DESCRIBE?

I understand there is a "DESCRIBE my_data_base" command in Oracle SQL, and I assume it will return material describing the d-b in question. Right so far? If so, is it restricted in some way? I'm finding I can issue SELECT from a Perl script but not DESCRIBE - I get ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement (DBD: error possibly near <*> indicator at char 1 in '<*>DESCRIBE my_data_base').  

Rgds, GStC.  

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