Below are five methods you can use to quickly determine how many user-defined tables are in the current database in SQL Server.
All five options use the COUNT() function to get the count. Obviously, you can replace this with an asterisk (*), or the names of the columns to return a list of all user-defined tables.
Here’s an article that presents three ways to quickly determine how many system tables are in the current database in SQL Server.
All three options use the COUNT() function while querying the sys.objects system catalog view. They all result in the same output, so you really don’t need to go past the first option. But I’ll list them anyway.
This article offers five options for checking if a table exists in SQL Server. Most options involve querying a system view, but one of the options executes a system stored procedure, and another involves a function.
I also include some simple IF statements that can be modified to suit your circumstance.
This article presents eleven different approaches to retrieving foreign key information in SQL Server. Some of these will be more useful than others, depending on the situation.
Some of these methods can be modified to return further information. For example, you could perform joins on various system views to return more data.
A database table is a structure that organises data into rows and columns – forming a grid.
Tables are similar to a worksheets in spreadsheet applications. The rows run horizontally and represent each record. The columns run vertically and represent a specific field. The rows and columns intersect, forming a grid. The intersection of the rows and columns defines each cell in the table.