The data dictionary views consist of static and dynamic views:

- The name "static" denotes that the information in this group of views only changes when a change is made to the data dictionary (a column is added to a table, a new database user is created, etc.).

- The dynamic views are constantly updated while a database is in use; their contents relate primarily to performance and are not relevant to this page.


The static views can be divided into three groups. The views in each group are prefixed USER_, ALL_, or DBA_ :

Prefix	Scope
USER_	User's view (objects in the user's schema).
ALL_	Expanded user's view (all objects that the user can access).
DBA_	Database administrator's view (all objects in all users' schemas).

The set of columns is almost identical across views, that is, USER_TABLES, ALL_TABLES, and DBA_TABLES have the same columns, except USER_TABLES does not have column OWNER (which is unnecessary because that view only has information about tables that belong to the user who queries the view).




Below is a listing of the Oracle static system views that are commonly used:

System Table	Description
ALL_ARGUMENTS	Arguments in object accessible to the user
ALL_CATALOG	All tables, views, synonyms, sequences accessible to the user
ALL_COL_COMMENTS	Comments on columns of accessible tables and views
ALL_CONSTRAINTS	Constraint definitions on accessible tables
ALL_CONS_COLUMNS	Information about accessible columns in constraint definitions
ALL_DB_LINKS	Database links accessible to the user
ALL_ERRORS	Current errors on stored objects that user is allowed to create
ALL_INDEXES	Descriptions of indexes on tables accessible to the user
ALL_IND_COLUMNS	COLUMNs comprising INDEXes on accessible TABLES
ALL_LOBS	Description of LOBs contained in tables accessible to the user
ALL_OBJECTS	Objects accessible to the user
ALL_OBJECT_TABLES	Description of all object tables accessible to the user
ALL_SEQUENCES	Description of SEQUENCEs accessible to the user
ALL_SNAPSHOTS	Snapshots the user can access
ALL_SOURCE	Current source on stored objects that user is allowed to create
ALL_SYNONYMS	All synonyms accessible to the user
ALL_TABLES	Description of relational tables accessible to the user
ALL_TAB_COLUMNS	Columns of user's tables, views and clusters
ALL_TAB_COL_STATISTICS	Columns of user's tables, views and clusters
ALL_TAB_COMMENTS	Comments on tables and views accessible to the user
ALL_TRIGGERS	Triggers accessible to the current user
ALL_TRIGGER_COLS	Column usage in user's triggers or in triggers on user's tables
ALL_TYPES	Description of types accessible to the user
ALL_UPDATABLE_COLUMNS	Description of all updatable columns
ALL_USERS	Information about all users of the database
ALL_VIEWS	Description of views accessible to the user
DATABASE_COMPATIBLE_LEVEL	Database compatible parameter set via init.ora
DBA_DB_LINKS	All database links in the database
DBA_ERRORS	Current errors on all stored objects in the database
DBA_OBJECTS	All objects in the database
DBA_ROLES	All Roles which exist in the database
DBA_ROLE_PRIVS	Roles granted to users and roles
DBA_SOURCE	Source of all stored objects in the database
DBA_TABLESPACES	Description of all tablespaces
DBA_TAB_PRIVS	All grants on objects in the database
DBA_TRIGGERS	All triggers in the database
DBA_TS_QUOTAS	Tablespace quotas for all users
DBA_USERS	Information about all users of the database
DBA_VIEWS	Description of all views in the database
DICTIONARY	Description of data dictionary tables and views
DICT_COLUMNS	Description of columns in data dictionary tables and views
GLOBAL_NAME	global database name
NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS	Permanent NLS parameters of the database
NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS	NLS parameters of the instance
NLS_SESSION_PARAMETERS	NLS parameters of the user session
PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION	version and status information for component products
ROLE_TAB_PRIVS	Table privileges granted to roles
SESSION_PRIVS	Privileges which the user currently has set
SESSION_ROLES	Roles which the user currently has enabled.
SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_MAP	Description table for privilege type codes. Maps privilege type numbers to type names
TABLE_PRIVILEGES	Grants on objects for which the user is the grantor, grantee, owner, or an enabled role or PUBLIC is the grantee
TABLE_PRIVILEGE_MAP	Description table for privilege (auditing option) type codes. Maps privilege (auditing option) type numbers to type names