Fw: Re: Is there no "DESCRIBE <TABLE>;" on PGSQL? help!!!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 08:22:46 -0600
From: David Eduardo Gomez Noguera <davidgn(at)servidor(dot)unam(dot)mx>
To: "Ron de Jong" <Ron(dot)Antispam(at)news(dot)tht(dot)net>
Cc: davidgn(at)servidor(dot)unam(dot)mx
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Is there no "DESCRIBE <TABLE>;" on PGSQL? help!!!

on psql, do \? there are a lot of commands that let you do it:

\l (this list databases)
dabicho=# \l
List of databases
Database | Owner | Encoding
-------------+----------+-----------
agenda | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
cele | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
dabicho | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
diccionario | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
imagenes | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
libros | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
mp3 | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
postgres | postgres | SQL_ASCII
template0 | postgres | SQL_ASCII
template1 | postgres | SQL_ASCII
(10 rows)

mp3=# \d (this list tables on the current db)
List of relations
Name | Type | Owner
----------------+----------+---------
album | table | dabicho
album_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
artista | table | dabicho
artista_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
dirpath | table | dabicho
dirpath_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
genero | table | dabicho
genero_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
mp3 | table | dabicho
mp3_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
pga_forms | table | dabicho
pga_layout | table | dabicho
pga_queries | table | dabicho
pga_reports | table | dabicho
pga_schema | table | dabicho
pga_scripts | table | dabicho

mp3=# \d mp3 (this describes a table (mp3)
Table "mp3"
Attribute | Type | Modifier
---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------
id | integer | not null default nextval('"mp3_id_seq"'::text)
fk_dirpath_id | integer | not null
filename | character varying | not null
titulo | text | not null default 'unknown'
fk_artista_id | integer | not null default 1
fk_album_id | integer | not null default 1
comentario | text | not null default 'none'
year | integer | default 2001
genero | smallint | not null default 1
Indices: mp3_fk_dirpath_id_key,
mp3_pkey

with \pset you can set output format.

mp3=# \pset expanded
Expanded display is on.
mp3=# \d mp3
Table "mp3"
-[ RECORD 1 ]---------------------------------------------
Attribute | id
Type | integer
Modifier | not null default nextval('"mp3_id_seq"'::text)
-[ RECORD 2 ]---------------------------------------------
Attribute | fk_dirpath_id
Type | integer
Modifier | not null
-[ RECORD 3 ]---------------------------------------------
....
there are many combinations
mp3=# \pset border 2
Border style is 2.
mp3=# \d mp3
Table "mp3"
+---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| Attribute | Type | Modifier |
+---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| id | integer | not null default nextval('"mp3_id_seq"'::text) |
| fk_dirpath_id | integer | not null |
| filename | character varying | not null |
| titulo | text | not null default 'unknown' |
| fk_artista_id | integer | not null default 1 |
| fk_album_id | integer | not null default 1 |
| comentario | text | not null default 'none' |
| year | integer | default 2001 |
| genero | smallint | not null default 1 |
+---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
Indices: mp3_fk_dirpath_id_key,
mp3_pkey

pretty much the same, and fairly human readable to me. (although not everything sorted in columns, i guess you could do querys to the system tables to get that, or use awk to get the bits you want =) )
I just this the postgres team has don an excelent work so far.

Reply.
> Any idea to get a human readable list with column descriptions like
> type,size,key,default,null.
> It would be nice if it would look simular to the mysql variant:
>
> mysql> describe employee;
> +-----------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
> +-----------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> | Id | int(11) | | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
> | FirstName | char(30) | | MUL | | |
> | LastName | char(30) | | | | |
> | Infix | char(10) | YES | | NULL | |
> | Address1 | char(30) | YES | | NULL | |
> | PostCode | char(10) | YES | | NULL | |
> | Town | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |
> +-----------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
>
> Cheers, Ron.
>
>
>

--
ICQ: 15605359 Bicho
=^..^=
First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. Mahatma Gandhi.
........Por que no pensaran los hombres como los animales? Pink Panther........
-------------------------------気検体の一致------------------------------------
暑さ寒さも彼岸まで。
アン アン アン とっても大好き

> on psql, do \? there are a lot of commands that let you do it:
>
> \l (this list databases)
> dabicho=# \l
> List of databases
> Database | Owner | Encoding
> -------------+----------+-----------
> agenda | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> cele | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> dabicho | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> diccionario | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> imagenes | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> libros | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> mp3 | dabicho | SQL_ASCII
> postgres | postgres | SQL_ASCII
> template0 | postgres | SQL_ASCII
> template1 | postgres | SQL_ASCII
> (10 rows)
>
> mp3=# \d (this list tables on the current db)
> List of relations
> Name | Type | Owner
> ----------------+----------+---------
> album | table | dabicho
> album_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
> artista | table | dabicho
> artista_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
> dirpath | table | dabicho
> dirpath_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
> genero | table | dabicho
> genero_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
> mp3 | table | dabicho
> mp3_id_seq | sequence | dabicho
> pga_forms | table | dabicho
> pga_layout | table | dabicho
> pga_queries | table | dabicho
> pga_reports | table | dabicho
> pga_schema | table | dabicho
> pga_scripts | table | dabicho
>
>
> mp3=# \d mp3 (this describes a table (mp3)
> Table "mp3"
> Attribute | Type | Modifier
> ---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------
> id | integer | not null default nextval('"mp3_id_seq"'::text)
> fk_dirpath_id | integer | not null
> filename | character varying | not null
> titulo | text | not null default 'unknown'
> fk_artista_id | integer | not null default 1
> fk_album_id | integer | not null default 1
> comentario | text | not null default 'none'
> year | integer | default 2001
> genero | smallint | not null default 1
> Indices: mp3_fk_dirpath_id_key,
> mp3_pkey
>
> with \pset you can set output format.
>
> mp3=# \pset expanded
> Expanded display is on.
> mp3=# \d mp3
> Table "mp3"
> -[ RECORD 1 ]---------------------------------------------
> Attribute | id
> Type | integer
> Modifier | not null default nextval('"mp3_id_seq"'::text)
> -[ RECORD 2 ]---------------------------------------------
> Attribute | fk_dirpath_id
> Type | integer
> Modifier | not null
> -[ RECORD 3 ]---------------------------------------------
> ....
> there are many combinations
> mp3=# \pset border 2
> Border style is 2.
> mp3=# \d mp3
> Table "mp3"
> +---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
> | Attribute | Type | Modifier |
> +---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
> | id | integer | not null default nextval('"mp3_id_seq"'::text) |
> | fk_dirpath_id | integer | not null |
> | filename | character varying | not null |
> | titulo | text | not null default 'unknown' |
> | fk_artista_id | integer | not null default 1 |
> | fk_album_id | integer | not null default 1 |
> | comentario | text | not null default 'none' |
> | year | integer | default 2001 |
> | genero | smallint | not null default 1 |
> +---------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
> Indices: mp3_fk_dirpath_id_key,
> mp3_pkey
>
> pretty much the same, and fairly human readable to me. (although not everything sorted in columns, i guess you could do querys to the system tables to get that, or use awk to get the bits you want =) )
> I just this the postgres team has don an excelent work so far.
>
> Reply.
> > Any idea to get a human readable list with column descriptions like
> > type,size,key,default,null.
> > It would be nice if it would look simular to the mysql variant:
> >
> > mysql> describe employee;
> > +-----------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> > | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
> > +-----------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> > | Id | int(11) | | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |
> > | FirstName | char(30) | | MUL | | |
> > | LastName | char(30) | | | | |
> > | Infix | char(10) | YES | | NULL | |
> > | Address1 | char(30) | YES | | NULL | |
> > | PostCode | char(10) | YES | | NULL | |
> > | Town | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |
> > +-----------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> >
> > Cheers, Ron.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> ICQ: 15605359 Bicho
> =^..^=
> First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. Mahatma Gandhi.
> ........Por que no pensaran los hombres como los animales? Pink Panther........
> -------------------------------気検体の一致------------------------------------
> 暑さ寒さも彼岸まで。
> アン アン アン とっても大好き

--
ICQ: 15605359 Bicho
=^..^=
First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. Mahatma Gandhi.
........Por que no pensaran los hombres como los animales? Pink Panther........
-------------------------------気検体の一致------------------------------------
暑さ寒さも彼岸まで。
アン アン アン とっても大好き