Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial/System Tables Data Dictionary/user tab columns
30. Getting Information on Columns in Tables
You can get information about the columns in your tables from user_tab_columns.
<source lang="sql">
SQL> SQL> desc user_tab_columns;
Name Null? Type TABLE_NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(30) COLUMN_NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(30) DATA_TYPE VARCHAR2(106) DATA_TYPE_MOD VARCHAR2(3) DATA_TYPE_OWNER VARCHAR2(30) DATA_LENGTH NOT NULL NUMBER DATA_PRECISION NUMBER DATA_SCALE NUMBER NULLABLE VARCHAR2(1) COLUMN_ID NUMBER DEFAULT_LENGTH NUMBER DATA_DEFAULT LONG NUM_DISTINCT NUMBER LOW_VALUE RAW(32) HIGH_VALUE RAW(32) DENSITY NUMBER NUM_NULLS NUMBER NUM_BUCKETS NUMBER LAST_ANALYZED DATE SAMPLE_SIZE NUMBER CHARACTER_SET_NAME VARCHAR2(44) CHAR_COL_DECL_LENGTH NUMBER GLOBAL_STATS VARCHAR2(3) USER_STATS VARCHAR2(3) AVG_COL_LEN NUMBER CHAR_LENGTH NUMBER CHAR_USED VARCHAR2(1) V80_FMT_IMAGE VARCHAR2(3) DATA_UPGRADED VARCHAR2(3) HISTOGRAM VARCHAR2(15)
SQL> SQL> -- create demo table SQL> create table Employee(
2 ID VARCHAR2(4 BYTE) NOT NULL, 3 First_Name VARCHAR2(10 BYTE), 4 Last_Name VARCHAR2(10 BYTE), 5 Start_Date DATE, 6 End_Date DATE, 7 Salary Number(8,2), 8 City VARCHAR2(10 BYTE), 9 Description VARCHAR2(15 BYTE) 10 ) 11 /
Table created. SQL> SQL> -- prepare data SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values ("01","Jason", "Martin", to_date("19960725","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("20060725","YYYYMMDD"), 1234.56, "Toronto", "Programmer")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("02","Alison", "Mathews", to_date("19760321","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19860221","YYYYMMDD"), 6661.78, "Vancouver","Tester")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("03","James", "Smith", to_date("19781212","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19900315","YYYYMMDD"), 6544.78, "Vancouver","Tester")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("04","Celia", "Rice", to_date("19821024","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19990421","YYYYMMDD"), 2344.78, "Vancouver","Manager")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("05","Robert", "Black", to_date("19840115","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19980808","YYYYMMDD"), 2334.78, "Vancouver","Tester")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("06","Linda", "Green", to_date("19870730","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19960104","YYYYMMDD"), 4322.78,"New York", "Tester")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("07","David", "Larry", to_date("19901231","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19980212","YYYYMMDD"), 7897.78,"New York", "Manager")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date, End_Date, Salary, City, Description)
2 values("08","James", "Cat", to_date("19960917","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("20020415","YYYYMMDD"), 1232.78,"Vancouver", "Tester")
3 /
1 row created. SQL> SQL> SQL> SQL> -- display data in the table SQL> select * from Employee
2 /
ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME START_DAT END_DATE SALARY CITY DESCRIPTION
---------- ---------- --------- --------- ---------- ---------- ---------------
01 Jason Martin 25-JUL-96 25-JUL-06 1234.56 Toronto Programmer 02 Alison Mathews 21-MAR-76 21-FEB-86 6661.78 Vancouver Tester 03 James Smith 12-DEC-78 15-MAR-90 6544.78 Vancouver Tester 04 Celia Rice 24-OCT-82 21-APR-99 2344.78 Vancouver Manager 05 Robert Black 15-JAN-84 08-AUG-98 2334.78 Vancouver Tester 06 Linda Green 30-JUL-87 04-JAN-96 4322.78 New York Tester 07 David Larry 31-DEC-90 12-FEB-98 7897.78 New York Manager 08 James Cat 17-SEP-96 15-APR-02 1232.78 Vancouver Tester 8 rows selected. SQL> SQL> SQL> COLUMN column_name FORMAT a15 SQL> COLUMN data_type FORMAT a10 SQL> SELECT
2 column_name, data_type, data_length, data_precision, data_scale 3 FROM user_tab_columns 4 WHERE table_name = "EMPLOYEE";
COLUMN_NAME DATA_TYPE DATA_LENGTH DATA_PRECISION DATA_SCALE
---------- ----------- -------------- ----------
ID VARCHAR2 4 FIRST_NAME VARCHAR2 10 LAST_NAME VARCHAR2 10 START_DATE DATE 7 END_DATE DATE 7 SALARY NUMBER 22 8 2 CITY VARCHAR2 10 DESCRIPTION VARCHAR2 15 8 rows selected. SQL> SQL> clear columns; columns cleared SQL> SQL> -- clean the table SQL> drop table Employee
2 /
Table dropped. SQL> SQL> SQL></source>
30. Output report for user_tab_columns
<source lang="sql">
SQL> SQL> CREATE TABLE DEPT (DEPTNO NUMBER(2),DNAME VARCHAR2(14),LOC VARCHAR2(13) ); Table created. SQL> SQL> INSERT INTO DEPT VALUES (10, "ACCOUNTING", "NEW YORK"); 1 row created. SQL> INSERT INTO DEPT VALUES (20, "RESEARCH", "DALLAS"); 1 row created. SQL> INSERT INTO DEPT VALUES (30, "SALES", "CHICAGO"); 1 row created. SQL> INSERT INTO DEPT VALUES (40, "OPERATIONS", "BOSTON"); 1 row created. SQL> SQL> create or replace procedure desc_table( p_tname in varchar2 ) AUTHID CURRENT_USER as
2 begin
3 dbms_output.put_line(p_tname );
4 dbms_output.new_line;
5
6 for x in ( select column_name,data_type,substr(
7 decode( data_type,"NUMBER", decode( data_precision, NULL, NULL,
8 "("||data_precision||","||data_scale||")" ),
9 data_length),1,11) data_length,
10 decode( nullable,"Y","null","not null") nullable
11 from user_tab_columns
12 where table_name = upper(p_tname)
13 order by column_id )
14 loop
15 dbms_output.put_line( rpad(x.column_name,31) ||
16 rpad(x.data_type,20) ||
17 rpad(x.data_length,11) ||
18 x.nullable );
19 end loop;
20 end;
21 /
Procedure created. SQL> SQL> grant execute on desc_table to public
2 /
Grant succeeded. SQL> SQL> set serveroutput on format wrapped SQL> exec desc_table( "dept" ) dept DEPTNO NUMBER (2,0) null DNAME VARCHAR2 14 null LOC VARCHAR2 13 null PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL> SQL> drop table dept; Table dropped. SQL> SQL> SQL></source>
