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Dbeaver - What Is The Reason For Not Working of 'Describe' Command On Oracle - Stack Overflow

The describe command is not a native SQL statement and will not work in all SQL clients like DBeaver, as it is a client-side command specific to SQL*Plus and a few other clients like SQL Developer and Toad. To view table details in DBeaver, users need to highlight the table object and press F4 or use another method supported by the specific client like described in a DBeaver forum post.

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610 views2 pages

Dbeaver - What Is The Reason For Not Working of 'Describe' Command On Oracle - Stack Overflow

The describe command is not a native SQL statement and will not work in all SQL clients like DBeaver, as it is a client-side command specific to SQL*Plus and a few other clients like SQL Developer and Toad. To view table details in DBeaver, users need to highlight the table object and press F4 or use another method supported by the specific client like described in a DBeaver forum post.

Uploaded by

soydeyudru
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is the reason for not working of 'describe' command on

oracle?
Asked 7 years, 6 months ago Modified 1 month ago Viewed 34k times

i am trying to run the 'describe table_name' command on oracle. I am using dbeaver for accessing oracle.
But, when i run the command, it shows SQLException and error message "invalid sql statement". How can
8 i perform the operation?

oracle dbeaver

Share Improve this question Follow asked May 10, 2016 at 8:57
NIDHEESH KRISHNA
147 1 1 10

try using desc <schema_name>.<table_name>; – Chaitanya K May 10, 2016 at 9:10

I tried it, but the error still occurs – NIDHEESH KRISHNA May 10, 2016 at 9:14

can you check this link its blocked for me :( google.co.in/… – Chaitanya K May 10, 2016 at 10:26

1 Describe is a client command, not native SQL, so if your client doesn't support it you may need to roll your own
equivalent. – Alex Poole May 10, 2016 at 10:36

hi chaitanya, the link provided you shows the content: DESCRIBE is a keyword from MySQL. Also it is a command in
SQLPlus tool.DBeaver doesn't support SQLPlus syntax (however you may execute SQL*Plus scripts directly from
DBeaver using Tools->Execute Script context menu action). – NIDHEESH KRISHNA May 10, 2016 at 10:45

4 Answers Sorted by: Highest score (default)

describe is not a SQL statement, otherwise it would have been documented in the SQL language
reference:
10
https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SQLRF/toc.htm

The documentation for the describe command can be found in the SQL*Plus command reference:

https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SQPUG/ch_twelve001.htm#SQPUG023

which means it is only available in SQL*Plus (and probably in SQL Developer as well). It is a client side
command and thus the SQL client you are using needs to support it.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered May 10, 2016 at 13:55
user330315

1 It is supported in Toad, too. (Toad for Oracle 12.10 as of now) – Jonathan Bergeron Jun 22, 2021 at 13:11
Highlight the object and press f4 , this would give you the table/object details

https://dbeaver.io/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1937
4
as @a_horse_with_no_name has already said desc is not a SQL statement. So we can use this shortcut for
that

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Feb 7, 2019 at 8:38


deepakguna
145 3 16

I just tried it on SQL Developer and it worked. Maybe it wasn't available before, but certainly is SQL
Developer 19.1.
1
Share Improve this answer Follow answered May 8, 2019 at 13:53
Rafael Moreno
11 3

it works on the SQL Developer VM downloaded from Oracle. – mLstudent33 Feb 26, 2020 at 0:32

DESC[RIBE] command is an SQL*Plus command only, even if you try it in SQL Developer it will not work !

Source : https://ss64.com/ora/desc.html
-2
Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jun 23, 2017 at 2:47
wassimoo
1 3

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