Help

Valid in: SQL

The Help statement displays information about database objects and SQL statements, including object name, owner, and type for all tables, views, and indexes to which the user has access, and all synonyms owned by the user. System tables and temporary tables are not listed. Information is displayed in a one-line-per-object format.

In general, to display high-level information, specify help objectname (for example, help mytable). To display detailed information, specify help objecttype objectname (for example, help table mytable).

The asterisk wildcard character can be used in object name specifications to display information about a selected set of objects. For details, see Wildcards and Help.

Syntax

The Help statement has the following format:

HELP [[schema.]objectname {, [schema.]objectname}]
HELP COMMENT COLUMN [schema.]table column_name {, column_name}
HELP COMMENT TABLE [schema.]table {, [schema.]table }
HELP CONSTRAINT [schema.]table_name  
              {, [schema.]constraint_name}
HELP DEFAULT [schema.]table_name
HELP HELP
HELP INDEX [schema.]indexname {, [schema.]indexname}
HELP INTEGRITY [schema.]table_name {, [schema.]table_name}
HELP PERMIT ON DBEVENT
               [schema.]objectname  {, [schema.]objectname}
HELP PERMIT ON PROCEDURE | TABLE | VIEW
               [schema.]object_name  {, [schema.]object_name}
HELP PROCEDURE [schema.]procedurename
              {, [schema.]procedurename}
HELP REGISTER [schema.]objectname 
HELP RULE [schema.]rulename, {[schema.]rulename}
HELP SECURITY_ALARM [ON TABLE] table_name
HELP SECURITY_ALARM ON DATABASE database_name
HELP SECURITY_ALARM ON CURRENT INSTALLATION
HELP SQL [sql_statement]
HELP SYNONYM [schema.]synonym {, [schema.]synonym}
HELP TABLE [schema.]table_name {, [schema.]table_name}
HELP TABLE|INDEX name
HELP VIEW [schema.]view_name {, [schema.]view_name}

• objectname

  Specifies the name of a table, view, or index. Display format is block-style.

• COMMENT COLUMN

  Displays any comments defined for the specified columns.

• COMMENT TABLE

  Displays any comments defined for the specified tables.

• CONSTRAINT

  Displays any constraints defined on columns of the specified table or on the entire table. For details about table constraints, see Create Table.

  These constraints are not the same as the integrities displayed by the help integrities statement.

• DEFAULT

  Displays any user-defined defaults defined on columns of the specified table

• HELP

  Displays valid help statements.

• INDEX

  Displays detailed information about the specified indexes.

• INTEGRITY

  Displays any integrity constraints defined on the specified tables or indexes. Integrity constraints are defined using the create integrity statement.

• PERMIT ON DBEVENT

  Displays information about the specified database event.

• PERMIT ON PROCEDURE | TABLE | VIEW

  For tables, displays the permit text. For other objects, displays the values required by the corresponding drop permit statement.

• PROCEDURE

  Displays detailed information about the specified procedure.

• REGISTER

  Displays information about registered objects. For details about registering objects, see Register Table.

• RULE

  Displays the text of the create rule statement that defined the rule.

• SECURITY_ALARM [ON TABLE]

  Displays all security alarms defined for the specified table. The information includes an index number that can be used to delete the security alarm (using the drop security_alarm statement).

• SECURITY_ALARM ON DATABASE

  Displays all security alarms defined for the specified database. The information includes an index number that can be used to delete the security alarm (using the drop security_alarm statement).

• SECURITY_ALARM ON CURRENT INSTALLATION

  Displays all security alarms defined for the current installation. The information includes an index number that can be used to delete the security alarm (using the drop security_alarm statement).

• SQL

  If the sql_statement parameter is omitted, a list of SQL statements displays for which help information is available. If the sql_statement parameter is specified, information displays about the specified statement.

• SYNONYM

  Displays information about the specified synonyms. To display all the synonyms you own, specify help synonym *. To display all the synonyms you own plus all the synonyms to which you have access, specify help synonym *.*.

• TABLE

  Displays detailed information about the specified tables.

• TABLE | INDEX

  Displays the cache priority.

• VIEW

  Displays detailed information about the specified views.