db.describe(1)

💖 db.describe(1) — GRASS GIS User's Manual 💖

okay bestie, grab your strawberry matcha because we're about to describe a table in detail and it's gonna be iconic 🍓✨

✨ NAME ✨

db.describe — Describes a table in detail. no cap, that's literally the whole job 💅

🏷️ KEYWORDS 🏷️

database, attribute table

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

db.describe
db.describe --help
db.describe [-c] table=name  [driver=name]   [database=name]   [--help]
[--verbose]  [--quiet]  [--ui]

🎀 Flags 🎀

• -c — Print column names only instead of full column descriptions. the "just the names pls" mode 🫶
• --help — Print usage summary
• --verbose — Verbose module output
• --quiet — Quiet module output
• --ui — Force launching GUI dialog

🦋 Parameters 🦋

• table=name [required] — Name of attribute table. you GOTTA give this one, it's not optional bestie 😭
• driver=name — Name of database driver
  • Options: dbf, mesql, mysql, odbc, ogr, pg, sqlite
  • Default: sqlite
• database=name — Name of database
  • Default: $GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/$MAPSET/sqlite/sqlite.db

---

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

db.describe displays table information. that's the vibe. and if you pass the parameter -c, then instead of the full column descriptions you only get the column names — like a little teaser instead of the whole meal ✨

📝 NOTE 📝

If parameters for database connection are already set with db.connect, they are taken as default values and do not need to be spcified each time. so yes — set it once, and you're free, main character energy 👑

(the original says "spcified", and honestly? we're leaving that typo exactly where it is, it's part of the lore now 🙈)

---

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

List column descriptions of table in SQLite database (note that this is the default setting)

db.describe driver=sqlite table=hospitals \
   database=’$GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/$MAPSET/sqlite/sqlite.db’
# or simply
db.describe myarchsites

🌈 DBF example 🌈

db.describe -c table=hospitals database=’$GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/PERMANENT/dbf/’ \
            driver=dbf
ncols: 16
nrows: 160
Column 1: cat:INTEGER:11
Column 2: OBJECTID:INTEGER:11
Column 3: AREA:DOUBLE PRECISION:20
[...]
db.describe table=hospitals database=’$GISDBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/PERMANENT/dbf/’ \
            driver=dbf
table:hospitals
description:
insert:yes
delete:yes
ncols:16
nrows:160
column:cat
description:
type:INTEGER
len:11
scale:0
precision:10
default:
nullok:yes
select:yes
update:yes
column:OBJECTID
description:
type:INTEGER
[...]

look at all those columns popping off, we love a fully-described table 💖

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

db.columns, db.droptable, db.execute, db.login, db.tables, GRASS SQL interface

go read those too, they're all in the same friend group 🫶

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Radim Blazek, ITC-Irst, Trento, Italy

🧚 SOURCE CODE 🧚

Available at: db.describe source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:40:33 2026

Main index | Database index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual

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and that's the whole page bestie 💅 this was pulled straight from GRASS 8.4.2 — db.describe(1), the manual page that ate and left no crumbs 🎀✨ bye ily, go describe a table 🦋