## Notes 

The COLLATION_CHARACTER_SET_APPLICABILITY  columns are equivalent to the first two columns displayed by the SHOW COLLATION  statement. 

## 26.3.8 The INFORMATION_SCHEMA COLUMNS Table 

The COLUMNS  table provides information about columns in tables. The related ST_GEOMETRY_COLUMNS table provides information about table columns that store spatial data. See Section 26.3.35, “The INFORMATION_SCHEMA ST_GEOMETRY_COLUMNS Table” . 

The COLUMNS  table has these columns: 

## • TABLE_CATALOG 

The name of the catalog to which the table containing the column belongs. This value is always def . 

## • TABLE_SCHEMA 

The name of the schema (database) to which the table containing the column belongs. 

## • TABLE_NAME 

The name of the table containing the column. 

## • COLUMN_NAME 

The name of the column. 

## • ORDINAL_POSITION 

The position of the column within the table. ORDINAL_POSITION  is necessary because you might want to say ORDER BY ORDINAL_POSITION . Unlike SHOW COLUMNS , SELECT  from the COLUMNS  table does not have automatic ordering. 

## • COLUMN_DEFAULT 

The default value for the column. This is NULL  if the column has an explicit default of NULL , or if the column definition includes no DEFAULT  clause. 

## • IS_NULLABLE 

The column nullability. The value is YES  if NULL  values can be stored in the column, NO  if not. 

## • DATA_TYPE 

The column data type. 

The DATA_TYPE  value is the type name only with no other information. The COLUMN_TYPE  value contains the type name and possibly other information such as the precision or length. 

## • CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH 

For string columns, the maximum length in characters. 

## • CHARACTER_OCTET_LENGTH 

For string columns, the maximum length in bytes. 

## • NUMERIC_PRECISION 

