How do you return the column names of a table?

Question

Not sure if there is an easier way in 2008 version.

USE [Database Name]
SELECT COLUMN_NAME,* 
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'YourTableName' AND TABLE_SCHEMA='YourSchemaName'

This is the easiest way

exec sp_columns [tablename]

Something like this?

sp_columns @table_name=your table name

One method is to query syscolumns:

select
   syscolumns.name as [Column],
   syscolumns.xusertype as [Type],
   sysobjects.xtype as [Objtype]
from 
   sysobjects 
inner join 
   syscolumns on sysobjects.id = syscolumns.id
where sysobjects.xtype = 'u'
and   sysobjects.name = 'MyTableName'
order by syscolumns.name

try this

select * from <tablename> where 1=2

...............................................

This seems a bit easier then the above suggestions because it uses the OBJECT_ID() function to locate the table's id. Any column with that id is part of the table.

SELECT * 
  FROM syscolumns 
 WHERE id=OBJECT_ID('YOUR_TABLE') 

I commonly use a similar query to see if a column I know is part of a newer version is present. It is the same query with the addition of {AND name='YOUR_COLUMN'} to the where clause.

IF EXISTS (
        SELECT * 
          FROM syscolumns 
         WHERE id=OBJECT_ID('YOUR_TABLE') 
           AND name='YOUR_COLUMN'
        )
BEGIN
    PRINT 'Column found'
END