Select Column Information using SQL Server
Use this T-SQL to select infomation about a specific table/columns, Useful for automated scripts.
DECLARE @tablename varchar(100)
SET @tablename = N'myTable'
SELECT
clmns.name AS [Name],
usrt.name AS [DataType],
ISNULL(baset.name, N'') AS [SystemType],
CAST(CASE WHEN baset.name IN (N'nchar', N'nvarchar') AND clmns.max_length <> -1 THEN
clmns.max_length/2 ELSE clmns.max_length END AS int) AS [Length],
CAST(clmns.precision AS int) AS [NumericPrecision]
FROM
sys.tables AS tbl
INNER JOIN sys.all_columns AS clmns ON clmns.object_id=tbl.object_id
LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.types AS usrt ON usrt.user_type_id = clmns.user_type_id
LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.types AS baset ON baset.user_type_id = clmns.system_type_id and
baset.user_type_id = baset.system_type_id
WHERE
(tbl.name=@tablename and SCHEMA_NAME(tbl.schema_id)=N'dbo')
ORDER BY
clmns.column_id ASC
By the way, I worked this out using SQL Profiler. I switched on a trace and then clicked on a table to show columns. The trace then showed some SQL similar to this (more complex) and I just rendered down what I needed.
The point I am making is that SQL Profiler turned out to be a handy resource on the sys schema.
Then again it has been pointed out to me that the following is also valid:
select column_name, data_type, character_maximum_length from information_schema.columns
where table_name = 'myTable'