我认为在Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio中最简单和最有用的方法是:

EXEC [ServerName].[DatabaseName].dbo.sp_help 'TableName'

在vb60中，你可以这样做:

Public Cn As ADODB.Connection
'open connection
Dim Rs As ADODB.Recordset
 Set Rs = Cn.OpenSchema(adSchemaColumns, Array(Empty, Empty, UCase("Table"), UCase("field")))

'和sample (valRs是rs.fields("CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH").value的函数):

 RT_Charactar_Maximum_Length = (ValRS(Rs, "CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH"))
        rt_Tipo = (ValRS(Rs, "DATA_TYPE"))

在TSQL/MSSQL中，它看起来像:

SELECT t.name, c.name 
FROM sys.tables t 
JOIN sys.columns c ON t.object_id = c.object_id
JOIN sys.types y ON y.user_type_id = c.user_type_id
WHERE t.name = ''

对于IBM DB2:

SELECT TYPENAME FROM SYSCAT.COLUMNS WHERE TABSCHEMA='your_schema_name' AND TABNAME='your_table_name' AND COLNAME='your_column_name'

如果你正在使用MySQL，你可以试试

SHOW COLUMNS FROM `tbl_name`;

在dev.mysql.com上显示列

否则你应该能做到

DESCRIBE `tbl_name`;

使用SQL Server:

SELECT DATA_TYPE 
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE 
     TABLE_SCHEMA = 'yourSchemaName' AND
     TABLE_NAME   = 'yourTableName' AND 
     COLUMN_NAME  = 'yourColumnName'