Transact-SQL Reference
COLUMNS
Contains one row for each column accessible to the current user in the current database. The INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS view is based on the sysobjects, spt_data type_info, systypes, syscolumns, syscomments, sysconfigures, and syscharsets system tables.
To retrieve information from these views, specify the fully qualified name of INFORMATION_SCHEMA view_name.
| Column name | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TABLE_CATALOG | nvarchar(128) | Table qualifier. |
| TABLE_SCHEMA | nvarchar(128) | Table owner. |
| TABLE_NAME | nvarchar(128) | Table name. |
| COLUMN_NAME | nvarchar(128) | Column name. |
| ORDINAL_POSITION | smallint | Column identification number. |
| COLUMN_DEFAULT | nvarchar(4000) | Default value of the column. |
| IS_NULLABLE | varchar(3) | Nullability of the column. If this column allows NULL, this column returns YES. Otherwise, NO is returned. |
| DATA_TYPE | nvarchar(128) | System-supplied data type. |
| CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH | smallint | Maximum length, in characters, for binary data, character data, or text and image data. Otherwise, NULL is returned. For more information, see Data Types. |
| CHARACTER_OCTET_LENGTH | smallint | Maximum length, in bytes, for binary data, character data, or text and image data. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| NUMERIC_PRECISION | tinyint | Precision of approximate numeric data, exact numeric data, integer data, or monetary data. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| NUMERIC_PRECISION_RADIX | smallint | Precision radix of approximate numeric data, exact numeric data, integer data, or monetary data. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| NUMERIC_SCALE | tinyint | Scale of approximate numeric data, exact numeric data, integer data, or monetary data. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| DATETIME_PRECISION | smallint | Subtype code for datetime and SQL-92 interval data types. For other data types, NULL is returned. |
| CHARACTER_SET_CATALOG | varchar(6) | Returns master, indicating the database in which the character set is located, if the column is character data or text data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| CHARACTER_SET_SCHEMA | varchar(3) | Returns DBO, indicating the owner name of the character set, if the column is character data or text data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| CHARACTER_SET_NAME | nvarchar(128) | Returns the unique name for the character set if this column is character data or text data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| COLLATION_CATALOG | varchar(6) | Returns master, indicating the database in which the sort order is defined, if the column is character data or text data type. Otherwise, this column is NULL. |
| COLLATION_SCHEMA | varchar(3) | Returns DBO, indicating the owner of the sort order for character data or text data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| COLLATION_NAME | nvarchar(128) | Returns the unique name for the sort order if the column is character data or text data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| DOMAIN_CATALOG | nvarchar(128) | If the column is a user-defined data type, this column is the database name in which the user-defined data type was created. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| DOMAIN_SCHEMA | nvarchar(128) | If the column is a user-defined data type, this column is the creator of the user-defined data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |
| DOMAIN_NAME | nvarchar(128) | If the column is a user-defined data type, this column is the name of the user-defined data type. Otherwise, NULL is returned. |