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From: Andrew - Supernews <andrew+nonews@supernews.com>
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Subject: Re: Matching the MYSQL "Describe <table-name>" command
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:24:00 -0000
Organization: http://www.supernews.com - all your nntp are belong to us
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References: <200504241902.16770.alan@chandlerfamily.org.uk>
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On 2005-04-24, Alan Chandler <alan@chandlerfamily.org.uk> wrote:
> I am rather new to Postgres (running 7.4) but I am trying to port some PHP 
> code that has been built to run with mysql.
>
> I have got stuck trying to find the equivalent of the Mysql "DESCRIBE 
><tablename>;" SQL statement that lists the columns and type identifiers of a 
> table.
>
> I think I am going to do a SELECT on the "pg_attribute" table,

Steer clear of reading the system catalogs directly; getting the right
answers from them can be much harder than it appears, since they are
organized purely for the convenience of the backend.

For this specific task, information_schema.columns should be pretty close
to what you need.

-- 
Andrew, Supernews
http://www.supernews.com - individual and corporate NNTP services