Question

How can I do the equivalent of "SHOW TABLES" in T-SQL?

I would like to do a lookup of tables in my SQL Server 2005 Express database based on table name. In MySQL I would use SHOW TABLES LIKE "Datasheet%", but in T-SQL this throws an error (it tries to look for a SHOW stored procedure and fails).

Is this possible, and if so, how?

 47  95432  47
1 Jan 1970

Solution

 61

I know you've already accepted an answer, but why not just use the much simpler sp_tables?

sp_tables 'Database_Name'
2008-09-23

Solution

 45

This will give you a list of the tables in the current database:

Select Table_name as "Table name"
From Information_schema.Tables
Where Table_type = 'BASE TABLE' and Objectproperty 
(Object_id(Table_name), 'IsMsShipped') = 0

Some other useful T-SQL bits can be found here: http://www.devx.com/tips/Tip/28529

2008-09-23