Showing & Describing MySQL Tables

Now that we have learned how to create a table, let's look at the list of tables we have created in our database.

mysql> SHOW TABLES;
+---------------------------------+
| Tables_in_YourDatabase          |
+---------------------------------+
| pets                            |
+---------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
As you can see, "SHOW TABLES;" will print out a list of the tables that have been created in the current database. To view more detailed information about each table, use "DESCRIBE tablename;".
mysql> DESCRIBE pets;
+---------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field         | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+---------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id            | int(11)     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| name          | varchar(75) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| breed         | varchar(75) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| gender        | varchar(7)  | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| dateofbirth   | varchar(25) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| description   | text        | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| pedigree      | text        | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| medicalrecord | text        | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+---------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
8 rows in set (0.00 sec)
As you can see, all necessary table information is listed for reference when a table is described.
And last but not least, if you ever lose track of what database you are using, using SELECT DATABASE(); will show you the currently selected database.