to query the views and join them manually.

**pankajshivnani123** · Answer 3 · 2021-07-12T11:51:53

Just in case you don't want to use stored proc, here's a simple query version



select * 

  from information_schema.columns 

 where table_name = 'aspnet_Membership'

 order by ordinal_position

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What is the equivalent of 'describe table' in SQL Server?

3 Answers

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