DESCRIBE KEYSPACE

Print information about keyspaces, depending on selected options:

A list of all keyspaces in the cluster.
One keyspace, as an executable CQL statement, including the keyspace options and any database objects the keyspace contains, such as tables.

If you use the output of DESCRIBE KEYSPACE to re-create a keyspace or its associated database objects in another environment, verify that the options are compatible. Some options are cluster-specific or require alignment with the rest of the cluster, such as the replication factor and datacenter names.

Synopsis

DESCRIBE KEYSPACES | KEYSPACE <keyspace_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 KEYSPACES: Get a list of all keyspaces in the cluster.

Requires no other arguments.

The short form is DESC KEYSPACES.
DESCRIBE KEYSPACE: Get one keyspace specified by name.

The short form is DESC KEYSPACE.
<keyspace_name>: Optional. Name of the keyspace for DESCRIBE KEYSPACE. If not specified, the current keyspace is used.

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 keyspaces in the cluster

Get a list of keyspace names in the cluster:

DESC KEYSPACES;

This command returns system keyspaces and user-created keyspaces. The actual output depends on your database. For example:

cycling           dse_leases          system_backups  system_virtual_schema
system_auth       solr_admin          system          system_views
system_schema     dse_insights        dse_perf
dse_system_local  dse_insights_local  system_traces
dse_system        system_distributed  dse_security

Get the schema for a specific keyspace

Specify the name of the keyspace to describe:

DESC KEYSPACE cycling;

If the keyspace exists, the result is the complete keyspace definition as executable CQL statements, including CREATE statements for the keyspace and any tables, indexes, or other database objects contained within the keyspace. The following example is truncated.

CREATE KEYSPACE cycling WITH REPLICATION = {'class': 'SimpleStrategy', 'replication_factor': '1'}  AND durable_writes = true;

CREATE TABLE ... ;

CREATE CUSTOM INDEX ...;

DESCRIBE KEYSPACE

Synopsis

Examples

See also

Was this helpful?

Give Feedback