Oopps! I pasted the wrong statement... here is the correct ones: SHOW FIELDS FROM `tbl_accts_xref_groups`; SHOW KEYS FROM `tbl_accts_xref_groups`; Brian ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lynn David Newton" To: Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 6:51 AM Subject: Re: checking presence of table columns in mysql > > >> Since there seems to be some mysql expertise on > >> the list: Does anyone know of a SQL based way to > >> check for the existence of a particular column by > >> name? This came up in work today. I've never been > >> able to do it. I'm not so sure it's possible. > > George> Not purely sql, but close: > George> mysql -uwhomever -ppassword -hhost database -e "describe table" | grep > George> fieldnamee > > George> For example: > George> $ mysql -uuser -ppassword -haaron database -e "describe day" | grep -c > George> create_ts > George> 1 > > Right, I've done that. That's something that's simple > in the shell. I was looking for something that works > through Perl. Yeah, I could run system("blah blah") and > munge the data, but that's so primitive. > > As it turns out, the statement handle attributes in DBI > inherit all the metadata one is likely to be interested > in: number of fields, field names, field types, etc. > That's the sophisticated way to go. > > Thanks for your suggestion. > > -- > Lynn David Newton > Phoenix, AZ > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >