How do I find out what tables are on the database?

Hi,

I have been wondering about this for some time and I can't seem to get it. I want to be able to go

SELECT sysadm.systables;

or something and it will show me all the tables in the database. It would also be great to have a way of finding out what fields are in each table, instead of having to go

SELECT * FROM address;

and break it halfway through to find out what the fields are.

I am using and Oracle 8i database (I think).

The accessible tables are stored in ALL_TABLES or USER_TABLES

The column definitions are stored in ALL_TAB_COLUMNS or USER_TAB_COLUMNS

I don't now what kind of client you are using, but in SQL*Plus you can also do a DESC address to get the table's definition

How do i query the last 10 rows from the table?

I'm not sure what you mean with "last 10 rows" as tables don't have a last and a first row. But I'm assuming you can order them somehow, but

SELECT *
FROM (SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY column)
WHERE ROWNUM < 11

should do what you want.

Thanks heaps!

So how did you know that ALL_TABLES exists? Is there a table with the system tables in it? I'm thinking there are other tables like ALL_TABLES that would be useful - where can I find out about them?

This is all documented in the manuals, it really helps to read them

For 8.1.7 it's here: http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/...1/doc/index.htm
For the current releases you can find it here: http://otn.oracle.com/documentation/index.html

And of course on your installation CD

thanks anyway

i managed to get it thank you

actually the above query doesn't really return the last 10 rows it will still return the 10 rows

it should be

Select * from table_name where rownum < 11 order by column_name desc