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"
}