Capturing the file structure of a query's resultset

[mrherman]

Let's say that after a complicated (for me!) SELECT query is performed, there is a resultset in memory.  Is there a way to "capture" the file structure of the resultset in a text format for later reference?

 

I've spent some time on this, but cannot find anything about generating a text-based copy of the structure.

 

Thanks for any help!

[fenway]

Why not just write it out originally? If it's hasn't been too long, it might still be cached when you run SELECT... INTO OUTFILE.

[mrherman]

Thanks for your reply.  It just seems to me (...and what do I know?...) that this scenario could happen:

 

You are a DBA and you get a call from the boss, saying, "Look, I have a meeting at 3 this afternoon and I need to take with me a copy of the structure of the 'custormers' table.  Could you send a quick email to me with the file structure attached?  Thanks."

 

Without turning to any 3rd-party software, you type something like "SELECT TABLE_STRU FROM customers INTO FILE cust_structure TYPE TEXT" and a neat little text file (cust_structure.txt) is created.

 

Based on the research I have done, MySQL provides nothing this simple.  Am I correct? 

 

BTW, this is not a criticism...If MySQL needed this type of thing, obviously much smarter people than me would have asked for it long ago.

 

Thanks again!

[Barand]

If the MySQL command line interface doesn't count as 3rd party,

 

[pre]mysql> describe cust;

+------------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

| Field            | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |

+------------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

| customer_address | varchar(20) | YES  |    | NULL    |      |

| customer_trips  | int(11)    | YES  |    | NULL    |      |

| fname            | varchar(10) | YES  |    | NULL    |      |

| lname            | varchar(10) | YES  |    | NULL    |      |

| ref              | varchar(10) | YES  |    | NULL    |      |

+------------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+