sp_column_privileges (T-SQL)

Returns column privilege information for a single table in the current environment.

Syntax

sp_column_privileges [@table_name =] 'table_name'
    [,[@table_owner =] 'table_owner']
    [,[@table_qualifier =] 'table_qualifier']
    [,[@column_name =] 'column']

Arguments

[@table_name =] 'table_name': Is the table used to return catalog information. table_name is sysname, with no default. Wildcard pattern matching is not supported.
[@table_owner =] 'table_owner': Is the table owner of the table used to return catalog information. table_owner is sysname, with a default of NULL. Wildcard pattern matching is not supported. If table_owner is not specified, the default table visibility rules of the underlying database management system (DBMS) apply.
In Microsoft® SQL Server™, if the current user owns a table with the specified name, that table’s columns are returned. If table_owner is not specified and the current user does not own a table with the specified table_name, sp_column privileges looks for a table with the specified table_name owned by the database owner. If one exists, that table’s columns are returned.
[@table_qualifier =] 'table_qualifier': Is the name of the table qualifier. table_qualifier is sysname, with a default of NULL. Various DBMS products support three-part naming for tables (qualifier.owner.name). In SQL Server, this column represents the database name. In some products, it represents the server name of the table’s database environment.
[@column_name =] 'column': Is a single column used when only one column of catalog information is wanted. column is nvarchar(384), with a default of NULL. If column is not specified, all columns are returned. In SQL Server, column represents the column name as listed in the syscolumns table. column can include wildcard characters using wildcard matching patterns of the underlying DBMS. For maximum interoperability, the gateway client should assume only SQL-92 standard pattern matching (the % and _ wildcard characters).

Return Code Values

None

Result Sets

sp_column_privileges is equivalent to SQLColumnPrivileges in ODBC. The results returned are ordered by TABLE_QUALIFIER, TABLE_OWNER, TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, and PRIVILEGE.

Column name	Data type	Description
TABLE_QUALIFIER	sysname	Table qualifier name. This field can be NULL.
TABLE_OWNER	sysname	Table owner name. This field always returns a value.
TABLE_NAME	sysname	Table name. This field always returns a value.
COLUMN_NAME	sysname	Column name, for each column of the TABLE_NAME returned. This field always returns a value.
GRANTOR	sysname	Database username that has granted permissions on this COLUMN_NAME to the listed GRANTEE. In SQL Server, this column is always the same as the TABLE_OWNER. This field always returns a value. The GRANTOR column can be either the database owner (TABLE_OWNER) or a user to whom the database owner granted permissions by using the WITH GRANT OPTION clause in the GRANT statement.
GRANTEE	sysname	Database username that has been granted permissions on this COLUMN_NAME by the listed GRANTOR. In SQL Server, this column always includes a database user from the sysusers table. This field always returns a value.
PRIVILEGE	varchar(32)	One of the available column permissions. Column permissions can be one of the following values (or other values supported by the data source when implementation is defined): SELECT = GRANTEE can retrieve data for the columns. INSERT = GRANTEE can provide data for this column when new rows are inserted (by the GRANTEE) into the table. UPDATE = GRANTEE can modify existing data in the column. REFERENCES = GRANTEE can reference a column in a foreign table in a primary key/foreign key relationship. Primary key/foreign key relationships are defined with table constraints.
IS_GRANTABLE	varchar(3)	Indicates whether the GRANTEE is permitted to grant permissions to other users (often referred to as “grant with grant” permission). Can be YES, NO, or NULL. An unknown (or NULL) value refers to a data source for which “grant with grant” is not applicable.

Remarks

With SQL Server, permissions are given with the GRANT statement and taken away by the REVOKE statement.

Permissions

Execute permission defaults to public role.

Examples

This example returns column privilege information for a table.

EXEC sp_column_privileges Employee