Shape / inspect · All operations

List tables and other catalog objects

A variant of List columns and types

List the databases, schemas, tables, views, functions or types a connection or session holds.

Status

In arcform

Runs as a SQL step

arcform carries it as a sql: step today.

The DuckDB step

List the databases, schemas, tables, views, functions and types a session holds

It reads the orders table the proofs share. Create it first:

SQL
CREATE TABLE orders AS SELECT * FROM (VALUES
  (1,  'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-03', 120.00, 'widget', 'a|b',   '{"channel":"web","items":[1,2]}'),
  (2,  'alice ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-05',  80.50, 'gadget', 'b',     '{"channel":"shop","items":[3]}'),
  (3,  'Bob  Okafor',   'south', DATE '2026-01-05', 300.00, 'widget', 'a|c',   '{"channel":"web","items":[4,5,6]}'),
  (4,  'Carla Díaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-09',  NULL,  'gizmo',  NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[]}'),
  (5,  'Bob Okafor',    'south', DATE '2026-01-12',  45.25, 'gadget', 'c',     '{"channel":"phone","items":[7]}'),
  (6,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-01-12', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (7,  'Carla Diaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-20',  99.99, 'gizmo',  'b|c',   '{"channel":"shop","items":[10]}'),
  (8,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-02-02', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (9,  'Eve Larsen',    NULL,    DATE '2026-02-03',  15.00, 'gadget', NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[11]}'),
  (10, 'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-02-10', 220.00, 'gizmo',  'a|b|c', '{"channel":"phone","items":[12,13]}')
) t(order_id, customer, region, order_date, amount, product, tags, meta);

Then run the statement:

SQL
CREATE SCHEMA staging;
CREATE TABLE staging.events (id INTEGER);
CREATE VIEW order_totals AS SELECT customer, sum(amount) AS total FROM orders GROUP BY customer;
CREATE TYPE region_name AS ENUM ('north', 'south');
CREATE MACRO double_it(x) AS x * 2;
CREATE TEMP TABLE databases AS SELECT database_name FROM duckdb_databases() WHERE NOT internal;
CREATE TEMP TABLE schemas AS
SELECT schema_name FROM duckdb_schemas() WHERE database_name = current_database() AND schema_name NOT IN ('information_schema', 'pg_catalog');
CREATE TEMP TABLE tables AS
SELECT schema_name, table_name FROM duckdb_tables() WHERE database_name = current_database() AND NOT internal;
CREATE TEMP TABLE views AS
SELECT schema_name, view_name FROM duckdb_views() WHERE database_name = current_database() AND NOT internal;
CREATE TEMP TABLE functions AS
SELECT function_name, function_type FROM duckdb_functions() WHERE function_name = 'double_it';
CREATE TEMP TABLE types AS
SELECT type_name, logical_type FROM duckdb_types() WHERE database_name = current_database() AND NOT internal;
SELECT schema_name, table_name FROM tables ORDER BY ALL;
SELECT schema_name, view_name FROM views ORDER BY ALL;
SELECT CASE WHEN ((SELECT count(*) FROM databases WHERE database_name = current_database()) = 1 AND (SELECT list(schema_name ORDER BY schema_name) FROM schemas) = ['main', 'staging'] AND (SELECT list((schema_name, table_name) ORDER BY schema_name, table_name) FROM tables) = [('main', 'customers'), ('main', 'orders'), ('main', 'prices'), ('staging', 'events')] AND (SELECT list((schema_name, view_name)) FROM views) = [('main', 'order_totals')] AND (SELECT list((function_name, function_type)) FROM functions) = [('double_it', 'macro')] AND (SELECT list((type_name, logical_type)) FROM types) = [('region_name', 'ENUM')]) THEN 'as expected' ELSE error('the catalog did not list the three fixture tables and staging.events, the order_totals view, the double_it macro and the region_name type') END AS verdict;
  • It needs nothing installed beyond DuckDB itself.
  • The statement checks its own result and raises an error when it is wrong: “the catalog did not list the three fixture tables and staging.events, the order_totals view, the double_it macro and the region_name type”.
  • It passed on DuckDB v2.0.0 (Cyanoptera) d54cbbe3df.

What other tools call it

Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 95.7% of 324 rows (variant, version 3).

Apache DataFusion (4)
Apache Hop (2)
  • Get table namesread 2026-09-27

    List the schemas, tables, views, procedures and synonyms of a database connection

  • JDBC Metadataread 2026-09-27

    Fetch catalogs, schemas, tables, columns and keys through JDBC metadata calls

dbt-utils (2)
DuckDB (8)
  • List tables, databases, or a table's columns

  • duckdb_coordinate_systemsread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_coordinate_systems table function

  • duckdb_databasesread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_databases table function

  • duckdb_schemasread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_schemas table function

  • duckdb_sequencesread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_sequences table function

  • duckdb_tablesread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_tables table function

  • duckdb_typesread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_types table function

  • duckdb_viewsread 2026-09-27

    duckdb_views table function

Pentaho Data Integration (2)
  • Get table namesread 2026-09-27

    List the table names of a database connection as rows

  • Read metadataread 2026-09-27

    Read metadata about resources from Pentaho Data Catalog

Talend (1)
VisiData (2)
  • sheets-allread 2026-09-23

    Open Sheets Sheet: one row per sheet opened this session

  • sheets-stackread 2026-09-23

    Open Sheets Stack: one row per active sheet; jump, join, reorder or close them

Background

A database catalog holds metadata defining a database's objects, such as its base tables, views, synonyms, value ranges, indexes, users and user groups.[1] In DuckDB, SHOW DATABASES lists all attached databases, and SHOW SCHEMAS lists the schemas across non-internal databases.[2] In SQLite, every database contains a single schema table, sqlite_schema, with one row for each table, index, view and trigger.[3]

When to use it

In DuckDB, duckdb_databases() lists the databases accessible from within the current DuckDB process, including those attached after startup.[4] List the catalogue first when you arrive at an unfamiliar database or attach a new file, so you know which schemas and tables exist before you describe any one of them. (Meridian's view)

In DuckDB, the duckdb_views() table function returns all views, including those marked internal, while the duckdb_views view returns only views not marked internal.[4] In DuckDB, omitting the parentheses from a duckdb_ table function call may still return a result, from the identically named view.[4] In DuckDB, duckdb_tables() returns base tables, while information_schema.tables also includes views.[4] In DuckDB, a temporary table is not persisted and is visible only within the current connection, and duckdb_tables() marks one in its temporary column.[4]

The method

In DuckDB, the duckdb_ metadata table functions reside in the main schema, and the result of each can be used like an ordinary table or view in a FROM clause.[4] In DuckDB, the sql column of duckdb_tables() gives each table's definition as a CREATE TABLE statement.[4] In DuckDB, SHOW SCHEMAS has a current column marking the default schema, which is set with the USE statement.[2]

In SQLite, the sql column of sqlite_schema stores SQL text that would recreate the object, usually a normalised copy of the original CREATE statement.[3] In SQLite, UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints cause internal indexes to be created with names of the form sqlite_autoindex_TABLE_N, and their sql column is NULL.[3] In SQLite, the schema table is created with the database and modified as users run data definition language (DDL) statements, and users who modify it themselves risk database corruption.[3]