Refer http://kb.askmonty.org/v/virtual-columns - the example CREATE TABLE table1 ( a INT NOT NULL, b VARCHAR(32), c INT AS (a MOD 10) virtual, d VARCHAR(5) AS (LEFT(b,5)) persistent); now SHOW FULL FIELDS FROM table1; Field Type Collation Null Key Default Extra Privileges Comment ------ ----------- ----------------- ------ ------ ------- ------- ------------------------------- ------- a int(11) (NULL) NO (NULL) select,insert,update,references b varchar(32) latin1_swedish_ci YES (NULL) select,insert,update,references c int(11) (NULL) YES (NULL) VIRTUAL select,insert,update,references d varchar(5) latin1_swedish_ci YES (NULL) VIRTUAL select,insert,update,references I request that 'extra' column should return either "PERSISTENT" or " VIRTUAL, PERSISTENT" for column `d`. The reason is that the output from SHOW FULL FIELDS returns an *array* (that will not need to be parsed) as opposite to SHOW CREATE TABLE. Accordingly SHOW FULL FIELDS is much easier to use for an 'unintelligent client' as opposed to an 'intelligent (or ignorant for that sake :-) ) human user to decide on special properties for a column. Peter Webyog