<p>I have a SQL Server database and I want to know what columns and types it has. I'd prefer to do this through a query rather than using a GUI like Enterprise Manager. Is there a way to do this?</p>

There are a few methods to get metadata about a table:
```
```
EXEC sp_help tablename
```
```
Will return several result sets, describing the table, it's columns and constraints.
The
```
INFORMATION_SCHEMA
```
views will give you the information you want, though unfortunately you have to query the views and join them manually.