Reports information about a database object (any object listed in sysobjects) and about system or user-defined datatypes, as well as user-defined functions, computed columns and function-based indexes. Column displays optimistic_index_lock.
sp_help [objname]
is the name of any object in sysobjects or any user-defined datatype or system datatype in systypes. You cannot specify database names. objname can include tables, views, stored procedures, logs, rules, defaults, triggers, referential constraints, encryption keys, and check constraints, but refers to tables when you enable optimistic_index_lock. Use owner names if the object owner is not the user running the command and is not the Database Owner.
Displays a list of objects in sysobjects and displays each object’s name, owner, and object type. Also displays a list of each user-defined datatype in systypes, indicating the datatype name, storage type, length, null type, default name, and rule name. Null type is 0 (null values not allowed) or 1 (null values allowed):
sp_help
Displays information about a partitioned publishers table. sp_help also lists any attributes assigned to the specified table and its indexes, giving the attribute’s class, name, integer value, character value, and comments.
sp_help publishersName Owner Object_Type Create_date --------------------- --------------- ----------- ----------------- publishers dbo user table Oct 7 2005 11:14AM Column_name Type Length Prec Scale Nulls Default_name Rule_name Access_Rule_name Computed_Column_object Identity ---------- ---- ------ ----- ----- ----- ------------ ----------- ---------------- ----------------------- --------
pub_id char 4 NULL NULL 0 NULL pub_idrule NULL NULL 0 pub_name varchar 40 NULL NULL 1 NULL NULL NULL 0 city varchar 20 NULL NULL 1 NULL NULL NULL 0 state char 2 NULL NULL 1 NULL NULL NULL 0 Object does not have any indexes. keytype object related_objs object_keys related_keys ------- ------ ------------ ----------- --------------- primary publishers -- none -- pub_id,*,*,*,*,*,*,* *,*,*,*,*,*,*,* name type partition_type partitions partition_keys ---------- -------- -------------- ---------- -------------- publishers base table roundrobin 3 NULL partition_name partition_id pages segment create_date ------------------ -------------- ----- ------- ----------------- publishers_608002166 608002166 1 default Oct 13 2005 11:18AM publishers_1116527980 1116527980 1 default Oct 13 2005 11:18AM publishers_1132528037 1132528037 1 default Oct 13 2005 11:19AM Partition_Conditions -------------------- NULL Avg_pages Max_pages Min_pages Ratio(Max/Avg) Ratio(Min/Avg) --------- --------- --------- -------------- -------------- 1 1 1 1.0000000 1.0000000 Lock scheme Allpages The attribute ’exp_row_size" is not applicable to tables with allpages lock scheme. exp_row reservepagegap fillfactor max_rows_per_page identity_gap ------- -------------- ---------- ----------------- ------------ 0 0 0 0 0 concurrency_opt_threshold optimistic_index_lock dealloc_first_txtpg ------------------------- --------------------- ------------------- 0 0 0
Displays information about a partitioned titles table:
sp_help titlesName            Owner               Object_Type    Create_date
---------------- ---------------    -----------    ---------------------
titles           db                 user table     Oct 7 2005 11:14AM
(1 row affected)Column_name Type Length   Prec  Scale  Nulls Default_name  
Rule_name        Access_Rule_name              Identity
---------- ----  ------- -----  -----  ----- ------------
--------------- ------------------------------ --------
title_id    tid        6  NULL   NULL      0         NULL
title_idrule                              NULL        0
title   varchar       80  NULL   NULL      0         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
type       char       12  NULL   NULL      0     typedflt
NULL                                      NULL        0
pub_id     char        4  NULL   NULL      1         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
price     money        8  NULL   NULL      1         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
advance   money        8  NULL   NULL      1         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
total_sales int        4  NULL   NULL      1         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
notes   varchar      200  NULL   NULL      1         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
pubdate datetime       8  NULL   NULL      0     datedflt
NULL                                      NULL        0
contract    bit        1  NULL   NULL      0         NULL
NULL                                      NULL        0
index_name      index_description                       index_keys
Object has the following indexes
index_name  index_keys      index_description  index_max_rows_per_page
index_fillfactor    index_reservepagegap  index_created      index_local
----------  ----------      -----------------  ------------------------
----------------    ---------------------  ------------      ----------
title_idx   total_sales      clustered                                 0
               0                        0  Oct 13 2005 5:20PM  Local Index
index_ptn_name        index_ptn_seg
--------------------  ---------------
p1                     default
p2                     default
p3                     default
title_idx_98505151     default
keytype   object       related_object  object_keys                     
related_keys
--------  ---------  ----------------------------------------------- 
---------------------
foreign   roysched     titles           title_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, * title_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, *
foreign   salesdetail  titles           title_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, * title_id, *, *, *, *, *, *
foreign   titleauthor  titles           title_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, * title_id, *, *, *, *, *, * 
foreign   titles       publishers        pub_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, * 
pub_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, *
primary   titles       -- none --        title_id, *, *, *, *, *, *, *
*, *, *, *, *, *, *, * 
name    type        partition_type  partitions  partition_keys
----    ----------  --------------  ----------  --------------
titles  base table  range                    4  pubdate
partition_name  partition_id  pages  segment  create_date
--------------  ------------  -----  -------  -------------------
q1              937051343         1  default  Oct 13 2005 5:20PM
q2              953051400         1  default  Oct 13 2005 5:20PM
q3              969051457         1  default  Oct 13 2005 5:20PM
q4              985051514         1  default  Oct 13 2005 5:20PM
Partition_Conditions
--------------------
VALUES <= ("3/31/2006")
VALUES <= ("6/30/2006")
VALUES <= ("9/30/2006")
VALUES <= ("12/31/2006")
VALUES <= ("3’31’2006")
Avg_pages  Max_pages  Min_pages  Ratio(Max/Avg)  Ratio(Min/Avg)
---------  ---------  ---------  --------------  --------------
        1          1          1  1.000000        1.000000
Lock scheme Allpages
The attribute ’exp_row_size" is not applicable to tables with allpages lock scheme.
exp_row  reservepagegap  fillfactor  max_rows_per_page  identity_gap
-------  --------------  ----------  -----------------  ------------
      0               0           0                  0             0
concurrency_opt_threshold  optimistic_index_lock  dealloc_first_txtpg
-------------------------  ---------------------  -------------------
                        0                       0                   0
Displays information about the trigger marytrig owned by user “mary”. The quotes are needed, because the period is a special character:
sp_help "mary.marytrig"
Name Owner Object_type ------------ ------------------ ---------------- marytrig mary trigger Data_located_on_segment When_created ----------------------- -------------------------- not applicable Mar 20 2002 2:03PM
Displays information about the system datatype money:
sp_help money
Type_name Storage_type Length Prec Scale Nulls Defaul_name --------- ------------ ------- ----- ----- ----- ------------ Rule_name Access_Rule_name Identity --------- ---------------- -------- money money 8 NULL NULL 1 NULL NULL NULL 0
Displays information about the user-defined datatype identype. The report indicates the base type from which the datatype was created, whether it allows nulls, the names of any rules and defaults bound to the datatype, and whether it has the IDENTITY property:
sp_help identype
Type_name Storage_type Length Prec Scale Nulls Defaul_name --------- ------------ ------- ----- ----- ----- ------------ Rule_name Access_Rule_name Identity --------- ---------------- -------- identype numeric 4 NULL NULL 1 NULL NULL NULL 1
Shows a new column, indicating whether optimistic index locking is enabled. 1 indicates that the option is enabled; 0 indicates that it is not.
sp_help "mytable"
------------ exp_row_size reserve pagegap fillfactor max_rows_per_page ------------------------------------------------------ 1 0 0 0 0 concurrency_opt_threshold optimistic_index_lock ------------------------------------------------- 0 1
Shows a virtual computed column:
alter table authors add fullname as au_fname + ' ' + au_lname sp_help authors
Object has the following computed columns Column_Name Property ----------- -------- fullname virtual Text ------------------------------ AS au_fname + ' ' + au_lname
Shows a virtual computed column to a materialized computed column:
alter table authors modify fullname materialzied sp_help authors
Object has the following computed columns Column_Name Property ----------- ------------ fullname materialized Text ------------------------------------------- AS au_fname + ' ' + au_lname MATERIALIZED
The result set for sp_help table_name includes
the Decrypt_Default_name column,
which indicates the decrypt default name for the column. For example,
if you run the following:
create table encr_table(col1 int encrypt decrypt_default 1)
When you run sp_help on encr_table, it shows the following:
Column_name Type Length Prec Scale Nulls Default_name Rule_name Access_Rule_name Computed_Column_object Identity Encrypted Decrypt_Default_name ----------- ---- ------ ---- ----- ----- --------------------- -------------- ------------------- --------- ------------------------- c1 int 4 NULL NULL 0 NULL NULL NULL NULL 0 1 encr_table_col1_1036527695
sp_help looks for an object in the current database only.
sp_help follows the Adaptive Server rules for finding objects:
If you do not specify an owner name, and you own an object with the specified name, sp_help reports on that object.
If you do not specify an owner name, and do not own an object of that name, but the Database Owner does, sp_help reports on the Database Owner’s object.
If neither you nor the Database Owner owns an object with the specified name, sp_help reports an error condition, even if an object with that name exists in the database for a different owner. Qualify objects that are owned by database users other than yourself and the Database Owner with the owner’s name, as shown in Example 4.
If both you and the Database Owner own objects with the specified name, and you want to access the Database Owner’s object, specify the name in the format dbo.objectname.
sp_help works on temporary tables if you issue it from tempdb.
Columns with the IDENTITY property have an “Identity” value of 1; others have an “Identity” value of 0. In example 2, there are no IDENTITY columns.
sp_help lists any indexes on a table, including indexes created by defining unique or primary key constraints in the create table or alter table statements. It also lists any attributes associated with those indexes. However, sp_help does not describe any information about the integrity constraints defined for a table. Use sp_helpconstraint for information about any integrity constraints.
sp_help displays the following new settings:
The locking scheme, which can be set with create table and changed with alter table
The expected row size, which can be set with create table and changed with sp_chgattribute
The reserve page gap, which can be set with create table and changed with sp_chgattribute
The row lock promotion settings, which can be set or changed with sp_setpglockpromote and dropped with sp_droprowlockpromote
sp_help includes the report from:
sp_helpindex – showing the order of the keys used to create the index and the space management properties
sp_helpartition – showing the partition information of the table
sp_helpcomputedcolumn – showing the computed column information of the table
When Component Integration Services is enabled, sp_help displays information on the storage location of remote objects.
sp_help displays information about encryption keys. When a key name is specified as the parameter to sp_help, the command lists the key’s name, owner, object type, and creation date.
sp_help tablename indicates if a column is encrypted, including the name of the decrypt default on the column, if one exists.
Any user can execute sp_help.
Values in event and extrainfo columns from the sysaudits table are:
Event  | 
Audit option  | 
Command or access audited  | 
Information in extrainfo  | 
|---|---|---|---|
38  | 
exec_procedure  | 
Execution of a procedure  | 
  | 
Documents sp_help reports information about SQLJ stored procedures and SQLJ functions. See Java in Adaptive Server Enterprise for more information about SQLJ routines.
Commands alter table, create table
System procedures sp_chgattribute, sp_droprowlockpromote, sp_helpartition, sp_helpcomputedcolumn, sp_helpconstraint, sp_helpindex, sp_setpglockpromote