SHOW DATABASES

Lists the databases for which you have access privileges across your entire account, including dropped databases that are still within the Time Travel retention period and, therefore, can be undropped.

The output returns database metadata and properties, ordered lexicographically by database name. This is important to note if you wish to filter the results using the provided filters.

Tip

In addition to SQL, you can also use other interfaces, such as Snowflake REST APIs, Snowflake Python APIs, and Snowflake CLI. See Alternate interfaces.

See also:

CREATE DATABASE , ALTER DATABASE , DESCRIBE DATABASE , DROP DATABASE , UNDROP DATABASE

DATABASES view (Information Schema)

Syntax

SHOW [ TERSE ] DATABASES [ HISTORY ] [ LIKE '<pattern>' ]
                                     [ STARTS WITH '<name_string>' ]
                                     [ LIMIT <rows> [ FROM '<name_string>' ] ]
                                     [ WITH PRIVILEGES <object_privilege> [ , <object_privilege> [ , ... ] ] ]
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Parameters

TERSE

Optionally returns output containing only the following columns:

  • created_on

  • name

  • kind

  • database_name

  • schema_name

Note that kind, database_name, and schema_name always display NULL because the columns are not applicable for databases.

Default: No value (all columns are included in the output)

HISTORY

Optionally includes dropped databases that have not yet been purged (i.e. they are still within their respective Time Travel retention periods). If multiple versions of a dropped database exist, the output displays a row for each version. The output also includes an additional dropped_on column, which displays:

  • Date and timestamp (for dropped databases).

  • NULL (for active databases).

Default: No value (dropped databases are not included in the output)

LIKE 'pattern'

Optionally filters the command output by object name. The filter uses case-insensitive pattern matching, with support for SQL wildcard characters (% and _).

For example, the following patterns return the same results:

... LIKE '%testing%' ...
... LIKE '%TESTING%' ...

. Default: No value (no filtering is applied to the output).

STARTS WITH 'name_string'

Optionally filters the command output based on the characters that appear at the beginning of the object name. The string must be enclosed in single quotes and is case-sensitive.

For example, the following strings return different results:

... STARTS WITH 'B' ...
... STARTS WITH 'b' ...

. Default: No value (no filtering is applied to the output)

LIMIT rows [ FROM 'name_string' ]

Optionally limits the maximum number of rows returned, while also enabling “pagination” of the results. The actual number of rows returned might be less than the specified limit. For example, the number of existing objects is less than the specified limit.

The optional FROM 'name_string' subclause effectively serves as a “cursor” for the results. This enables fetching the specified number of rows following the first row whose object name matches the specified string:

  • The string must be enclosed in single quotes and is case-sensitive.

  • The string does not have to include the full object name; partial names are supported.

Default: No value (no limit is applied to the output)

Note

For SHOW commands that support both the FROM 'name_string' and STARTS WITH 'name_string' clauses, you can combine both of these clauses in the same statement. However, both conditions must be met or they cancel out each other and no results are returned.

In addition, objects are returned in lexicographic order by name, so FROM 'name_string' only returns rows with a higher lexicographic value than the rows returned by STARTS WITH 'name_string'.

For example:

  • ... STARTS WITH 'A' LIMIT ... FROM 'B' would return no results.

  • ... STARTS WITH 'B' LIMIT ... FROM 'A' would return no results.

  • ... STARTS WITH 'A' LIMIT ... FROM 'AB' would return results (if any rows match the input strings).

WITH PRIVILEGES object_privilege [ , object_privilege [ , ... ] ]

Optionally limits rows to objects for which the active role for the current user has been granted all of the specified privileges in the list on the object.

If a CREATE <object> privilege is included in the privileges list, the command excludes objects for which secondary roles have been granted privileges. This is because only the primary role has the authorization to create objects. For more information, see Enforcement model with primary role and secondary roles.

OBJECT_VISIBILITY

This new column is appended to the existing views and is reserved for future use. For more information, see DATABASES and SCHEMATA views, and SHOW DATABASES and SHOW SCHEMAS commands: New column in output.

Usage notes

  • The HISTORY and WITH PRIVILEGES parameters are mutually exclusive; they cannot both be used in the same statement.

  • For a personal database, the value in the kind column is PERSONAL DATABASE.

  • The command doesn’t require a running warehouse to execute.

  • The command only returns objects for which the current user’s current role has been granted at least one access privilege.

  • The MANAGE GRANTS access privilege implicitly allows its holder to see every object in the account. By default, only the account administrator (users with the ACCOUNTADMIN role) and security administrator (users with the SECURITYADMIN role) have the MANAGE GRANTS privilege.

  • To post-process the output of this command, you can use the RESULT_SCAN function, which treats the output as a table that can be queried.

  • The value for LIMIT rows can’t exceed 10000. If LIMIT rows is omitted, the command results in an error if the result set is larger than ten thousand rows.

    To view results for which more than ten thousand records exist, either include LIMIT rows or query the corresponding view in the Snowflake Information Schema.

Examples

Show all databases that you have privileges to view in your account:

SHOW DATABASES;
Copy
+---------------------------------+-----------+------------+------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+----------------+----------+----------+-----------------+-------------------+
| created_on                      | name      | is_default | is_current | origin | owner  | comment | options | retention_time | kind     | budget   | owner_role_type | OBJECT_VISIBILITY |
|---------------------------------+-----------+------------+------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+----------------+----------+----------|-----------------|-------------------|
| Tue, 17 Mar 2015 16:57:04 -0700 | MYTESTDB  | N          | Y          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | STANDARD | NULL     | ROLE            | NULL              |
| Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:30:04 -0800 | SALES1    | N          | N          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | STANDARD | NULL     | ROLE            | NULL              |
| Fri, 13 Feb 2015 19:21:49 -0800 | DEMO1     | N          | N          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | STANDARD | MYBUDGET | ROLE            | NULL              |
+---------------------------------+-----------+------------+------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+----------------+----------+----------+-----------------+-------------------+

Show all databases that you have privileges to view in the system, including dropped databases (this example builds on the DROP DATABASE examples):

SHOW DATABASES HISTORY;
Copy
+---------------------------------+-----------+------------+------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+----------------+---------------------------------+----------+----------+-----------------+-------------------+
| created_on                      | name      | is_default | is_current | origin | owner  | comment | options | retention_time | dropped_on                      | kind     | budget   | owner_role_type | OBJECT_VISIBILITY |
|---------------------------------+-----------+------------+------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+----------------+---------------------------------|----------+----------|-----------------|-------------------|
| Tue, 17 Mar 2015 16:57:04 -0700 | MYTESTDB  | N          | Y          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | [NULL]                          | STANDARD | NULL     | ROLE            | NULL              |
| Wed, 25 Feb 2015 17:30:04 -0800 | SALES1    | N          | N          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | [NULL]                          | STANDARD | NULL     | ROLE            | NULL              |
| Fri, 13 Feb 2015 19:21:49 -0800 | DEMO1     | N          | N          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | [NULL]                          | STANDARD | MYBUDGET | ROLE            | NULL              |
| Wed, 25 Feb 2015 16:16:54 -0800 | MYTESTDB2 | N          | N          |        | PUBLIC |         |         | 1              | Fri, 13 May 2016 17:35:09 -0700 | STANDARD | NULL     | ROLE            | NULL              |
+---------------------------------+-----------+------------+------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+----------------+---------------------------------+----------+----------+-----------------+-------------------+

Show all databases that you have been granted the USAGE and MODIFY privileges on:

SHOW DATABASES WITH PRIVILEGES USAGE, MODIFY;
Copy
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+---------+----------------+-------------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| created_on                    | name                                                      | is_default | is_current | origin                                                    | owner        | comment | options | retention_time | kind              | budget       | owner_role_type | OBJECT_VISIBILITY |
|-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+---------+----------------+-------------------+--------------+-----------------|-------------------|
| 2023-01-27 14:33:11.417 -0800 | BOOKS_DB                                                  | N          | N          |                                                           | DATA_ADMIN   |         |         | 1              | STANDARD          | NULL         | ROLE            | NULL              |
| 2023-09-15 15:22:51.111 -0700 | TEST_DB                                                   | N          | N          |                                                           | ACCOUNTADMIN |         |         | 4              | STANDARD          | TEST_BUDGET  | ROLE            | NULL              |
| 2023-08-18 13:33:01.024 -0700 | SNOWFLAKE                                                 | N          | N          | SNOWFLAKE.ACCOUNT_USAGE                                   |              |         |         | 0              | APPLICATION       | NULL         |                 | NULL              |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+------------+------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+---------+----------------+-------------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------+

Alternate interfaces

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