DESCRIBE TABLE
Applies to: 
Databricks SQL Databricks Runtime
Returns the basic metadata information of a table. The metadata information includes column name, column type and column comment. Optionally, you can specify a partition spec or column name to return the metadata pertaining to a partition or column respectively. With Delta tables, not all fields are returned.
The metadata is either returned in report form or as a JSON document.
Use DESCRIBE AS JSON to parse describe output programmatically. The non-JSON report format is subject to change.
Syntax
{ DESC | DESCRIBE } [ TABLE ] [ EXTENDED ] table_name { [ PARTITION clause ] | [ column_name ] } [ AS JSON ]
For compatibility FORMATTED can be specified as a synonym for EXTENDED.
Parameters
-
EXTENDEDIf specified display detailed information about the specified columns, including the column statistics collected by the command, and additional metadata information (such as schema qualifier, owner, and access time).
-
Identifies the table to be described. The name may not use a temporal specification or options specification. If the table cannot be found Databricks raises a TABLE_OR_VIEW_NOT_FOUND error.
-
An optional parameter directing Databricks SQL to return addition metadata for the named partitions.
-
An optional parameter with the column name that needs to be described. Currently nested columns are not allowed to be specified.
JSON format is supported for individual columns.
-
AS JSONApplies to:
Databricks SQL Databricks Runtime 16.2 and aboveOptionally returns the table metadata as a JSON string instead of a human-readable report. Use this format when parsing the result using a program.
Only supported when
EXTENDEDformat is specified.
Parameters partition_spec and column_name are mutually exclusive and cannot be specified together.
JSON formatted output
When AS JSON is specified, the output is returned as a JSON string. The following schema is supported:
{
"table_name": "<table_name>",
"catalog_name": "<catalog_name>",
"schema_name": "<schema_name>",
"namespace": ["<schema_name>"],
"type": "<table_type>",
"provider": "<provider>",
"columns": [
{
"name": "<name>",
"type": <type_json>,
"comment": "<comment>",
"nullable": <boolean>,
"default": "<default_val>",
"is_measure": <boolean>, // Included only for measure columns of metric views
}
],
"partition_values": {
"<col_name>": "<val>"
},
"partition_columns": ["col1", "col2"],
"location": "<path>",
"view_text": "<view_text>",
"view_original_text": "<view_original_text>",
"view_schema_mode": "<view_schema_mode>",
"view_catalog_and_namespace": "<view_catalog_and_namespace>",
"view_query_output_columns": ["<col_name>"],
"comment": "<comment>",
"table_properties": {
"property1": "<property1>",
"property2": "<property2>"
},
"statistics": {
"num_rows": <count>,
"size_in_bytes": <bytes>,
"table_change_stats": {
"inserted": <count>,
"deleted": <count>,
"updated": <count>,
"change_percent": <percent_changed_float>
}
},
"storage_properties": {
"property1": "<property1>",
"property2": "<property2>"
},
"serde_library": "<serde_library>",
"input_format": "<input_format>",
"output_format": "<output_format>",
"num_buckets": <num_buckets>,
"bucket_columns": ["<col_name>"],
"sort_columns": ["<col_name>"],
"created_time": "<timestamp_ISO-8601>",
"created_by": "<created_by>",
"last_access": "<timestamp_ISO-8601>",
"partition_provider": "<partition_provider>",
"collation": "<default_collation>", // Available in DBR 16.4 and above
"language": "<language>", // Language such as YAML, included only for metric views
"row_filter": { // Available in DBR 17.0 and above
"filter_function": {
"catalog_name": "<catalog_name>",
"schema_name": "<schema_name>",
"function_name: "<function_name>",
"specific_name": "<specific_name>"
},
"arguments": ["<arg1>", "<arg2>"]
},
"column_masks": [ // Available in DBR 17.0 and above
{"column_name": "<column_name>",
"mask_function": {
"catalog_name": "<catalog_name>",
"schema_name": "<schema_name>",
"function_name: "<function_name>",
"specific_name": "<specific_name>"
},
"arguments": ["<arg1>", "<arg2>"]
}
]
}
Below are the schema definitions for <type_json>:
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Examples
-- Creates a table `customer`. Assumes current schema is `salesdb`.
> CREATE TABLE customer(
cust_id INT,
state VARCHAR(20),
name STRING COMMENT 'Short name'
)
USING parquet
PARTITIONED BY (state);
> INSERT INTO customer PARTITION (state = 'AR') VALUES (100, 'Mike');
-- Returns basic metadata information for unqualified table `customer`
> DESCRIBE TABLE customer;
col_name data_type comment
----------------------- --------- ----------
cust_id int null
name string Short name
state string null
# Partition Information
# col_name data_type comment
state string null
-- Returns basic metadata information for qualified table `customer`
> DESCRIBE TABLE salesdb.customer;
col_name data_type comment
----------------------- --------- ----------
cust_id int null
name string Short name
state string null
# Partition Information
# col_name data_type comment
state string null
-- Returns additional metadata such as parent schema, owner, access time etc.
> DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED customer;
col_name data_type comment
---------------------------- ------------------------------ ----------
cust_id int null
name string Short name
state string null
# Partition Information
# col_name data_type comment
state string null
# Detailed Table Information
Database default
Table customer
Owner <TABLE OWNER>
Created Time Tue Apr 07 22:56:34 JST 2020
Last Access UNKNOWN
Created By <SPARK VERSION>
Type MANAGED
Provider parquet
Location file:/tmp/salesdb.db/custom...
Serde Library org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
InputFormat org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
OutputFormat org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
Partition Provider Catalog
-- Returns partition metadata such as partitioning column name, column type and comment.
> DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED customer PARTITION (state = 'AR');
col_name data_type comment
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------
cust_id int null
name string Short name
state string null
# Partition Information
# col_name data_type comment
state string null
# Detailed Partition Inform...
Database default
Table customer
Partition Values [state=AR]
Location file:/tmp/salesdb.db/custom...
Serde Library org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
InputFormat org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
OutputFormat org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
Storage Properties [serialization.format=1, pa...
Partition Parameters {transient_lastDdlTime=1586...
Created Time Tue Apr 07 23:05:43 JST 2020
Last Access UNKNOWN
Partition Statistics 659 bytes
# Storage Information
Location file:/tmp/salesdb.db/custom...
Serde Library org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
InputFormat org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
OutputFormat org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.i...
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------
-- Returns the metadata for `name` column.
-- Optional `TABLE` clause is omitted and column is fully qualified.
> DESCRIBE customer salesdb.customer.name;
info_name info_value
--------- ----------
col_name name
data_type string
comment Short name
- Returns the table metadata in JSON format.
> DESCRIBE EXTENDED customer AS JSON;
{
"table_name":"customer",
"catalog_name":"spark_catalog",
"schema_name":"default",
"namespace":["default"],
"columns":[
{"name":"cust_id","type":{"name":"integer"},"nullable":true},
{"name":"name","type":{"name":"string"},"comment":"Short name","nullable":true},
{"name":"state","type":{"name":"varchar","length":20},"nullable":true}],
"location": "file:/tmp/salesdb.db/custom...",
"created_time":"2020-04-07T14:05:43Z",
"last_access":"UNKNOWN",
"created_by":"None",
"type":"MANAGED",
"provider":"parquet",
"partition_provider":"Catalog",
"partition_columns":["state"]}
-- The JSON describe of a metric view
> DESCRIBE EXTENDED region_sales_metrics AS JSON;
{
"table_name":"region_sales_metrics",
"catalog_name":"main",
"namespace":["default"],
"schema_name":"default",
"columns":[
{"name":"month","type":{"name":"timestamp_ltz"},"nullable":true},
{"name":"status","type":{"name":"string","collation":"UTF8_BINARY"},"nullable":true},
{"name":"prder_priority","type":{"name":"string","collation":"UTF8_BINARY"},"nullable":true},
{"name":"count_orders","type":{"name":"bigint"},"nullable":false,"is_measure":true},
{"name":"total_revenue","type":{"name":"decimal","precision":28,"scale":2},"nullable":true,"is_measure":true},
{"name":"total_revenue_per_customer","type":{"name":"decimal","precision":38,"scale":12},"nullable":true,"is_measure":true}],
"owner":"alf@melmak.et",
"created_time":"2025-05-18T23:45:25Z",
"last_access":"UNKNOWN",
"created_by":"Spark ",
"type":"METRIC_VIEW",
"comment":"A metric view for regional sales metrics.",
"view_text":"\n version: 0.1\n source: samples.tpch.orders\n filter: o_orderdate > '1990-01-01'\n dimensions:\n - name: month\n expr: date_trunc('MONTH', o_orderdate)\n - name: status\n expr: case\n when o_orderstatus = 'O' then 'Open'\n when o_orderstatus = 'P' then 'Processing'\n when o_orderstatus = 'F' then 'Fulfilled'\n end\n - name: prder_priority\n expr: split(o_orderpriority, '-')[1]\n measures:\n - name: count_orders\n expr: count(1)\n - name: total_revenue\n expr: SUM(o_totalprice)\n - name: total_revenue_per_customer\n expr: SUM(o_totalprice) / count(distinct o_custkey)\n ","language":"YAML","table_properties":{"metric_view.from.name":"samples.tpch.orders","metric_view.from.type":"ASSET","metric_view.where":"o_orderdate > '1990-01-01'"},
"view_creation_spark_configuration":{ ... },
"collation":"UTF8_BINARY"}
DESCRIBE DETAIL
DESCRIBE DETAIL [schema_name.]table_name
Return information about schema, partitioning, table size, and so on. For example, for Delta tables, you can see the current reader and writer versions of a table. See Review Delta Lake table details with describe detail for the detail schema.