Describe Table — GET ddl/database/:db/table/:table

Description

Describe an HCatalog table. Normally returns a simple list of columns (using "desc table"), but the extended format will show more information (using "show table extended like").

URL

http://www.myserver.com/templeton/v1/ddl/database/:db/table/:table

http://www.myserver.com/templeton/v1/ddl/database/:db/table/:table?format=extended

Parameters

Name	Description	Required?	Default
:db	The database name	Required	None
:table	The table name	Required	None
format	Set "`format=extended`" to see additional information (using "show table extended like")	Optional	Not extended

The standard parameters are also supported.

Results

Name	Description
columns	A list of column names and types
database	The database name
table	The table name
partitioned (extended only)	True if the table is partitioned
location (extended only)	Location of table
outputFormat (extended only)	Output format
owner (extended only)	The owner's user name
partitionColumns (extended only)	List of the partition columns
inputFormat (extended only)	Input format

Example

Curl Command (simple)

% curl -s 'http://localhost:50111/templeton/v1/ddl/database/default/table/my_table?user.name=ctdean'

JSON Output (simple)

{
 "columns": [
   {
     "name": "id",
     "type": "bigint"
   },
   {
     "name": "user",
     "comment": "The user name",
     "type": "string"
   },
   {
     "name": "my_p",
     "type": "string"
   },
   {
     "name": "my_q",
     "type": "string"
   }
 ],
 "database": "default",
 "table": "my_table"
}

Curl Command (extended)

% curl -s 'http://localhost:50111/templeton/v1/ddl/database/default/table/test_table?user.name=ctdean&format=extended'

JSON Output (extended)

{
  "partitioned": true,
  "location": "hdfs://ip-10-77-6-151.ec2.internal:8020/apps/hive/warehouse/test_table",
  "outputFormat": "org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.RCFileOutputFormat",
  "columns": [
    {
      "name": "id",
      "type": "bigint"
    },
    {
      "name": "price",
      "comment": "The unit price",
      "type": "float"
    }
  ],
  "owner": "ctdean",
  "partitionColumns": [
    {
      "name": "country",
      "type": "string"
    }
  ],
  "inputFormat": "org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.RCFileInputFormat",
  "database": "default",
  "table": "test_table"
}

JSON Output (error)

{
  "error": "Table xtest_table does not exist",
  "errorCode": 404,
  "database": "default",
  "table": "xtest_table"
}

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General: DDL Resources – WebHCat Reference – WebHCat Manual – HCatalog Manual – Hive Wiki Home – Hive Project Site