How I can obtain the collation of a specific table in a database?
Collation at the table level is on a per column basis, so it is possible to have a collation different than the database. If the collation is not defined at the column level, it defaults to the database collation setting.
SQL Server 2000:
SELECT c.name,
c.collation
FROM SYSCOLUMNS c
WHERE [id] = OBJECT_ID('your_table_name')
SQL Server 2005+:
SELECT c.name,
c.collation_name
FROM SYS.COLUMNS c
JOIN SYS.TABLES t ON t.object_id = c.object_id
WHERE t.name = 'your_table_name'
There is no such thing as a collation for a table.
A database has a default collation (which defaults to the collation for the server).
The default collation for the database will be applied to any column you add to a table, UNLESS you explicitly specify a collation at the column level.