DESCRIBE reveals the shape of a relation before analysis: column names, types, nullability, keys, defaults, and extra metadata. Use it when the input schema is uncertain. section 1.7.3 section 3.3.4
Inspect tables, queries, and files
Run DESCRIBE readings; to inspect a table, or DESCRIBE SELECT read_on, power FROM readings; to inspect a query result. DuckDB also supports DESCRIBE(FROM read_csv('Tags.csv.gz')); for compressed CSV data, then lets you select and aggregate known columns. section 3.3.4 section 10.1.3
Listing 10.2 Describing the metadata of the Tags file
DESCRIBE(FROM read_csv('Tags.csv.gz'));
Inspect the inferred column metadata for the Tags CSV before querying its fields. section 10.1.3
