Select column names whose entries are not null

I would like to have a list of those columns of a table that have at least one not-NULL data entries in them.

In other words, I would like to get the column names for which the following returns at least one entry:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name FROM table WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL

I tried the following:

SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_name = "table_name"
AND EXISTS (
    SELECT DISTINCT column_name FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL
)

But this also returns the column names where all the entries are NULL.

So how do I get only those columns with non-NULL entries?

Let's pick a sample table on my machine:

mysql> show create table weisci_jaws_staging2.users\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       Table: users
Create Table: CREATE TABLE `users` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `username` varchar(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `passwd` varchar(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `user_type` tinyint(4) DEFAULT '2',
  `recovery_key` varchar(48) DEFAULT NULL,
  `name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `email` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `url` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `timezone` varchar(5) DEFAULT NULL,
  `language` varchar(5) DEFAULT NULL,
  `theme` varchar(24) DEFAULT NULL,
  `editor` varchar(24) DEFAULT NULL,
  `last_login` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `createtime` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `updatetime` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `change_passwd` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
  `never_expire` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
  `bad_passwd_count` smallint(6) DEFAULT '0',
  `last_access` bigint(20) DEFAULT '0',
  `enabled` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `users_username_idx` (`username`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=160 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8
1 row in set (0.02 sec)

mysql> select count(1) from weisci_jaws_staging2.users;
+----------+
| count(1) |
+----------+
|      117 |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

With this table, here are two questions:

• Which columns are nullable ?

• Which columns are not nullable ?

This query will find out for you:

select is_nullable,GROUP_CONCAT(column_name) column_list
from information_schema.columns
where table_schema = 'weisci_jaws_staging2'
and   table_name = 'users'
group by is_nullable;

Check out the result of that query for the table:

mysql> select is_nullable,GROUP_CONCAT(column_name) column_list
    -> from information_schema.columns
    -> where table_schema = 'weisci_jaws_staging2'
    -> and   table_name = 'users'
    -> group by is_nullable;
+-------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| is_nullable | column_list                                                                                                                        |
+-------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NO          | id,never_expire,change_passwd,enabled,username,passwd                                                                              |
| YES         | recovery_key,last_access,bad_passwd_count,updatetime,createtime,last_login,editor,user_type,language,timezone,url,email,name,theme |
+-------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2 rows in set (0.01 sec)

mysql>

OK, we have two lists. What do we learn from this?

• If you get two lists, no need to inspect the actual table because the table has non-NULL columns by definition.

• If you get one list, then

• If you get only is_nullable='NO', no need to inspect the actual table because the table has non-NULL columns by definition.

• If you get only is_nullable='YES', the actual table would be a little brittle. There would be no PRIMARY KEY, you poor, tormented soul !!! NOW, you have to resort to reading every row from the actual table.

If you are looking for just the non-null columns, then this would be your desired query:

select GROUP_CONCAT(column_name) nonnull_columns
from information_schema.columns
where table_schema = 'weisci_jaws_staging2'
and   table_name = 'users'
and   is_nullable = 'NO';

Here is the output of this query:

mysql> select GROUP_CONCAT(column_name) nonnull_columns
    -> from information_schema.columns
    -> where table_schema = 'weisci_jaws_staging2'
    -> and   table_name = 'users'
    -> and   is_nullable = 'NO';
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| nonnull_columns                                       |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| id,username,passwd,change_passwd,never_expire,enabled |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

mysql>

Removing the GROUP_CONCAT, you get this:

mysql> select column_name nonnull_column
    -> from information_schema.columns
    -> where table_schema = 'weisci_jaws_staging2'
    -> and   table_name = 'users'
    -> and   is_nullable = 'NO';
+----------------+
| nonnull_column |
+----------------+
| id             |
| username       |
| passwd         |
| change_passwd  |
| never_expire   |
| enabled        |
+----------------+
6 rows in set (0.01 sec)

mysql>

Give it a Try !!!

NOTE : Please notice that I do not need to read the actual table's data content. That's far more efficient than reading the entire table.

UPDATE 2012-11-15 13:40 EDT

The code from @sensware's answer gives NULL columns. The original q

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#28726, answer score: 6