MySQL Show Datadictionary of tables

Question

I\'d like to show DataDictionary for entire tables in database.

SHOW COLUMNS
FROM `MyDataBase`.`MyTables` 
WHERE IN ( SELECT TABLE_NAME 
           FROM info         


        

Answer 1

Here is what I use to generate a data dictionary when I have to:

SELECT t.table_schema AS db_name,
       t.table_name,
       (CASE WHEN t.table_type = 'BASE TABLE' THEN 'table'
             WHEN t.table_type = 'VIEW' THEN 'view'
             ELSE t.table_type
        END) AS table_type,
        c.column_name,
        c.column_type,
        c.column_default,
        c.column_key,
        c.is_nullable,
        c.extra,
        c.column_comment
FROM information_schema.tables AS t
INNER JOIN information_schema.columns AS c
ON t.table_name = c.table_name
AND t.table_schema = c.table_schema
WHERE t.table_type IN ('base table', 'view')
AND t.table_schema LIKE '%'
ORDER BY t.table_schema,
         t.table_name,
         c.ordinal_position

This will list all of the databases on the server. You may want to change the where clause to only look at the specific table schema you want.

Answer 2

From MySQL 5.7 Manual

Many sections indicate what SHOW statement is equivalent to a SELECT that retrieves information from INFORMATION_SCHEMA. For SHOW statements that display information for the default database if you omit a FROM db_name clause, you can often select information for the default database by adding an AND TABLE_SCHEMA = SCHEMA() condition to the WHERE clause of a query that retrieves information from an INFORMATION_SCHEMA table.

Answer 3

The shortest syntax is this:

SHOW COLUMNS 
FROM `MyDataBase`.`MyTables`;

Full SHOW Syntax for columns:

SHOW [FULL] COLUMNS 
FROM tbl_name [FROM db_name] 
[like_or_where]

Answer 4

describe table_name;

Retrieving information from INFORMATION_SCHEMA, but need DBA privilege.

Answer 5

is this what you want:

SELECT `COLUMN_NAME` 
FROM `INFORMATION_SCHEMA`.`COLUMNS` 
WHERE `TABLE_SCHEMA`='yourdatabasename' 
    AND `TABLE_NAME`='yourtablename';

Answer 6

Usually I prefer to take this with multiple DESC. I feel SHOW COLUMNS is bit slower than DESC table_name.

So if want to get all the columns in some databases

1. Loop thru SHOW TABLES FROM DB_NAME
2. Loop thru all tables as DESC table_name

In the same way, SHOW INDEXES is slower when compared to SHOW CREATE TABLE if you just want to see the indexes on a table