DESCRIBE TABLE

Shows output depending on the options selected:

  • List of all tables in a keyspace.

  • Executable CQL information for a single table, including materialized views that are based on the table.

Verify all settings before executing the full CQL output for recreating a table returned by this command. Some table options might be cluster-specific.

Synopsis

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

<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.

TABLES

All tables.

TABLE

One table.

<keyspace_name>

Name of the keyspace

<table_name>

Name of the table

Examples

Show a list of tables in the system keyspace:

USE system; DESC TABLES

A list of all the tables in the keyspace is returned:

repairs              view_builds_in_progress  paxos           transferred_ranges
available_ranges     peers                    size_estimates
batches              compaction_history       built_views
prepared_statements  sstable_activity         range_xfers
"IndexInfo"          peer_events              local

Show the CQL for the cycling calendar table:

DESC cycling.calendar

A complete CQL table description is returned, which can be used to recreate the table:

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';

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