---
title: "Temporal Table Metadata Views and Functions | Microsoft Docs"
ms.custom: ""
ms.date: "03/28/2016"
ms.prod: sql
ms.prod_service: "database-engine, sql-database"
ms.reviewer: ""
ms.technology: table-view-index
ms.topic: conceptual
ms.assetid: e5d23ec9-7d18-40f6-add4-bea13132d0b9
author: "CarlRabeler"
ms.author: "carlrab"
monikerRange: "=azuresqldb-current||>=sql-server-2016||=sqlallproducts-allversions||>=sql-server-linux-2017||=azuresqldb-mi-current"
---
# Temporal Table Metadata Views and Functions

[!INCLUDE[tsql-appliesto-ss2016-asdb-xxxx-xxx-md](../../includes/tsql-appliesto-ss2016-asdb-xxxx-xxx-md.md)]

[!INCLUDE[ssCurrent](../../includes/sscurrent-md.md)] and [!INCLUDE[sqldbesa](../../includes/sqldbesa-md.md)] include a number of metabase views and functions to enable administrators to retrieve information about temporal tables.

Information about temporal tables is exposed in the following metadata views:

- [sys.tables (Transact-SQL)](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-tables-transact-sql.md)
- [sys.columns (Transact-SQL)](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-columns-transact-sql.md)
- [sys.periods (Transact-SQL)](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-periods-transact-sql.md)

 Information about temporal tables is exposed in the following metadata functions:

- [OBJECTPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/objectproperty-transact-sql.md)

- [OBJECTPROPERTYEX (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/objectpropertyex-transact-sql.md)

- [COLUMNPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/columnproperty-transact-sql.md)

## Next steps

- [Temporal Tables](../../relational-databases/tables/temporal-tables.md)
- [Getting Started with System-Versioned Temporal Tables](../../relational-databases/tables/getting-started-with-system-versioned-temporal-tables.md)
- [Temporal Table System Consistency Checks](../../relational-databases/tables/temporal-table-system-consistency-checks.md)
- [Partitioning with Temporal Tables](../../relational-databases/tables/partitioning-with-temporal-tables.md)
- [Temporal Table Considerations and Limitations](../../relational-databases/tables/temporal-table-considerations-and-limitations.md)
- [Temporal Table Security](../../relational-databases/tables/temporal-table-security.md)
- [Manage Retention of Historical Data in System-Versioned Temporal Tables](../../relational-databases/tables/manage-retention-of-historical-data-in-system-versioned-temporal-tables.md)
- [System-Versioned Temporal Tables with Memory-Optimized Tables](../../relational-databases/tables/system-versioned-temporal-tables-with-memory-optimized-tables.md)