DESCRIBE TABLE

Print information about tables, depending on selected options:

A list of all tables in the current keyspace.
One table, as an executable CQL statement, including the columns, primary key, table options (WITH clause), and any other metadata associated with the table, such as indexes.

If you use the output of DESCRIBE TABLE to re-create a table or its associated database objects in another environment, verify that the options are compatible. Some options are cluster-specific or require alignment with other tables in the cluster, such as the clustering order or compaction strategy.

Synopsis

DESCRIBE TABLES | TABLE [<keyspace_name>.]<table_name>

Legend
Syntax conventions	Description
UPPERCASE	Literal keyword.
Lowercase	Not literal.
`< >`	Variable value. Replace with a user-defined value.
`[]`	Optional. Square brackets (`[]`) surround optional command arguments. Do not type the square brackets.
`( )`	Group. Parentheses ( `( )` ) identify a group to choose from. Do not type the parentheses.
`\|`	Or. A vertical bar (`\|`) separates alternative elements. Type any one of the elements. Do not type the vertical bar.
`...`	Repeatable. An ellipsis ( `...` ) indicates that you can repeat the syntax element as often as required.
`'<Literal string>'`	Single quotation (`'`) marks must surround literal strings in CQL statements. Use single quotation marks to preserve upper case.
`{ <key> : <value> }`	Map collection. Braces (`{ }`) enclose map collections or key value pairs. A colon separates the key and the value.
`<<datatype1>,<datatype2>>`	Set, list, map, or tuple. Angle brackets ( `< >` ) enclose data types in a set, list, map, or tuple. Separate the data types with a comma.
`<cql_statement>;`	End CQL statement. A semicolon (`;`) terminates all CQL statements.
`[--]`	Separate the command line options from the command arguments with two hyphens ( `--` ). This syntax is useful when arguments might be mistaken for command line options.
`' <<schema\> ... </schema\>> '`	Search CQL only: Single quotation marks (`'`) surround an entire XML schema declaration.
`@<xml_entity>='<xml_entity_type>'`	Search CQL only: Identify the entity and literal value to overwrite the XML element in the schema and solrConfig files.

DESCRIBE TABLES: Get all tables for the current keyspace.

Requires no other arguments.

The short form is DESC TABLES.
DESCRIBE TABLE: Get one table specified by name.

The short form is DESC TABLE.
keyspace_name: Optional. Name of the keyspace containing the table for DESCRIBE TABLE. If not specified, the current keyspace is used.
table_name: Name of the table for DESCRIBE TABLE.

On Linux systems, object names, such as keyspace and table names, are case-sensitive. CQL converts object names to lowercase unless enclosed in double quotation marks.

Examples

List all tables in a keyspace

Select the keyspace with USE, and then run DESC TABLES with no arguments:

USE system;
DESC TABLES;

The output is a list of table names in the current keyspace.

Get the definition for a specific table

Specify the keyspace (optional) and name of the table to describe:

DESC TABLE cycling.calendar;

If the table exists, the result is the table definition as an executable CQL statement. For example:

CREATE TABLE cycling.calendar (
  race_id int,
  race_start_date timestamp,
  race_end_date timestamp,
  race_name text,
  PRIMARY KEY (race_id, race_start_date, race_end_date)
) WITH CLUSTERING ORDER BY (race_start_date ASC, race_end_date ASC)
  AND bloom_filter_fp_chance = 0.01
  AND caching = {'keys': 'ALL', 'rows_per_partition': 'NONE'}
  AND comment = ''
  AND compaction = {'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.SizeTieredCompactionStrategy',
    'max_threshold': '32', 'min_threshold': '4'}
  AND compression = {'chunk_length_in_kb': '64', 'class': 'org.apache.cassandra.io.compress.LZ4Compressor'}
  AND crc_check_chance = 1.0
  AND default_time_to_live = 0
  AND gc_grace_seconds = 864000
  AND max_index_interval = 2048
  AND memtable_flush_period_in_ms = 0
  AND min_index_interval = 128
  AND nodesync = {'enabled' : 'true'}
  AND speculative_retry = '99PERCENTILE';

The contents of the WITH clause depends on your table and database configuration. Unspecified options fallback to default values if not explicitly set in CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, or your database configuration. Most table options cannot be changed because they are managed by DataStax as part of the Astra DB service offering. For more information about table options, see the CREATE TABLE command reference.

DESCRIBE TABLE

Synopsis

Examples

Was this helpful?

Give Feedback