SHOW VIEWS¶

Lists the views, including secure views, for which you have access privileges. The command can be used to list views for the current/specified database or schema, or across your entire account.

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

VIEWS view (Information Schema)

Syntax¶

SHOW [ TERSE ] VIEWS [ LIKE '<pattern>' ]
                     [ IN { ACCOUNT | DATABASE [ <db_name> ] | [ SCHEMA ] [ <schema_name> ] | APPLICATION <application_name> | APPLICATION PACKAGE <application_package_name> } ]
                     [ STARTS WITH '<name_string>' ]
                     [ LIMIT <rows> [ FROM '<name_string>' ] ]

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Parameters¶

TERSE

Optionally returns only a subset of the output columns:

created_on
name
kind
database_name
schema_name

Default: No value (all columns are 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).

IN ACCOUNT | [ DATABASE ] db_name | [ SCHEMA ] schema_name | [ APPLICATION ] application_name | [ APPLICATION PACKAGE ] application_package_name

Optionally specifies the scope of the command, which determines whether the command lists records only for the current/specified database or schema, or across your entire account:

The APPLICATION and APPLICATION PACKAGE keywords are not required, but they specify the scope for the named Snowflake Native App.

The DATABASE or SCHEMA keyword is not required; you can set the scope by specifying only the database or schema name. Likewise, the database or schema name is not required if the session currently has a database in use:

If DATABASE or SCHEMA is specified without a name and the session does not currently have a database in use, the parameter has no effect on the output.
If SCHEMA is specified with a name and the session does not currently have a database in use, the schema name must be fully qualified with the database name (e.g. testdb.testschema).

Default: Depends on whether the session currently has a database in use:

Database: DATABASE is the default (i.e. the command returns the objects you have privileges to view in the database).
No database: ACCOUNT is the default (i.e. the command returns the objects you have privileges to view in your account).

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).

Output¶

The command output provides view properties and metadata in the following columns:

Column	Description
created_on	The timestamp at which the view was created.
name	The name of the view.
reserved	(Reserved for future use.)
kind	The kind of view, either `VIEW` or `MATERIALIZED_VIEW`.
database_name	The name of the database in which the view exists.
schema_name	The name of the schema in which the view exists.
owner	The owner of the view.
comment	Optional comment.
text	The text of the command that created the view (e.g. CREATE VIEW …).
is_secure	True if the view is a secure view; false otherwise.
is_materialized	True if the view is a materialized view; false otherwise.
owner_role_type	The type of role that owns the object, for example `ROLE`. . If a Snowflake Native App owns the object, the value is `APPLICATION`. . Snowflake returns NULL if you delete the object because a deleted object does not have an owner role.
change_tracking	Either `ON` or `OFF`. `ON` indicates enabled, and you query the change tracking data using streams or the CHANGES clause for SELECT statements. `OFF` indicates disabled, but you can optionally enable change tracking as needed.

Usage notes¶

By design, the command output includes secure views, but does not provide certain information about these views unless you are using the role that has ownership of the view. To view details for secure views, you must use the role that owns the view or use the VIEWS view in the Information Schema.

The output of this command might include objects with names like SN_TEMP_OBJECT_<n> (where <n> is a number). These are temporary objects that are created by the Snowpark library on behalf of the user.

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 views whose names start with line that you have privileges to see in the mydb.public schema:

SHOW VIEWS LIKE 'line%' IN mydb.public;

+-------------------------------+---------+----------+---------------+-------------+----------+---------+-------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| created_on                    | name    | reserved | database_name | schema_name | owner    | comment | text                                                  | is_secure | is_materialized | change_tracking | owner_role_type |
+-------------------------------+---------+----------+---------------+-------------+----------+---------+-------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| 2019-05-24 18:41:14.247 -0700 | liners1 |          | MYDB          | PUBLIC      | SYSADMIN |         | create materialized views liners1 as select * from t; | false     | false           | on              | ROLE            |
+-------------------------------+---------+----------+---------------+-------------+----------+---------+-------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+

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