Syntax:
SHOW [FULL] COLUMNS FROM tbl_name [FROM db_name] [LIKE 'pattern']

SHOW COLUMNS displays information about the columns in a given table.
It also works for views as of MySQL 5.0.1.

If the data types differ from what you expect them to be based on your
CREATE TABLE statement, note that MySQL sometimes changes data types
when you create or alter a table. The conditions for which this occurs
are described in
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/silent-column-changes.html.

The FULL keyword causes the output to include the privileges you have
as well as any per-column comments for each column.

You can use db_name.tbl_name as an alternative to the tbl_name FROM
db_name syntax. In other words, these two statements are equivalent:

mysql> SHOW COLUMNS FROM mytable FROM mydb;
mysql> SHOW COLUMNS FROM mydb.mytable;

SHOW FIELDS is a synonym for SHOW COLUMNS. You can also list a table's
columns with the mysqlshow db_name tbl_name command.

The DESCRIBE statement provides information similar to SHOW COLUMNS.
See [HELP DESCRIBE].

URL: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/show-columns.html

