i am trying to run the 'describe table_name' command on oracle. I am using dbeaver for accessing oracle. But, when i run the command, it shows SQLException and error message "invalid sql statement". How can i perform the operation?
describe is not a SQL statement, otherwise it would have been documented in the SQL language reference:
The documentation for the describe command can be found in the SQL*Plus command reference:
which means it is only available in SQL*Plus (and probably in SQL Developer as well). It is a client side command and thus the SQL client you are using needs to support it.
DESC[RIBE] command is an SQL*Plus command only, even if you try it in SQL Developer it will not work !
Source : https://ss64.com/ora/desc.html
Highlight the object and press f4 , this would give you the table/object details
https://dbeaver.io/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1937
as @a_horse_with_no_name has already said desc is not a SQL statement. So we can use this shortcut for that
I just tried it on SQL Developer and it worked. Maybe it wasn't available before, but certainly is SQL Developer 19.1.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37133666/what-is-the-reason-for-not-working-of-describe-command-on-oracle