MySQL 显示列有几种方法

今天在写一个数据库查询的时候意外发现 describe 是一个 MySQL 关键字，而他的别名是 DESC 相比前者来说，后者的使用率更高一些.

后来翻了一下官方文档，发现显示列原来有这么多语句，不知道是否出于兼容其他数据库的原因。

mysql> SHOW COLUMNS FROM city;
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| Field       | Type                 | Null | Key | Default           | Extra                       |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| city_id     | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL              | auto_increment              |
| city        | varchar(50)          | NO   |     | NULL              |                             |
| country_id  | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | MUL | NULL              |                             |
| last_update | timestamp            | NO   |     | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.02 sec)

mysql> EXPLAIN city;
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| Field       | Type                 | Null | Key | Default           | Extra                       |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| city_id     | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL              | auto_increment              |
| city        | varchar(50)          | NO   |     | NULL              |                             |
| country_id  | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | MUL | NULL              |                             |
| last_update | timestamp            | NO   |     | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.02 sec)

mysql> DESC city;
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| Field       | Type                 | Null | Key | Default           | Extra                       |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| city_id     | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL              | auto_increment              |
| city        | varchar(50)          | NO   |     | NULL              |                             |
| country_id  | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | MUL | NULL              |                             |
| last_update | timestamp            | NO   |     | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.03 sec)

mysql> DESCRIBE city;
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| Field       | Type                 | Null | Key | Default           | Extra                       |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
| city_id     | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL              | auto_increment              |
| city        | varchar(50)          | NO   |     | NULL              |                             |
| country_id  | smallint(5) unsigned | NO   | MUL | NULL              |                             |
| last_update | timestamp            | NO   |     | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP |
+-------------+----------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.03 sec)