Name

SHOW TABLES

Synopsis

SHOW [OPEN] TABLES [FROM database] [LIKE 'pattern']

This statement displays a list of tables. For a listing of tables that is currently being used by queries, add the OPEN flag. The tables shown will not include temporary tables and will be from the current default database. To list tables from another database, add the FROM clause along with the name of the database. You can reduce the list of tables to ones with a name meeting a given naming pattern. As of Version 5.0.1 of MySQL, the results set will include tables and views for the database. It will also include a second column to specify whether a row is for a table or a view. This is indicated by the values of BASE TABLE and VIEW, respectively.

SHOW TABLES FROM workrequests LIKE 'work%';

This statement will list all of the tables and views (if the server is running Version 5.0.1 or higher) with a name that begins with the word “work,” for the database workrequests. Incidentally, by default, only tables for which the user has privileges will be listed.

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