PostgreSQL "DESCRIBE TABLE"

How do you perform the equivalent of Oracle's `DESCRIBE TABLE` in PostgreSQL with psql command?

If you want to obtain it from query instead of psql, you can query the catalog schema. Here's a complex query that does that:

<pre><code><!-- language: sql -->SELECT
f.attnum AS number,
f.attname AS name,
f.attnum,
f.attnotnull AS notnull,
pg_catalog.format_type(f.atttypid,f.atttypmod) AS type,
CASE
WHEN p.contype = 'p' THEN 't'
ELSE 'f'
END AS primarykey,
CASE
WHEN p.contype = 'u' THEN 't'
ELSE 'f'
END AS uniquekey,
CASE
WHEN p.contype = 'f' THEN g.relname
END AS foreignkey,
CASE
WHEN p.contype = 'f' THEN p.confkey
END AS foreignkey_fieldnum,
CASE
WHEN p.contype = 'f' THEN g.relname
END AS foreignkey,
CASE
WHEN p.contype = 'f' THEN p.conkey
END AS foreignkey_connnum,
CASE
WHEN f.atthasdef = 't' THEN d.adsrc
END AS default
FROM pg_attribute f
JOIN pg_class c ON c.oid = f.attrelid
JOIN pg_type t ON t.oid = f.atttypid
LEFT JOIN pg_attrdef d ON d.adrelid = c.oid AND d.adnum = f.attnum
LEFT JOIN pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
LEFT JOIN pg_constraint p ON p.conrelid = c.oid AND f.attnum = ANY (p.conkey)
LEFT JOIN pg_class AS g ON p.confrelid = g.oid
WHERE c.relkind = 'r'::char
AND n.nspname = '%s' -- Replace with Schema name
AND c.relname = '%s' -- Replace with table name
AND f.attnum > 0 ORDER BY number
;
</code></pre>

It's pretty complex but it does show you the power and flexibility of the PostgreSQL system catalog and should get you on your way to pg_catalog mastery ;-). Be sure to change out the %s's in the query. The first is Schema and the second is the table name.

The psql equivalent of `DESCRIBE TABLE` is `\d table`.

See the psql portion of the PostgreSQL manual for more details.

You may do a `\d *search pattern *` **with asterisks** to find tables that match the search pattern you're interested in.

Try this (in the `psql` command-line tool):

\d+ tablename

See [the manual][1] for more info.


[1]:

[To see links please register here]

You can do that with a psql slash command:

\d myTable describe table

It also works for other objects:

\d myView describe view
\d myIndex describe index
\d mySequence describe sequence

Source: [faqs.org][1]

[1]:

[To see links please register here]

In addition to the command line `\d+ <table_name>` you already found, you could also use the [information-schema][1] to look up the column data, using [info_schema.columns][2]

SELECT *
FROM info_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'your_schema'
AND table_name = 'your_table'

[1]:

[To see links please register here]

[2]:

[To see links please register here]

You can also check using below query

Select * from schema_name.table_name limit 0;

Expmple : My table has 2 columns name and pwd. Giving screenshot below.

[![Adding image][1]][1]

*Using PG admin3


[1]:

Use this command

\d table name

like

\d queuerecords

Table "public.queuerecords"
Column | Type | Modifiers
-----------+-----------------------------+-----------
id | uuid | not null
endtime | timestamp without time zone |
payload | text |
queueid | text |
starttime | timestamp without time zone |
status | text |

The best way to describe a table such as a column, type, modifiers of columns, etc.

\d+ tablename or \d tablename