Instead of just saying 'desc <tbl-name>;'
Try using information_schema.columns

mysql> desc information_schema.columns;
+--------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+--------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| TABLE_CATALOG | varchar(512) | YES | | NULL | |
| TABLE_SCHEMA | varchar(64) | NO | | | |
| TABLE_NAME | varchar(64) | NO | | | |
| COLUMN_NAME | varchar(64) | NO | | | |
| ORDINAL_POSITION | bigint(21) | NO | | 0 | |
| COLUMN_DEFAULT | varchar(64) | YES | | NULL | |
| IS_NULLABLE | varchar(3) | NO | | | |
| DATA_TYPE | varchar(64) | NO | | | |
| CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH | bigint(21) | YES | | NULL | |
| CHARACTER_OCTET_LENGTH | bigint(21) | YES | | NULL | |
| NUMERIC_PRECISION | bigint(21) | YES | | NULL | |
| NUMERIC_SCALE | bigint(21) | YES | | NULL | |
| CHARACTER_SET_NAME | varchar(64) | YES | | NULL | |
| COLLATION_NAME | varchar(64) | YES | | NULL | |
| COLUMN_TYPE | longtext | NO | | | |
| COLUMN_KEY | varchar(3) | NO | | | |
| EXTRA | varchar(20) | NO | | | |
| PRIVILEGES | varchar(80) | NO | | | |
| COLUMN_COMMENT | varchar(255) | NO | | | |
+--------------------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
19 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The ORDINAL_POSITION column tells you the order by which a column is listed.

Try doing this:

SELECT ordinal_position,column_name from information_schema.columns
where table_schema = '...' and table_name = '...' order by ordinal_position;

You could coerce the order to be whatever you want it to be.
But, this should be a good starting for you. Have fun with it !!!


----- Original Message -----
From: "Olaf Stein" <steino@ccri.net>
To: "MySql" <mysql@lists.mysql.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 10:15:47 AM (GMT-0500) Auto-Detected
Subject: Describe question

Hi All,

Is there a way to influence the order in which columns are returned in a
describe table statement. Basically I want the same order that I get in the
mysql client (Field, Type, Null, etc) in a little script I am writing, so I
can use the Column headers dynamically.

Thanks
Olaf


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