We can get column descriptions or extended properties in SQL Server using different approaches. In this article, I will walk you through multiple approaches to do this.
How To Get Column Description In SQL Server
Let us discuss all those approaches individually.
Approach-1: Using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
To get column description in SQL Server, follow the steps below.
1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your SQL server database instance.
2. Expand the Databases folder, and then expand the specific database folder, right-click on the table name, and then select the Design option as shown in the screenshot below.
3. See the Column Properties section as shown below.
Approach-2: Using INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
We can query INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS like below.
SELECT COLUMN_NAME, DATA_TYPE, CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'AzureUSA'After executing the above query, I got the expected output, as shown in the screenshot below.
Approach-3: Using sys.extended_properties
We can also query the sys.extended_properties using the below query.
SELECT
c.name AS ColumnName,
ep.value AS ColumnDescription
FROM sys.columns c
LEFT JOIN sys.extended_properties ep ON ep.major_id = c.object_id
AND ep.minor_id = c.column_id
WHERE c.object_id = OBJECT_ID('AzureUSA')After executing the above query, I got the expected output, as shown in the screenshot shown below.
Approach-4: Using sp_help stored procedure
We can also execute the sp_help stored procedure like the one below for this purpose.
EXEC sp_help 'AzureUSA'After executing the above query, I got the column description details below, as shown in the screenshot below.
Conclusion
As a developer or SQL DBA, you should know the ways to get column description in SQL Server. You can use any of the approaches mentioned in this article to achieve this.
You may also like following the articles below.
- How To Check SQL Server Edition
- How To Backup A Table In SQL Server
- How To Check Stored Procedure Execution History In SQL Server
- How To Check Datatype Of Column In SQL Server
I am Bijay having more than 15 years of experience in the Software Industry. During this time, I have worked on MariaDB and used it in a lot of projects. Most of our readers are from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Want to learn MariaDB? Check out all the articles and tutorials that I wrote on MariaDB. Also, I am a Microsoft MVP.
