A UDF to list column names of a SQL database table

Use the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views to get column names and column properties of a table.

CREATE FUNCTION GetTableColumnInfo( 
    @TableName varchar(50)
)
RETURNS TABLE 
AS 
RETURN 
   (SELECT ist.TABLE_CATALOG,  
           ist.TABLE_NAME, 
           isc.COLUMN_NAME, 
           isc.DATA_TYPE 
   FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES ist
      INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS isc 
      ON ist.TABLE_CATALOG = isc.TABLE_CATALOG 
      AND ist.TABLE_SCHEMA = isc.TABLE_SCHEMA 
      AND ist.TABLE_NAME = isc.TABLE_NAME 
      AND ist.TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
   WHERE ist.TABLE_NAME = @TableName 
      OR @TableName IS null)

To invoke this function type

    select * from GetTableColumnInfo ('tableName')

by Llama Lopon