Describe Role Authorities

Retrieves the privileges associated with a specific role.

Terminal

desc role <role_name>;

desc role <role_name>;

#!/bin/bash

# Describe Role Authorities
desc role {{role_name}};

import subprocess

# Describe Role Authorities
# Make sure to replace <placeholders> with actual values
def run_command():
    cmd = [
        "desc",
        "role",
        "<role_name>;"
    ]
    
    try:
        print(f"Executing: {' '.join(cmd)}")
        subprocess.run(cmd, check=True)
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
    except FileNotFoundError:
        print("Error: desc not found. Please install it first.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    run_command()

When To Use

When auditing role permissions in a security review.

Pro Tip

Use additional joins to inspect permission hierarchies if necessary.

Command Builder

Tune the command before you copy it

Back to syntax

Generated Command

desc role <role_name>;

Anatomy of Output

Understanding the result

DESC ROLE my_role; Command

Queries role details.

Role: my_role Output

Indicates which role details are being displayed.

Privileges: SELECT, INSERT, DELETE Privileges List

Displays granted permissions.

Power User Variants

Optimized versions

DESC ROLE my_role CASCADE;

Includes granted roles and their privileges.

Troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

ERROR: role "my_role" does not exist

Solution: Check for typos in the role name.

ERROR: insufficient privileges to access role details

Solution: Verify your current role has access to view role descriptions.

ERROR: syntax error at or near "role"

Solution: Ensure proper SQL syntax is used.

Command Breakdown

What each part is doing

desc: Base Command; The executable that performs this operation. Here it runs Desc before the shell applies any redirect operators.
<role_name>: role name; The value supplied for role name.

Alternative Approaches

Comparable commands in other tools

Alternative security tools for the same job.

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