---
title: "TABLES (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs"
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ms.date: "05/20/2019"
ms.prod: sql
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f1_keywords: 
  - "TABLES_TSQL"
  - "TABLES"
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  - "TSQL"
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  - "TABLES view"
  - "INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES view"
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---
# TABLES (Transact-SQL)
[!INCLUDE[tsql-appliesto-ss2008-all-md](../../includes/tsql-appliesto-ss2008-all-md.md)]

  Returns one row for each table or view in the current database for which the current user has permissions.  
  
 To retrieve information from these views, specify the fully qualified name of **INFORMATION_SCHEMA.**_view_name_.  
  
|Column name|Data type|Description|  
|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|  
|**TABLE_CATALOG**|**nvarchar(**128**)**|Table qualifier.|  
|**TABLE_SCHEMA**|**nvarchar(**128**)**|Name of schema that contains the table.<br /><br /> <strong>\*\* Important \*\*</strong> Do not use INFORMATION_SCHEMA views to determine the schema of an object. The only reliable way to find the schema of an object is to query the sys.objects catalog view. INFORMATION_SCHEMA views could be incomplete since they are not updated for all new features.|  
|**TABLE_NAME**|**sysname**|Table or view name.|  
|**TABLE_TYPE**|**varchar(**10**)**|Type of table. Can be VIEW or BASE TABLE.|  
  
## See Also  
 [System Views &#40;Transact-SQL&#41;](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/35a6161d-7f43-4e00-bcd3-3091f2015e90)   
 [Information Schema Views &#40;Transact-SQL&#41;](~/relational-databases/system-information-schema-views/system-information-schema-views-transact-sql.md)   
 [sys.objects &#40;Transact-SQL&#41;](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-objects-transact-sql.md)   
 [sys.tables &#40;Transact-SQL&#41;](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-tables-transact-sql.md)