SQL Tip: How can I get column names from a table in SQL Server?

You can obtain this information and much, much more by querying the Information Schema views.

This sample query:

SELECT *
FROM Northwind.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = N'Customers'

Can be made over all these DB objects:
- CHECK_CONSTRAINTS
- COLUMN_DOMAIN_USAGE - COLUMN_PRIVILEGES
- COLUMNS
- CONSTRAINT_COLUMN_USAGE
- CONSTRAINT_TABLE_USAGE
- DOMAIN_CONSTRAINTS
- DOMAINS
- KEY_COLUMN_USAGE
- PARAMETERS
- REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS
- ROUTINES
- ROUTINE_COLUMNS
- SCHEMATA
- TABLE_CONSTRAINTS
- TABLE_PRIVILEGES
- TABLES
- VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE
- VIEW_TABLE_USAGE
- VIEWS