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Describe how metadata is stored and accessed for internal tables in a relational database.

SQLhard0.4 min readPremium
Frequency
Low
Asked at 1 company
Category
487
questions in SQL
Difficulty Split
130E|271M|86H
in this category
Total Bank
1,863
across 7 categories
Asked at these companies
Tredence
Key Concepts Tested
bigqueryoptimizationsnowflakesql
Expert AnswerPremium
71 wordsInterview-ready
**Architectural Logic**: Metadata drives optimization and discovery; system catalogs are the source of truth. **Storage**: pg_catalog (PostgreSQL), information_schema (standard). Tables: pg_class (tables, indexes), pg_attribute (columns), pg_index. **Access**: `SELECT * FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema='public'`. **Why It Matters**: Optimizer uses statistics for plans; tools use for discovery and lineage....
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