A Snowflake administrator needs to determine the default collation setting for a newly created database. Which of the following methods can be used to identify the default collation of the database…

Question

Options

• ADESCRIBE DATABASE MY DATABASE;
• BSHOW DATABASES LIKE 'MY DATABASE';
• CSELECT followed by SELECT collation FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.DATABASES WHERE
• DSELECT FROM WHERE option_name = 'COLLATION';
• ESELECT DATABASE COLLATION FROM INFORMATION SCHEMA.DATABASES WHERE

• A
  85% (23)
• B
  7% (2)
• D
  4% (1)
• E
  4% (1)

Explanation

DESCRIBE DATABASE MY_DATABASE is the correct Snowflake DDL inspection command that returns a detailed metadata row for the specified database, including its default collation property - making it the most direct and reliable method.

Why the distractors fail:

• B - SHOW DATABASES LIKE 'MY DATABASE' lists databases with high-level metadata (owner, creation time, etc.) but does not expose the collation setting in its output columns.
• C - The INFORMATION_SCHEMA.DATABASES view does not include a column named collation; querying a non-existent column causes an error.
• D - This references a vague option_name filter that doesn't correspond to any standard Snowflake system table for database-level collation; the syntax is also incomplete.
• E - DATABASE_COLLATION is not a valid column in INFORMATION_SCHEMA.DATABASES, so this query would also fail.

Memory tip: Think "DESCRIBE = Details" - whenever you need granular configuration properties (collation, data retention, default warehouse) for a Snowflake object, DESCRIBE <object_type> <name> is your go-to command, while SHOW gives breadth (lists) and INFORMATION_SCHEMA gives relational query power but only for columns that actually exist in the view.

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