| title | description | author | ms.author | ms.date | ms.service | ms.subservice | ms.topic | ms.custom | f1_keywords | helpviewer_keywords | dev_langs | monikerRange | |||||||
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sys.index_columns (Transact-SQL) |
sys.index_columns contains one row per column that is part of an index or unordered table (heap). |
rwestMSFT |
randolphwest |
02/28/2025 |
sql |
system-objects |
reference |
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>=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric |
[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics PDW FabricSQLDB]
Contains one row per column that is part of an index or unordered table (heap).
| Column name | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| object_id | int | ID of the object the index is defined on. |
| index_id | int | ID of the index in which the column is defined. |
| index_column_id | int | ID of the index column. index_column_id is unique only within index_id. |
| column_id | int | ID of the column in object_id.0 = Row Identifier (RID) in a nonclustered index.column_id is unique only within object_id. |
| key_ordinal | tinyint | Ordinal (1-based) within set of key-columns. 0 = Not a key column, or is an XML index, a columnstore index, or a spatial index. Note: An XML or spatial index can't be a key because the underlying columns aren't comparable, meaning that their values can't be ordered. |
| partition_ordinal | tinyint | Ordinal (1-based) within set of partitioning columns. A clustered columnstore index can have at most one partitioning column. 0 = Not a partitioning column. |
| is_descending_key | bit | 1 = Index key column has a descending sort direction.0 = Index key column has an ascending sort direction, or the column is part of a columnstore or hash index. |
| is_included_column | bit | 1 = Column is a nonkey column added to the index by using the CREATE INDEX INCLUDE clause, or the column is part of a columnstore index.0 = Column isn't an included column.Columns implicitly added because they're part of the clustering key aren't listed in sys.index_columns.Columns implicitly added because they're a partitioning column are returned as 0. |
| column_store_order_ordinal | tinyint | Applies to: [!INCLUDEssazuresynapse-md], [!INCLUDEsssql22-md], [!INCLUDE ssazure-sqldb], and [!INCLUDE ssazure-sqlmi-autd] Ordinal (1-based) within set of order columns in an ordered columnstore index. For more on ordered columnstore indexes, see Performance tuning with ordered columnstore indexes. |
[!INCLUDEssCatViewPerm] For more information, see Metadata Visibility Configuration.
The following example returns all indexes and index columns for the table Production.BillOfMaterials.
USE AdventureWorks2022;
GO
SELECT i.name AS index_name
,COL_NAME(ic.object_id,ic.column_id) AS column_name
,ic.index_column_id
,ic.key_ordinal
,ic.is_included_column
FROM sys.indexes AS i
INNER JOIN sys.index_columns AS ic
ON i.object_id = ic.object_id AND i.index_id = ic.index_id
WHERE i.object_id = OBJECT_ID('Production.BillOfMaterials');[!INCLUDEssResult]
index_name column_name index_column_id key_ordinal is_included_column
---------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- --------------- ----------- -------------
AK_BillOfMaterials_ProductAssemblyID_ComponentID_StartDate ProductAssemblyID 1 1 0
AK_BillOfMaterials_ProductAssemblyID_ComponentID_StartDate ComponentID 2 2 0
AK_BillOfMaterials_ProductAssemblyID_ComponentID_StartDate StartDate 3 3 0
PK_BillOfMaterials_BillOfMaterialsID BillOfMaterialsID 1 1 0
IX_BillOfMaterials_UnitMeasureCode UnitMeasureCode 1 1 0
(5 row(s) affected)