How Do I Retrieve Column Names from a Table in SQL Server 2008?

Accessing SQL Server 2008 Table Column Names

This guide demonstrates how to obtain the column names from a table within SQL Server 2008. The INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS system table provides this information.

SQL Query:

<code class="language-sql">USE [YourDatabaseName];
SELECT COLUMN_NAME, *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'YourTableName' AND TABLE_SCHEMA = 'YourSchemaName';</code>

Details:

• USE [YourDatabaseName]; selects the database containing your target table. Replace [YourDatabaseName] with your actual database name.
• SELECT COLUMN_NAME, *; retrieves the column name (COLUMN_NAME) and all other column details. The * wildcard is included for completeness, but you can remove it if you only need the column names.
• FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS; specifies the system table holding column information.
• WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'YourTableName'; filters results to only include columns from the specified table. Replace 'YourTableName' with your table's name.
• AND TABLE_SCHEMA = 'YourSchemaName'; further refines the results to columns within the specified schema. Replace 'YourSchemaName' with your schema name (often dbo). If you omit this, the query will search across all schemas.

This query provides a comprehensive method for retrieving column names and associated metadata in SQL Server 2008. Remember to substitute the placeholders with your specific database, table, and schema names.

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