Listing All Databases - getCatalogs()

This section describes how to get a list of all databases on the SQL Server through the DatabaseMetaData object.

If you want to list all databases on the SQL Server, you can use the DatabaseMetaData method: getCatalogs(). It returns all databases in a ResultSet object with one field, TABLE_CAT, containing the database name.

Note that a JDBC catalog is mapped to SQL Server database.

The tutorial Java program below shows you how to list all databases on the SQL Server:

/* ListDatabases.java
 * Copyright (c) HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
 */
import java.sql.*;
public class ListDatabases {
  public static void main(String [] args) {
    Connection con = null;
    try {

      con = DriverManager.getConnection(
          "jdbc:sqlserver://localhost\\SQLEXPRESS;"
        + "user=herong;password=T0pSecret;"
        + "database=AdventureWorks2019");

      DatabaseMetaData meta = con.getMetaData();
      ResultSet res = meta.getCatalogs();
      System.out.println("List of databases: ");
      while (res.next()) {
         System.out.println("   "
           +res.getString("TABLE_CAT"));
      }
      res.close();

      con.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

Here is the output of the program:

herong> java -cp .;mssql-jdbc-9.4.1.jre16.jar ListDatabases.java

List of databases:
   AdventureWorks2019
   master
   model
   msdb
   tempdb

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) Introduction

 JDK (Java SE) Installation

 Installing and Running Java DB - Derby

 Derby (Java DB) JDBC Driver

 Derby (Java DB) JDBC DataSource Objects

 Java DB (Derby) - DML Statements

 Java DB (Derby) - ResultSet Objects of Queries

 Java DB (Derby) - PreparedStatement

 MySQL Installation on Windows

 MySQL JDBC Driver (MySQL Connector/J)

 MySQL - PreparedStatement

 MySQL - Reference Implementation of JdbcRowSet

 MySQL - JBDC CallableStatement

 MySQL CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 MySQL BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 Oracle Express Edition Installation on Windows

 Oracle JDBC Drivers

 Oracle - Reference Implementation of JdbcRowSet

 Oracle - PreparedStatement

 Oracle - JBDC CallableStatement

 Oracle CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 Oracle BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition

 Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - Query Statements and Result Sets

Microsoft JDBC Driver - DatabaseMetaData Object

 Commonly Used DatabaseMetaData Methods

 Getting Database Server and Driver Info

Listing All Databases - getCatalogs()

 Listing All Schemas - getSchemas()

 Listing All Tables - getTables()

 Listing All Culumns - getColumns()

 Listing All Stored Procedures - getProcedures()

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DDL Statements

 Microsoft JDBC Driver - DML Statements

 SQL Server - PreparedStatement

 SQL Server CLOB (Character Large Object) - TEXT

 SQL Server BLOB (Binary Large Object) - BLOB

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - Flat Text Files

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - MS Access

 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver - MS SQL Server

 Summary of JDBC Drivers and Database Servers

 Using Connection Pool with JDBC

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB