How to describe table in SQL Server 2008?

Question

I want to describe a table in SQL Server 2008 like what we can do with the DESC command in Oracle.

I have table [EX].[dbo].[EMP_MAST] which

Answer 1

Just enter the below line.

exec sp_help [table_name]

Answer 2

As a variation of Bridge's answer (I don't yet have enough rep to comment, and didn't feel right about editing that answer), here is a version that works better for me.

SELECT column_name AS [Name],
   IS_NULLABLE AS [Null?],
   DATA_TYPE + CASE
                 WHEN CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH IS NULL THEN ''
                 WHEN CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH > 99999 THEN ''
                 ELSE '(' + Cast(CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH AS VARCHAR(5)) + ')' 
               END AS [Type]
FROM   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns
WHERE  table_name = 'table_name'

Notable changes:

• Works for types without length. For an int column, I was seeing NULL for the type because the length was null and it wiped out the whole Type column. So don't print any length component (or parens).
• Change the check for CAST length of -1 to check actual length. I was getting a syntax error because the case resulted in '*' rather than -1. Seems to make more sense to perform an arithmetic check rather than an overflow from the CAST.
• Don't print length when very long (arbitrarily > 5 digits).