DESCRIBE

Use the DESCRIBE command to view columns in the specified table, source, sink, view, or materialized view.

DESCRIBE is a shortcut for SHOW COLUMNS.

tip

DESCRIBE also lists the indexes on a table or materialized view, whereas SHOW COLUMNS doesn't.

Syntax

DESCRIBE relation_name;

Parameters

Parameter or clause	Description
relation_name	The table, source, sink, view or materialized view whose columns will be listed.

Examples

Preparation

CREATE TABLE customers (
  customer_id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,  
  name VARCHAR,
  email VARCHAR
);
COMMENT ON COLUMN customers.customer_id IS 'Unique identifier for each customer';
COMMENT ON COLUMN customers.name IS 'Name of the customer';
COMMENT ON COLUMN customers.email IS 'Email address of the customer';
COMMENT ON TABLE customers IS 'All customer records';
CREATE INDEX idx_customers_email ON customers(email);

After creating the table, columns, and indexes, as well as adding comments to each of them, we can use the DESCRIBE command to see all the information in a structured format.

Output

DESCRIBE customers;

| Name                | Type                                                                  | Is Hidden | Description                         |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | ----------------------------------- |
| customer_id         | bigint                                                                | false     | Unique identifier for each customer |
| name                | character varying                                                     | false     | Name of the customer                |
| email               | character varying                                                     | false     | Email address of the customer       |
| primary key         | customer_id                                                           |           |                                     |
| distribution key    | customer_id                                                           |           |                                     |
| idx_customers_email | index(email ASC, customer_id ASC) include(name) distributed by(email) |           |                                     |
| table description   | customers                                                             |           | All customer records                |