Таблиците ANSI INFORMATION_SCHEMA (в този случай INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS) осигуряват повече гъвкавост в MySQL:
SELECT c.column_name
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS c
WHERE c.table_name = 'tbl_name'
-- AND c.table_schema = 'db_name'
ORDER BY c.column_name