> This page location: Administration Tips > Describe Table > Full Neon documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt # PostgreSQL Describe Table **Summary**: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the `psql` tool and `information_schema` to describe tables in PostgreSQL. If you have been using MySQL, you typically use the [`DESCRIBE`](https://www.mysqltutorial.org/mysql-administration/mysql-show-columns/) statement to find the information about a table. PostgreSQL does not support the `DESCRIBE`statement. However, you can query the information in columns of a table in a couple of ways. ## 1) PostgreSQL DESCRIBE TABLE using psql First, [connect to the PostgreSQL server](../postgresql-getting-started/connect-to-postgresql-database) using the `psql` tool: ```shell psql -U postgres ``` It'll prompt you to enter a password for the `postgres` user. Second, change the current database to `dvdrental` [sample database](../postgresql-getting-started/postgresql-sample-database): ``` \c dvdrental ``` Third, execute the `\d table_name` to or `\d+ table_name` to show the structure of a table. For example, the following shows the structure of the `film` table in the sample database: ``` \d film ``` Output: ``` Table "public.film" Column | Type | Collation | Nullable | Default ------------------+-----------------------------+-----------+----------+--------------------------------------- film_id | integer | | not null | nextval('film_film_id_seq'::regclass) title | character varying(255) | | not null | description | text | | | release_year | year | | | language_id | smallint | | not null | rental_duration | smallint | | not null | 3 rental_rate | numeric(4,2) | | not null | 4.99 length | smallint | | | replacement_cost | numeric(5,2) | | not null | 19.99 rating | mpaa_rating | | | 'G'::mpaa_rating last_update | timestamp without time zone | | not null | now() special_features | text[] | | | fulltext | tsvector | | not null | Indexes: "film_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (film_id) "film_fulltext_idx" gist (fulltext) "idx_fk_language_id" btree (language_id) "idx_title" btree (title) Foreign-key constraints: "film_language_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY (language_id) REFERENCES language(language_id) ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE RESTRICT Referenced by: TABLE "film_actor" CONSTRAINT "film_actor_film_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY (film_id) REFERENCES film(film_id) ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE RESTRICT TABLE "film_category" CONSTRAINT "film_category_film_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY (film_id) REFERENCES film(film_id) ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE RESTRICT TABLE "inventory" CONSTRAINT "inventory_film_id_fkey" FOREIGN KEY (film_id) REFERENCES film(film_id) ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE RESTRICT Triggers: film_fulltext_trigger BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON film FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION tsvector_update_trigger('fulltext', 'pg_catalog.english', 'title', 'description') last_updated BEFORE UPDATE ON film FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION last_updated() ``` The command returns a lot of information on the structure of the `film` table. Additionally, it returns [indexes](../postgresql-indexes), [foreign key constraints](../postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-foreign-key), and [triggers](../postgresql-triggers). ## 2) PostgreSQL DESCRIBE TABLE using information_schema The `information_schema.columns` catalog contains the information on columns of all tables. To get information on columns of a table, you query the `information_schema.columns` catalog. For example: ```sql SELECT column_name, data_type, character_maximum_length, is_nullable, column_default FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = 'film'; ``` Output: ``` column_name | data_type | character_maximum_length | is_nullable | column_default ------------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------+-------------+--------------------------------------- film_id | integer | null | NO | nextval('film_film_id_seq'::regclass) title | character varying | 255 | NO | null description | text | null | YES | null release_year | integer | null | YES | null language_id | smallint | null | NO | null rental_duration | smallint | null | NO | 3 rental_rate | numeric | null | NO | 4.99 length | smallint | null | YES | null replacement_cost | numeric | null | NO | 19.99 rating | USER-DEFINED | null | YES | 'G'::mpaa_rating last_update | timestamp without time zone | null | NO | now() special_features | ARRAY | null | YES | null fulltext | tsvector | null | NO | null (13 rows) ``` Note that the `SELECT *` from the `information_schema.columns` will retrieve a comprehensive set of information. ## Summary - Use the `\d table_name` to show the structure of the table using `psql`. - Query data from the `information_schema.columns` to retrieve the column information. --- ## Related docs (Administration Tips) - [Reset Password](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-reset-password) - [Show Databases](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-show-databases) - [Show Tables](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-show-tables) - [Practical psql Commands](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/psql-commands) - [Restart PostgreSQL on Windows](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/restart-postgresql-windows) - [Restart PostgreSQL on Ubuntu](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-restart-ubuntu) - [Get PostgreSQL Version](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-version) - [Check PostgreSQL Uptime](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-uptime) - [Password File (.pgpass)](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-password-file-pgpass) - [Terminate Backend Connections](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/postgresql-pg_terminate_backend) - [Uninstall PostgreSQL on Ubuntu](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-administration/uninstall-postgresql-ubuntu)