MySQL 5.1 Database Reference Guide :: 23.2 The INFORMATION

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23.2. The `INFORMATION_SCHEMA TABLES` Table

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The TABLES table provides information about tables in databases.

`INFORMATION_SCHEMA` Name	`SHOW` Name	Remarks
`TABLE_CATALOG`		`NULL`
`TABLE_SCHEMA`	`Table_`...
`TABLE_NAME`	`Table_`...
`TABLE_TYPE`
`ENGINE`	`Engine`	MySQL extension
`VERSION`	`Version`	MySQL extension
`ROW_FORMAT`	`Row_format`	MySQL extension
`TABLE_ROWS`	`Rows`	MySQL extension
`AVG_ROW_LENGTH`	`Avg_row_length`	MySQL extension
`DATA_LENGTH`	`Data_length`	MySQL extension
`MAX_DATA_LENGTH`	`Max_data_length`	MySQL extension
`INDEX_LENGTH`	`Index_length`	MySQL extension
`DATA_FREE`	`Data_free`	MySQL extension
`AUTO_INCREMENT`	`Auto_increment`	MySQL extension
`CREATE_TIME`	`Create_time`	MySQL extension
`UPDATE_TIME`	`Update_time`	MySQL extension
`CHECK_TIME`	`Check_time`	MySQL extension
`TABLE_COLLATION`	`Collation`	MySQL extension
`CHECKSUM`	`Checksum`	MySQL extension
`CREATE_OPTIONS`	`Create_options`	MySQL extension
`TABLE_COMMENT`	`Comment`	MySQL extension

Notes:

TABLE_SCHEMA and TABLE_NAME are a single field in a SHOW display, for example Table_in_db1.
TABLE_TYPE should be BASE TABLE or VIEW. If table is temporary, then TABLE_TYPE = TEMPORARY. (There are no temporary views, so this is not ambiguous.)
The TABLE_ROWS column is NULL if the table is in the INFORMATION_SCHEMA database. For InnoDB tables, the row count is only a rough estimate used in SQL optimization.
We have nothing for the table's default character set. TABLE_COLLATION is close, because collation names begin with a character set name.

The following statements are equivalent:

SELECT table_name FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
  [WHERE table_schema = 'db_name']
  [WHERE|AND table_name LIKE 'wild']

SHOW TABLES
  [FROM db_name]
  [LIKE 'wild']

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23.2. The INFORMATION_SCHEMA TABLES Table

23.2. The `INFORMATION_SCHEMA TABLES` Table