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>
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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 pipe operator (->>) or the RESULT_SCAN function. Both constructs treat the output as a result set that you can query.

    The output column names for this command are generated in lowercase. If you consume a result set from this command with the pipe operator or the RESULT_SCAN function, use double-quoted identifiers for the column names in the query to ensure that they match the column names in the output that was scanned. For example, if the name of an output column is type, then specify "type" for the identifier.

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;
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+-------------------------------+--------------------+--------+
| 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

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