note EdwardG <p>++ Very useful node, thanks gmax.</p> For the sake of portability it might also be useful to note that ANSI SQL-92 provides a standard for querying table schema information: <p><code>select TABLE_NAME from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES</code></p> And to give an idea of what else is available via INFORMATION_SCHEMA;<br> <code>SCHEMATA DOMAINS VIEWS COLUMNS TABLE_PRIVILEGES COLUMN_PRIVILEGES USAGE_PRIVILEGES DOMAIN_CONSTRAINTS TABLE_CONSTRAINTS REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS CHECK_CONSTRAINTS KEY_COLUMN_USAGE ASSERTIONS VIEW_TABLE_USAGE VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE CONSTRAINT_TABLE_USAGE CONSTRAINT_COLUMN_USAGE CONSTRAINT_DOMAIN_USAGE</code> <small><em>Source: An Introduction to Database Systems (7th edition), C.J. Date</em></small> 284436 284436