Information schema
An information schema is a standardized set of database views that exposes metadata about database objects and their properties.
Effective Data Analysis
An information schema is a set of database metadata views describing objects such as schemas, tables, columns, and their properties.
- How it is used
- Supports warehouse discovery and provides structure for documentation and self-service analytics.
- How deep it goes
- Explains queryable metadata records and their fields, but stops short of detailing query syntax or implementation differences.
- Examples
- Uses schemas, tables, columns, data types, row counts, and primary- or foreign-key references as metadata examples.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate/understand available warehouse data and use its metadata to begin stakeholder-facing documentation.
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Snowflake Data Engineering
The information schema is a database schema containing views and table functions that expose metadata, historical information, and usage data for database objects.
- How it is used
- Supports production pipeline monitoring by checking task executions and staged-file loads.
- How deep it goes
- Explains database placement, views, table functions, and diagnostic columns without detailing implementation internals.
- Examples
- Demonstrates TASK_HISTORY() for task runs and LOAD_HISTORY for staged-file load results.
- What you can do after
- Diagnose task failures and verify staged-file loading with INFORMATION_SCHEMA queries.
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Related concepts
- TASK_HISTORY()has part · TASK_HISTORY() is a Snowflake table function that returns details about current, scheduled, and completed task executions.
- schemakind of · A data schema is a formal specification of the structure, fields, types, relationships, and constraints of data.
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