How do I get a list of all tables in Oracle?

The Problem

How do you select the names of all tables in Oracle?

The Solution

Oracle groups tables into schemas. You can think of a schema as a “database” if you’re used to other database management systems, although in Oracle schemas are usually part of the main container database.

Schemas “own” tables. So to list all table names in a specific schema called CHINOOK, use the command:

SELECT  table_name
FROM    dba_tables
WHERE   owner = 'CHINOOK'
ORDER BY table_name;

Oracle is case-sensitive, so be sure to enter your owner schema name with the correct capitalization.

If the query above gives you a permissions error, try replacing dba_tables with all_tables or user_tables. These three tables are shown in decreasing order of permissions required.

If you want to list all tables in all schemas, remove the where clause from the query.

Finally, if you want to include column names in your results, use:

SELECT    table_name, column_name
FROM      all_tab_columns
WHERE     owner = 'CHINOOK'
ORDER BY  table_name, column_id;