Introduction INFORMATION_SCHEMA  provides access to database  metadata , information about the MySQL server such as the name of a database or table, the data type of a column, or access privileges. Other terms that are sometimes used for this information are  data dictionary  and  system catalog . INFORMATION_SCHEMA  provides access to database  metadata , information about the MySQL server such as the name of a database or table, the data type of a column, or access privileges. Other terms that are sometimes used for this information are  data dictionary  and  system catalog . INFORMATION_SCHEMA  is a database within each MySQL instance, the place that stores information about all the other databases that the MySQL server maintains. The  INFORMATION_SCHEMA  database contains several read-only tables. They are actually views, not base tables, so there are no files associated with them, and you cannot set triggers on them. Also, there is no database directory with that name. Although you can select  INFORMATION_SCHEMA  as the default database with a  USE  statement, you can only read the contents of tables, not perform  INSERT ,  UPDATE , or  DELETE  operations on them. Here is an example of a statement that retrieves information from  INFORMATION_SCHEMA : 26.1 Introduction INFORMATION_SCHEMA Usage Notes •INFORMATION_SCHEMA Usage Notes •Character Set Considerations •INFORMATION_SCHEMA as Alternative to SHOW Statements •INFORMATION_SCHEMA and Privileges •Performance Considerations •Standards Considerations •Conventions in the INFORMATION_SCHEMA Reference Sections •Related Information mysql>  SELECT table_name, table_type, engine FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema = ’db5’ ORDER BY table_name; +------------+------------+--------+ | table_name | table_type | engine | +------------+------------+--------+ | fk | BASE TABLE | InnoDB | | fk2 | BASE TABLE | InnoDB | | goto | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | into | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | k | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | kurs | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | loop | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | pk | BASE TABLE | InnoDB | | t | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | t2 | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | t3 | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | t7 | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | tables | BASE TABLE | MyISAM | | v | VIEW | NULL | | v2 | VIEW | NULL | | v3 | VIEW | NULL | | v56 | VIEW | NULL | 4769