Is it possible to see the structure of multiple table with a single "desc". i have created following table my_contact, profession, interest,seeking,location etc. but rather then typing "desc" again and again i want to see the structure of selected table with the single query.
Is it possible in anyway?
You can't use the SQL*Plus describe
command to get information about more then one object at a time.
On an old question, Ben gave a good overview of how to mimic that client command for a single table by querying the relevant data dictionary view.
To get similar information for more than one table you would need to provide a list of table names, or omit the table name filter altogether. But you probably also want to include the table name in the select list so you know which column belongs to which table, and order the results by table name and column ID, which will mimic the column order as shown by the SQL*Plus describe command.
This expands the data type display from Ben's answer a bit, and should be close to describe
for most data types; but with the addition of the table name:
select table_name as "Table",
column_name as "Column",
case when nullable = 'N' then 'NOT NULL' end as "Null?",
cast (data_type || case
when data_type in ('VARCHAR', 'VARCHAR2', 'NVARCHAR2', 'RAW', 'CHAR')
then '(' || data_length || ')'
when data_type in ('NUMBER')
and (data_precision is not null or data_scale is not null)
then '(' || data_precision || case
when data_scale > 0 then ',' || data_scale
end || ')'
end as varchar2(30)) as "Type"
from user_tab_columns
where table_name in ('MY_CONTACT', 'PROFESSION', 'INTEREST', 'SEEKING', 'LOCATION')
order by table_name, column_id;
I've mocked up one of your table names, so I see:
Table Column Null? Type
------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------- ------------------------------
MY_CONTACT ID NOT NULL NUMBER(38)
MY_CONTACT COL1 VARCHAR2(10)
MY_CONTACT COL2 NUMBER(5,2)
MY_CONTACT COL3 NUMBER
MY_CONTACT COL4 CLOB
MY_CONTACT COL5 DATE
MY_CONTACT COL6 TIMESTAMP(6)
MY_CONTACT COL7 TIMESTAMP(3)
MY_CONTACT COL8 CHAR(1)
Which is similar to desc
:
SQL> desc my_contact
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
ID NOT NULL NUMBER(38)
COL1 VARCHAR2(10)
COL2 NUMBER(5,2)
COL3 NUMBER
COL4 CLOB
COL5 DATE
COL6 TIMESTAMP(6)
COL7 TIMESTAMP(3)
COL8 CHAR(1)
If you want to see all your tables then exclude the where
clause. And if you want to see other people's tables as well, query all_tab_columns
and include the owner
in the select list and order by clause; but then you may want to exclude the built in accounts like SYS.
You could also make this a view or a function if you want to run it often but hide the complexity.