Oracle metadata

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The ORACLE application server and Oracle relational database keep metadata in two areas: data dictionary tables (accessed by built-in functions) and a metadata registry.

The global built-in functions accessing Oracle RDBMS data dictionary tables are:

ALL_TABLES - list of all tables in the current database that are accessible to the current user
ALL_TAB_COLS - list of all columns in the database that are accessible to the current user
ALL_ARGUMENTS - lists the arguments of functions and procedures that are accessible to the current user
ALL_ERRORS - lists descriptions of errors on all stored objects (views, procedures, functions, packages, and package bodies) that are accessible to the current user
ALL_OBJECT_SIZE - included for backward compatibility with Oracle version 5
ALL_PROCEDURES - (from Oracle 9 onwards) lists all functions and procedures (along with associated properties) that are accessible to the current user
ALL_SOURCE - describes the text (i.e. PL/SQL) source of the stored objects accessible to the current user

In addition there are equivalent functions prefixed "USER_" which show only the objects owned by the current user (i.e. a more restricted view of metadata) and prefixed "DBA_" which show all objects in the database (i.e. an unrestricted global view of metadata for the database instance). Naturally the "DBA_" metadata functions require DBA privileges.

1 Example 1: finding tables
2 Example 2: finding columns
3 Example 3: counting rows of columns
4 Use of underscore in table and column names
5 Oracle Metadata Registry
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Example 1: finding tables

Find all Tables that have PATTERN in the table name and are not backup or temporary tables

  SELECT
     TABLE_NAME
  FROM
     ALL_TABLES
  WHERE
     TABLE_NAME LIKE '%PATTERN%'
  ORDER
     BY TABLE_NAME;

[edit] Example 2: finding columns

Find all tables that have at least one column that matches a specific PATTERN in the column name

  SELECT
     TABLE_NAME,
     COLUMN_NAME
  FROM
     ALL_TAB_COLUMNS
  WHERE
     COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%PATTERN%';

[edit] Example 3: counting rows of columns

Count the total number of rows in all tables containing a column name that matches PATTERN ==

  COLUMN DUMMY NOPRINT
  COMPUTE SUM OF NUM_ROWS ON DUMMY
  BREAK ON DUMMY
  SELECT
     NULL DUMMY,
     T.TABLE_NAME,
     C.COLUMN_NAME,
     T.NUM_ROWS
  FROM
     ALL_TABLES T,
     ALL_TAB_COLUMNS C
  WHERE
     T.TABLE_NAME = C.TABLE_NAME
     AND C.COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%PATTERN%'
  ORDER BY T.TABLE_NAME;

[edit] Use of underscore in table and column names

The underscore is a special SQL pattern match to a single character and should be escaped if you are in fact looking for an underscore character in the LIKE clause of a query.

Just add the following after a LIKE statement:

  ESCAPE '_'

And then each literal underscore should be a double underscore: __

Example

  LIKE '%__G' ESCAPE '_'

[edit] Oracle Metadata Registry

The Oracle product Oracle Enterprise Metadata Manager (EMM) is an ISO/IEC 11179 compatible metadata registry. It stores administered metadata in a consistent format that can be used for metadata publishing. As of January 2006, EMM is available only through Oracle consulting services.