title: How to return field type from MySQL query?
body: <p>Simple question: How can I return the field type of a MySQL table. I know about <code>describe</code> or <code>show column</code> but I just want to return that single parameter. e.g.:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT fieldtype(mycol) FROM mytable
  # should return INT or integer for example
  </code></pre>