webid@cfl.rr.com wrote:
> Currently using Postgresql 7.2.4-5.80 with php 4.2.2.-8.0.8 on a redhat
> 8.0 system.
>
> I am writing some php scripts where I want to generate a list of the
> column names in a particular table that the user selects. I could take
> the brute force method and hard code the column names but then every
> time I add a new table or modify an existing one I would have to modify
> the code. What I want is to have a generic function that given the
> table name it will pull the column names for my use.
>
> I need to get the table column names for several tables I have setup. I
> know if I do a select * from tablename I can then use the pg_fieldname
> function to pull the column names for all columns.
>
> But I don't think I want to select the entire contents of the table
> every time I want to get the names of the columns. I know this will
> work but I think performance will be very poor.
>...
You almost got it - just do "select * from tablename where 0=1", which returns
no rows but will give you the fieldnames. A portable and (I think)
efficient way to get table column names.