Java ResultSetMetaData getColumnName() method with example

The getColumnName() method of the ResultSetMetaData (interface) retrieves and returns the name of the specified column in the current ResultSet object.
This method accepts an integer value representing the index of a column and, returns a String value representing the name of the specified column.
To get the ResultSetMetaData object, you need to −
Register the Driver: Select the required database register the Driver class of the particular database using the registerDriver() method of the DriverManager class or, the forName() method of the class named Class.
DriverManager.registerDriver(new com.mysql.jdbc.Driver());
Get connection: Create a connection object by passing the URL of the database, username and password of a user in the database (in string format) as parameters to the getConnection() method of the DriverManager class.
Connection mysqlCon = DriverManager.getConnection(mysqlUrl, "root", "password");
Create a Statement object: Create a Statement object using the createStatement method of the connection interface.
Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
Execute the Query: Execute the SELECT query using the executeQuery() methods of the Statement interface and Retrieve the results into the ResultSet object.
String query = "Select * from MyPlayers";
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);
Get the ResultSetMetaData object: Retrieve the ResultSetMetsdata object of the current ResultSet by invoking the getMetaData() method.
ResultSetMetaData resultSetMetaData = rs.getMetaData();
Finally, using the getColumnName() method of the ResultSetMetaData interface get the name of the specified column as −
int columnType = resultSetMetaData.getColumnName();
Let us create a table with name MyPlayers in MySQL database using CREATE statement as shown below −
CREATE TABLE MyPlayers(
   ID INT,
   First_Name VARCHAR(255),
   Last_Name VARCHAR(255),
   Date_Of_Birth date,
   Place_Of_Birth VARCHAR(255),
   Country VARCHAR(255),
   PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);
Now, we will insert 7 records in MyPlayers table using INSERT statements −
insert into MyPlayers values(1, 'Shikhar', 'Dhawan', DATE('1981-12-05'), 'Delhi', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(2, 'Jonathan', 'Trott', DATE('1981-04-22'), 'CapeTown', 'SouthAfrica');
insert into MyPlayers values(3, 'Kumara', 'Sangakkara', DATE('1977-10-27'), 'Matale', 'Srilanka');
insert into MyPlayers values(4, 'Virat', 'Kohli', DATE('1988-11-05'), 'Delhi', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(5, 'Rohit', 'Sharma', DATE('1987-04-30'), 'Nagpur', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(6, 'Ravindra', 'Jadeja', DATE('1988-12-06'), 'Nagpur', 'India');
insert into MyPlayers values(7, 'James', 'Anderson', DATE('1982-06-30'), 'Burnley', 'England');
Following JDBC program establishes connection with MySQL database, retrieves and displays the name of the 4th column in the MyPlayers table using the getColumnName() method.
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.ResultSetMetaData;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.Statement;
public class ResultSetMetadata_getColumnName {
   public static void main(String args[]) throws SQLException {
      //Registering the Driver
      DriverManager.registerDriver(new com.mysql.jdbc.Driver());
      //Getting the connection
      String mysqlUrl = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/mydatabase";
      Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(mysqlUrl, "root", "password");
      System.out.println("Connection established......");
      //Creating the Statement
      Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
      //Query to retrieve records
      String query = "Select ID, First_Name, Last_Name, Date_Of_Birth as DOB, Place_Of_Birth as POB, Country from MyPlayers";
      //Executing the query
      ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);
      //retrieving the ResultSetMetaData object
      ResultSetMetaData resultSetMetaData = rs.getMetaData();
      //Retrieving the column names
      String columnName = resultSetMetaData.getColumnName(4);
      System.out.println("Name of the column with index 4: "+ columnName);
   }
}
Connection established......
Name of the column with index 4: Date_Of_Birth