DESCRIBE DATABASE¶
Describes the database. For example, shows the schemas in the database.
DESCRIBE can be abbreviated to DESC.
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:
ALTER DATABASE , CREATE DATABASE , DROP DATABASE , SHOW DATABASES , UNDROP DATABASE
DATABASES view (Information Schema)
Syntax¶
DESC[RIBE] DATABASE <database_name>
Parameters¶
database_name
Specifies the identifier of the database to describe.
Usage notes¶
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.
Examples¶
This demonstrates the DESCRIBE DATABASE command:
CREATE DATABASE desc_demo;
CREATE SCHEMA sample_schema_1;
CREATE SCHEMA sample_schema_2;
DESCRIBE DATABASE desc_demo;
+-------------------------------+--------------------+--------+
| created_on | name | kind |
|-------------------------------+--------------------+--------|
| 2022-06-23 00:00:00.000 -0700 | INFORMATION_SCHEMA | SCHEMA |
| 2022-06-23 00:00:00.000 -0700 | PUBLIC | SCHEMA |
| 2022-06-23 01:00:00.000 -0700 | SAMPLE_SCHEMA_1 | SCHEMA |
| 2022-06-23 02:00:00.000 -0700 | SAMPLE_SCHEMA_2 | SCHEMA |
+-------------------------------+--------------------+--------+
Alternate interfaces¶
Snowflake REST APIs
Fetch a database endpoint
Snowflake Python APIs
Snowflake CLI
snow object describe command