The information_schema database

The information_schema database (often called I_S for brevity) is a virtual database that contains informative tables. These tables can be divided into several groups:

  • Metadata tables: Tables such as SCHEMATA, TABLES, and COLUMNS contain information about the structure of databases, tables, columns, and so on.
  • Status and variables tables: The GLOBAL_VARIABLES and SESSION_VARIABLES tables list the values of the server's system variables. The GLOBAL_STATUS and SESSION_STATUS tables provide information about the operations performed by the server.
  • Privilege tables: The tables whose names end with _PRIVILEGES indicate users that have various permissions on objects.
  • The PROFILING table: This table can be used to monitor ...

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