Get table column names in MySQL?

Question

Is there a way to grab the columns name of a table in MySQL using PHP?

Answer 1

You can use DESCRIBE:

DESCRIBE my_table; 

Or in newer versions you can use INFORMATION_SCHEMA:

SELECT COLUMN_NAME   FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS   WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'my_database' AND TABLE_NAME = 'my_table'; 

Or you can use SHOW COLUMNS:

SHOW COLUMNS FROM my_table; 

Or to get column names with comma in a line:

SELECT group_concat(COLUMN_NAME)   FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS   WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'my_database' AND TABLE_NAME = 'my_table';