Metadata provides structural details about your Oracle database, including tables, columns, data types, primary and foreign keys, and other schema-level details.
In most cases, metadata is requested automatically by an application using the ODBC driver. The application initiates metadata requests using standard ODBC functions such as SQLTables and SQLColumns. The driver fetches the requested metadata from Oracle and returns it to the application.
Metadata can also be retrieved manually by executing SQL queries against the information schema.
For more information on accessing metadata through ODBC functions or the data dictionary views, see Access metadata.