Get table schema in Redshift

If you want to get the table structure with create statement, constraints and triggers, you can use pg_dump utility

pg_dump -U user_name -s -t table_name -d db_name
Note: -s used for schema only dump
if you want to take the data only dump , you can use -a switch.

This will output the create syntax with all the constraints. Hope this will help you.

Recently I wrote a python script to clone table schemas between redshift clusters. If you only want the columns and column types of a table, you can do it via:

select column_name,
  case
    when data_type = 'integer' then 'integer'
    when data_type = 'bigint' then 'bigint'
    when data_type = 'smallint' then 'smallint'
    when data_type = 'text' then 'text'
    when data_type = 'date' then 'date'
    when data_type = 'real' then 'real'
    when data_type = 'boolean' then 'boolean'
    when data_type = 'double precision' then 'float8'
    when data_type = 'timestamp without time zone' then 'timestamp'
    when data_type = 'character' then 'char('||character_maximum_length||')'
    when data_type = 'character varying' then 'varchar('||character_maximum_length||')'
    when data_type = 'numeric' then 'numeric('||numeric_precision||','||numeric_scale||')'
    else 'unknown'
  end as data_type,
  is_nullable,
  column_default
 from information_schema.columns
 where table_schema = 'xxx' and table_name = 'xxx' order by ordinal_position
;

But if you need the compression types and distkey/sortkeys, you need to query another table:

select * from pg_table_def where tablename = 'xxx' and schemaname='xxx';

This query will give you the complete schema definition including the Redshift specific attributes distribution type/key, sort key, primary key, and column encodings in the form of a create statement as well as providing an alter table statement that sets the owner to the current owner. The only thing it can't tell you are foreign keys. I'm working on the latter, but there's a current privilege issue in RS that prevents us from querying the right tables. This query could use some tuning, but I haven't had time or the need to work it further.

select pk.pkey, tm.schemaname||'.'||tm.tablename, 'create table '||tm.schemaname||'.'||tm.tablename
||' ('
||cp.coldef
-- primary key
||decode(pk.pkey,null,'',pk.pkey)
-- diststyle and dist key
||decode(d.distkey,null,') diststyle '||dist_style||' ',d.distkey)
--sort key 
|| (select decode(skey,null,'',skey) from  (select 
' sortkey(' ||substr(array_to_string(
                 array( select ','||cast(column_name as varchar(100))  as str from
                       (select column_name from information_schema.columns col where  col.table_schema= tm.schemaname and col.table_name=tm.tablename) c2
                        join 
                        (-- gives sort cols
                          select attrelid as tableid, attname as colname, attsortkeyord as sort_col_order from pg_attribute pa where 
                          pa.attnum > 0  AND NOT pa.attisdropped AND pa.attsortkeyord > 0
                        ) st on tm.tableid=st.tableid and c2.column_name=st.colname   order by sort_col_order
                      )
                ,'')
              ,2,10000) || ')' as skey
))
||';'
-- additional alter table queries here to set owner
|| 'alter table '||tm.schemaname||'.'||tm.tablename||' owner to "'||tm.owner||'";'   
from 
-- t  master table list
(
SELECT substring(n.nspname,1,100) as schemaname, substring(c.relname,1,100) as tablename, c.oid as tableid ,use2.usename as owner, decode(c.reldiststyle,0,'EVEN',1,'KEY',8,'ALL') as dist_style
FROM pg_namespace n, pg_class c,  pg_user use2 
WHERE n.oid = c.relnamespace 
AND nspname NOT IN ('pg_catalog', 'pg_toast', 'information_schema')
AND c.relname <> 'temp_staging_tables_1'
and c.relowner = use2.usesysid
) tm 
-- cp  creates the col params for the create string
join
(select 
substr(str,(charindex('QQQ',str)+3),(charindex('ZZZ',str))-(charindex('QQQ',str)+3)) as tableid
,substr(replace(replace(str,'ZZZ',''),'QQQ'||substr(str,(charindex('QQQ',str)+3),(charindex('ZZZ',str))-(charindex('QQQ',str)+3)),''),2,10000) as coldef
from
( select array_to_string(array(
SELECT  'QQQ'||cast(t.tableid as varchar(10))||'ZZZ'|| ','||column_name||' '|| decode(udt_name,'bpchar','char',udt_name) || decode(character_maximum_length,null,'', '('||cast(character_maximum_length as varchar(9))||')'   )
-- default
|| decode(substr(column_default,2,8),'identity','',null,'',' default '||column_default||' ')
-- nullable
|| decode(is_nullable,'YES',' NULL ','NO',' NOT NULL ') 
-- identity 
|| decode(substr(column_default,2,8),'identity',' identity('||substr(column_default,(charindex('''',column_default)+1), (length(column_default)-charindex('''',reverse(column_default))-charindex('''',column_default)   ) )  ||') ', '')
-- encoding
|| decode(enc,'none','',' encode '||enc)
 as str 
from  
-- ci  all the col info
(
select cast(t.tableid as int), cast(table_schema as varchar(100)), cast(table_name as varchar(100)), cast(column_name as varchar(100)), 
cast(ordinal_position as int), cast(column_default as varchar(100)), cast(is_nullable as varchar(20)) , cast(udt_name as varchar(50))  ,cast(character_maximum_length as int),
 sort_col_order  , decode(d.colname,null,0,1) dist_key , e.enc
from 
(select * from information_schema.columns c where  c.table_schema= t.schemaname and c.table_name=t.tablename) c
left join 
(-- gives sort cols
select attrelid as tableid, attname as colname, attsortkeyord as sort_col_order from pg_attribute a where 
 a.attnum > 0  AND NOT a.attisdropped AND a.attsortkeyord > 0
) s on t.tableid=s.tableid and c.column_name=s.colname
left join 
(-- gives encoding
select attrelid as tableid, attname as colname, format_encoding(a.attencodingtype::integer) AS enc from pg_attribute a where 
 a.attnum > 0  AND NOT a.attisdropped 
) e on t.tableid=e.tableid and c.column_name=e.colname
left join 
-- gives dist col
(select attrelid as tableid, attname as colname from pg_attribute a where
 a.attnum > 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped  AND a.attisdistkey = 't'
) d on t.tableid=d.tableid and c.column_name=d.colname
order by ordinal_position
) ci 
-- for the working array funct
), '') as str
from 
(-- need tableid
 SELECT substring(n.nspname,1,100) as schemaname, substring(c.relname,1,100) as tablename, c.oid as tableid 
 FROM pg_namespace n, pg_class c
 WHERE n.oid = c.relnamespace 
 AND nspname NOT IN ('pg_catalog', 'pg_toast', 'information_schema')
 ) t 
)) cp on tm.tableid=cp.tableid
-- primary key query here
left join 
(select c.oid as tableid, ', primary key '|| substring(pg_get_indexdef(indexrelid),charindex('(',pg_get_indexdef(indexrelid))-1 ,60) as pkey
 from pg_index i , pg_namespace n, pg_class c 
 where i.indisprimary=true 
 and i.indrelid =c.oid
 and n.oid = c.relnamespace
)  pk on tm.tableid=pk.tableid
-- dist key
left join
(  select 
-- close off the col defs after the primary key 
')' ||
' distkey('|| cast(column_name as varchar(100)) ||')'  as distkey, t.tableid
from information_schema.columns c
join 
(-- need tableid
SELECT substring(n.nspname,1,100) as schemaname, substring(c.relname,1,100) as tablename, c.oid as tableid 
FROM pg_namespace n, pg_class c
WHERE n.oid = c.relnamespace 
AND nspname NOT IN ('pg_catalog', 'pg_toast', 'information_schema')
) t on c.table_schema= t.schemaname and c.table_name=t.tablename
join 
-- gives dist col
(select attrelid as tableid, attname as colname from pg_attribute a where
a.attnum > 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped  AND a.attisdistkey = 't'
) d on t.tableid=d.tableid and c.column_name=d.colname

) d on tm.tableid=d.tableid 
where tm.schemaname||'.'||tm.tablename='myschema.mytable'