Oracle database

The DESCRIBE command for table

Written by meda

DESCRIBE command

DESCRIBE SQL table command in oracle database enables us to view or display the structure of a table.  And we can run this command using oracle client tools such as SQL*PLUS  and SQL developer.

SQL*PLUS is a client tool which will be installed by default when we install and create oracle database software on our machine.

SQL developer, which is a GUI client tool, is also an integrated component of an oracle database. But we can also Download and install it separately.

Here below is the syntax of the  command:

DESCRIBE SCHEMA.;

OR

DESC SCHEMA.;

Let’s see sample example using SQL*PLUS.

D:\app\Admin\virtual\virtual\product\12.2.0\dbhome_1\bin>sqlplus/nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Thu Feb 24 10:32:44 2022

Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle. All rights reserved.

SQL> conn mereba/mereba@orcl
Connected.
SQL> desc emp_sal;
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
EMP_ID NOT NULL NUMBER
SALARY NUMBER
JOBTITLE VARCHAR2(12)

SQL> describe emp_sal;
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
EMP_ID NOT NULL NUMBER
SALARY NUMBER
JOBTITLE VARCHAR2(12)

SQL>