db.describe - GRASS GIS manual
Author: GRASS Development Team
Description: db.describe: Describes a table in detail.
Keywords: database, attribute table

## NAME

db.describe - Describes a table in detail.

## KEYWORDS

database, attribute table

## SYNOPSIS

db.describe
db.describe --help
db.describe [-ct] table=name [driver=name] [database=name] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

### Flags:

-c
  Print column names only instead of full column descriptions
-t
  Print table structure
--help
  Print usage summary
--verbose
  Verbose module output
--quiet
  Quiet module output
--ui
  Force launching GUI dialog

### Parameters:

table=name [required]
  Name of attribute table
driver=name
  Name of database driver
  Options: dbf, ogr, pg, sqlite
  Default: sqlite
database=name
  Name of database
  Default: $GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/$MAPSET/sqlite/sqlite.db

## DESCRIPTION

db.describe displays table information. If parameter -c is used only column names instead of full column descriptions is given.

## NOTE

If parameters for database connection are already set with db.connect, they are taken as default values and do not need to be spcified each time.

## EXAMPLES

List column descriptions of table in SQLite database (note that this is the default setting)

    db.describe driver=sqlite table=hospitals \
       database='$GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/$MAPSET/sqlite/sqlite.db'

    # or simply
    db.describe myarchsites

### DBF example

    db.describe -c table=hospitals database='$GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/PERMANENT/dbf/' \
                driver=dbf
    ncols: 16
    nrows: 160
    Column 1: cat:INTEGER:11
    Column 2: OBJECTID:INTEGER:11
    Column 3: AREA:DOUBLE PRECISION:20
    [...]

    db.describe table=hospitals database='$GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/PERMANENT/dbf/' \
                driver=dbf
    table:hospitals
    description:
    insert:yes
    delete:yes
    ncols:16
    nrows:160

    column:cat
    description:
    type:INTEGER
    len:11
    scale:0
    precision:10
    default:
    nullok:yes
    select:yes
    update:yes

    column:OBJECTID
    description:
    type:INTEGER
    [...]

## SEE ALSO

db.columns, db.droptable, db.execute, db.login, db.tables, GRASS SQL interface

## AUTHOR

Radim Blazek, ITC-Irst, Trento, Italy

## SOURCE CODE

Available at: db.describe source code (history)

Accessed: Sunday Jun 28 03:48:30 2026

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