Subject: RFC: standard SQL syntax for querying database information

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 19:57:19 +0200 (IST)

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a standard SQL syntax for retrieving a
list of the tables inside a database; the fields of a table; enumerate the
types which are supported by the database implementation; or the SQL
functions which are supported and the parameters they accept.

Now, from what I know this feature may be supported by some databases but
is not standard. For example, MySQL has the SHOW SQL keyword which can be
used for some of those tasks. PostgreSQL, on the other hand, has some
system tables which can be queried by normal SELECT statements for this
information. From what I remember from the MS-Jet database (i.e: the one
that is used by MS-Access), it has some API functions that do that, but
nothing at the SQL level.

Does anybody knows if the ANSI SQL 99 standard contains guidelines for
this? The standard is not available on-line and I don't have a physical
copy available so I cannot tell.

If not, maybe it would be a good idea to form a working group that will
suggest a unified syntax for this kind of thing. It would remove a lot of
cross-database compatibility issues.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

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Shlomi Fish        [email-masked] 
Home Page:         http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
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