How can I pivot column headers into rows?

Question

I would like to get a list of column headers for a table.

I have queried

SELECT TOP 0 * FROM TABLE_NAME. 

But now I want to pivot those column names into rows. How do I do that?

Answer 1

Using the Stack Overflow database as an example:

SELECT TOP (0) * FROM dbo.Users;

Id	AboutMe	Age	CreationDate	DisplayName	DownVotes	EmailHash	LastAccessDate	Location	Reputation	UpVotes	Views	WebsiteUrl	AccountId

The display you want is available directly from system metadata without pivoting:

SELECT 
    C.[name] -- returns the column name
FROM sys.columns AS C
WHERE 
    -- Put your table name inside the OBJECT_ID function here
    -- The 'U' parameter ensures we only match user tables
    C.[object_id] = OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.Users', 'U')
    -- Don't show any hidden columns
    AND C.is_hidden = 'false'
ORDER BY 
    -- Return columns in left-to-right order
    C.column_id;

name
Id
AboutMe
Age
CreationDate
DisplayName
DownVotes
EmailHash
LastAccessDate
Location
Reputation
UpVotes
Views
WebsiteUrl
AccountId