Describe the column structure of a MySQL table

Contributor Icon Contributed by qmchenry Date Icon December 14, 2003  
Tag Icon Tagged: MySQL

The SQL command ‘describe’ allows you to view the column structure of a MySQL table. It provides a listing of the columns of a table, the type of each column, and additional information on each column.


To view the structure of a MySQL table called ‘recipes’ use the following SQL command:

describe recipes;

The command can be issued from any SQL source including an application with database connectivity (i.e., PHP, Java, etc.) or directly from mysql command (see Connect to a MySQL server using the mysql command for more information).

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  • kpoman
    another nice way to view a table is:

    show create table table_name;

    This one shown the keys, the table type, etc...
  • rhan121
    Thanks Dude,
    Thats what I was looking for all day :)
  • Niladri
    What is the alternate command of describe ??
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