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DESCRIBE [EXTENDED|FORMATTED] table_name[DOT col_name ( [DOT field_name] | [DOT '$elem$'] | [DOT '$key$'] | [DOT '$value$'] )* ]

DESCRIBE TABLE shows the list of columns including partition columns for the given table. If the EXTENDED keyword is specified then it will show all the metadata for the table in Thrift serialized form. This is generally only useful for debugging and not for general use. If the FORMATTED keyword is specified, then it will show the metadata in a tabular format.

If a table has complex column then you can examine the attributes of this column by specifying table_name.complex_col_name (and '$elem$' for array element, '$key$' for map key, and '$value$' for map value). You can specify this recursively to explore the complex column type.

For a view, DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED or FORMATTED can be used to retrieve the view's definition. Two relevant attributes are provided: both the original view definition as specified by the user, and an expanded definition used internally by Hive.

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This statement lists metadata for a given partition. The output is similar to that of DESCRIBE TABLE. Presently, the column information associated with a particular partition is not used while preparing plans.

Example:

DESCRIBE [EXTENDED|FORMATTED] page_view PARTITION (ds='2008-08-08');