Final answer:
System catalog or information schema views are used to examine the metadata of database objects like tables and columns in various RDBMS.
Step-by-step explanation:
One way to examine the system objects that define a database is to use the system catalog views or information schema views. These views are a set of virtual tables that contain information about the database schema and system configuration. Most relational database management systems (RDBMS), like Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL, provide these views for querying metadata of the database objects such as tables, views, columns, data types, and security permissions. To access the database metadata, you can use SQL queries against these views. For example, in SQL Server, you might use SELECT * FROM sys.tables to get a list of all tables in the database or SELECT * FROM information_schema.columns to retrieve details about columns within the database.