DESCRIBE FUNCTION

Describes the specified user-defined function (UDF) or external function, including the signature (i.e. arguments), return value, language, and body (i.e. definition).

DESCRIBE can be abbreviated to DESC.

See also:

DROP FUNCTION , ALTER FUNCTION , CREATE FUNCTION , SHOW USER FUNCTIONS , SHOW EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS

Syntax

DESC[RIBE] FUNCTION <name> ( [ <arg_data_type> ] [ , ... ] )
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Parameters

name

Specifies the identifier for the function to describe. If the identifier contains spaces or special characters, the entire string must be enclosed in double quotes. Identifiers enclosed in double quotes are also case-sensitive.

arg_data_type [ , ... ]

Specifies the data type of the argument(s), if any, for the function. The argument data types are necessary because functions support name overloading (i.e. two functions in the same schema can have the same name) and the argument data types are used to identify the function.

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 FUNCTION command:

DESC FUNCTION multiply(number, number);

-----------+----------------------------------+
 property  |              value               |
-----------+----------------------------------+
 signature | (a NUMBER(38,0), b NUMBER(38,0)) |
 returns   | NUMBER(38,0)                     |
 language  | SQL                              |
 body      | a * b                            |
-----------+----------------------------------+
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Language: English