title: Vertica, describe table
body: <p>I have a vertica database and I need to describe some tables. In MySQL you use <code>describe table_name</code>. And I know that in vertica it's <code>\d table_name</code>.
  Also I need to do it throw python, but when I make query:</p>
  
  <pre><code>cur.execute("\d table_name")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get this problem:</p>
  
  <pre><code>vertica_python.errors.VerticaSyntaxError: Severity: ERROR, Message: Syntax error at or near "\", Sqlstate: 42601, Position: 1, Routine: base_yyerror, File: /scratch_a/release/vbuild/vertica/Parser/scan.l, Line: 1004, SQL: '\\d table_name'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there another way to get columns and columns type in vertica?</p>