How can you see field comments from mysql client?

Question

I would like to see individual fields comments. Typically something I would expect from "describe" parameters.

mysql> describe metrics;
+-------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id    | int(10) unsigned    | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| ty    | int(10) unsigned    | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| t     | bigint(20) unsigned | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| s     | int(10) unsigned    | NO   |     | 60000   |                |
| e     | int(10) unsigned    | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| c     | int(10) unsigned    | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+-------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

score 101 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 02 '12 at 11:38

101

show full columns from <table_name>

This is the output:

| Field | Type | Collation | Null | Key | Default | Extra | Privileges | Comment

I hope this is useful for you

edited Oct 02 '12 at 11:38

fancyPants

50,732
33
89
96

answered Oct 02 '12 at 09:04

Karl

1,026
2
8
2

Lukas Eder · Answer 2 · 2015-05-26T20:02:31.243

12

This query will give you much more information than the describe statement:

SELECT * 
FROM information_schema.columns 
WHERE table_name = 'metrics'
AND table_schema = '...' -- Optionally, filter the schema as well, to avoid conflicts

edited May 26 '15 at 20:02

answered Oct 20 '11 at 11:16

Lukas Eder

211,314
129
689
1,509

you need search DB **table_schema**, a example: `WHERE table_name = 'my_table' and table_schema = 'my_db'` – KingRider May 26 '15 at 19:23
@KingRider: You're right, thanks. That would be more complete. I've updated the answer. – Lukas Eder May 26 '15 at 20:01

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 03 '17 at 04:01

10

always You could use:

show create table <tablename>

answered Mar 03 '17 at 04:01

Marek Lisiecki

199
3
4

Doesn't give you comments in a parsable format – TheRealChx101 May 18 '22 at 21:29

How can you see field comments from mysql client?

3 Answers3

Linked