Presents your 
SQL SERVER E-NEWSLETTER for April 10, 2003

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GET INDEX INFORMATION FAST WITH SP_HELPINDEX

SQL Server 2000 stored procedure, sp_helpindex, provides information
about indexes on a table or a view. The sp_helpindex procedure requires only
the table or view name as an argument. In addition, its execute
permission defaults to the public role, making it easily accessible.

The stored procedure will return the index name, the index description,
and the keys on which the index is built. Ascending indexed columns are
the default and are listed by name. Descending columns are listed in the
result set with a minus sign following their name.

In this example, we'll query information about the authors table in the
pubs database.

Use pubs
sp_helpindex 'authors'

The query returns the following result set:

index_name            index_description               index_keys
-----------     --------------------------------    ------------------
Aunmind         nonclustered located on PRIMARY    au_lname, au_fname
UPKCL_auidind   clustered, unique, primary key
                   located on PRIMARY                    au_id

In this case, the query returns two indexes on the authors table, a
clustered and a nonclustered index. Your results may be slightly different
depending on the indexes on your authors table.
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