[!--quoteo(post=376036:date=May 22 2006, 09:31 AM:name=Houdini)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Houdini @ May 22 2006, 09:31 AM) [snapback]376036[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--] What you are wanting is DESCRIBE from MySQL [/quote] thanks Houdini "describe" did work as suggested. why dont they put that in the manual? craygo I did use the meta->def as you pinted out and as per the php manual, however no joy, returned nothing in the array. what ver of mysql are tyou running I have tried v4 & v5 thanks Art