Returns index information for the specified remote table.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
sp_indexes [ @table_server = ] 'table_server' [ , [ @table_name = ] 'table_name' ] [ , [ @table_schema = ] 'table_schema' ] [ , [ @table_catalog = ] 'table_db' ] [ , [ @index_name = ] 'index_name' ] [ , [ @is_unique = ] 'is_unique' ]
Is the name of a linked server running SQL Server for which table information is being requested. table_server is sysname, with no default.
Is the name of the remote table for which to provide index information. table_name is sysname, with a default of NULL. If NULL, all tables in the specified database are returned.
Specifies the table schema. In the SQL Server environment, this corresponds to the table owner. table_schema is sysname, with a default of NULL.
Is the name of the database in which table_name resides. table_db is sysname, with a default of NULL. If NULL, table_db defaults to master.
Is the name of the index for which information is being requested. index is sysname, with a default of NULL.
Is the type of index for which to return information. is_unique is bit, with a default of NULL, and can be one of the following values.
Value
Description
1
Returns information about unique indexes.
0
Returns information about indexes that are not unique.
NULL
Returns information about all indexes.
Column name
Data type
TABLE_CAT
sysname
Name of the database in which the specified table resides.
TABLE_SCHEM
Schema for the table.
TABLE_NAME
Name of the remote table.
NON_UNIQUE
smallint
Whether the index is unique or not unique:
0 = Unique
1 = Not unique
INDEX_QUALIFER
Name of the index owner. Some DBMS products allow for users other than the table owner to create indexes. In SQL Server, this column is always the same as TABLE_NAME.
INDEX_NAME
Name of the index.
TYPE
Type of index:
0 = Statistics for a table
1 = Clustered
2 = Hashed
3 = Other
ORDINAL_POSITION
int
Ordinal position of the column in the index. The first column in the index is 1. This column always returns a value.
COLUMN_NAME
Is the corresponding name of the column for each column of the TABLE_NAME returned.
ASC_OR_DESC
varchar
Is the order used in collation:
A = Ascending
D = Descending
NULL = Not applicable
SQL Server always returns A.
CARDINALITY
Is the number of rows in the table or unique values in the index.
PAGES
Is the number of pages to store the index or table.
FILTER_CONDITION
nvarchar( 4000)
SQL Server does not return a value.
Requires SELECT permission on the schema.
The following example returns all index information from the Employees table of the AdventureWorks2012 database on the Seattle1 linked server.
EXEC sp_indexes @table_server = 'Seattle1', @table_name = 'Employee', @table_schema = 'HumanResources', @table_catalog = 'AdventureWorks2012'