Updated on 2024-02-07 GMT+08:00

Creating a DLI Table Using the Hive Syntax

Function

This Hive syntax is used to create a DLI table. The main differences between the DataSource and the Hive syntax lie in the supported data formats and the number of supported partitions. For details, see syntax and precautions.

Precautions

  • Table properties cannot be specified using CTAS table creation statements.
  • Instructions on using partitioned tables:
    • When you create a partitioned table, ensure that the specified column in PARTITIONED BY is not a column in the table and the data type is specified. The partition column supports only the open-source Hive table types including string, boolean, tinyint, smallint, short, int, bigint, long, decimal, float, double, date, and timestamp.
    • Multiple partition fields can be specified. The partition fields need to be specified after the PARTITIONED BY keyword, instead of the table name. Otherwise, an error occurs.
    • A maximum of 200,000 partitions can be created in a single table.
    • Spark 3.3 or later supports creating partitioned tables using CTAS statements of the Hive syntax.

Syntax

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CREATE TABLE [IF NOT EXISTS] [db_name.]table_name 
  [(col_name1 col_type1 [COMMENT col_comment1], ...)]
  [COMMENT table_comment] 
  [PARTITIONED BY (col_name2 col_type2, [COMMENT col_comment2], ...)] 
  [ROW FORMAT row_format]
  STORED AS file_format 
  [TBLPROPERTIES (key = value)]
  [AS select_statement];

row_format:
  : SERDE serde_cls [WITH SERDEPROPERTIES (key1=val1, key2=val2, ...)]
  | DELIMITED [FIELDS TERMINATED BY char [ESCAPED BY char]]
      [COLLECTION ITEMS TERMINATED BY char]
      [MAP KEYS TERMINATED BY char]
      [LINES TERMINATED BY char]
      [NULL DEFINED AS char]

Keywords

  • IF NOT EXISTS: Prevents system errors when the created table exists.
  • COMMENT: Field or table description.
  • PARTITIONED BY: Partition field.
  • ROW FORMAT: Row data format.
  • STORED AS: Specifies the format of the file to be stored. Currently, only the TEXTFILE, AVRO, ORC, SEQUENCEFILE, RCFILE, and PARQUET format are supported. This keyword is mandatory when you create DLI tables.
  • TBLPROPERTIES: This keyword is used to add a key/value property to a table.
    • If the table storage format is Parquet, you can use TBLPROPERTIES(parquet.compression = 'zstd') to set the table compression format to zstd.
  • AS: Run the CREATE TABLE AS statement to create a table.

Parameters

Table 1 Parameters

Parameter

Mandatory

Description

db_name

No

Database name

The value can contain letters, numbers, and underscores (_), but it cannot contain only numbers or start with a number or underscore (_).

table_name

Yes

Table name in the database

The value can contain letters, numbers, and underscores (_), but it cannot contain only numbers or start with a number or underscore (_). The matching rule is ^(?!_)(?![0-9]+$)[A-Za-z0-9_$]*$. If special characters are required, use single quotation marks ('') to enclose them.

col_name

Yes

Column name

The column field can contain letters, numbers, and underscores (_), but it cannot contain only numbers and must contain at least one letter.

The column name is case insensitive.

col_type

Yes

Data type of a column field, which is primitive.

For details, see Primitive Data Types.

col_comment

No

Column field description, which can only be string constants.

row_format

Yes

Row data format

file_format

Yes

DLI table storage format, which can be TEXTFILE, AVRO, ORC, SEQUENCEFILE, RCFILE, or PARQUET.

table_comment

No

Table description, which can only be string constants.

key = value

No

Set table properties and values.

If the table storage format is Parquet, you can use TBLPROPERTIES(parquet.compression = 'zstd') to set the table compression format to zstd.

select_statement

No

The CREATE TABLE AS statement is used to insert the SELECT query result of the source table or a data record to a newly created DLI table.

Example 1: Creating a DLI Non-Partitioned Table

Example description: Create a DLI non-partitioned table named table1 and use the STORED AS keyword to set the storage format of the table to orc.

You can save DLI tables in the textfile, avro, orc, sequencefile, rcfile, or parquet format.

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CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS table1 (
    col_1   STRING,
    col_2   INT
)
STORED AS orc;

Example 2: Creating a DLI Partitioned Table

Example description: Create a partitioned table named student, which is partitioned using facultyNo and classNo.

In practice, you can select a proper partitioning field and add it to the end of the PARTITIONED BY keyword.

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CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS student(
    id      int,
    name    STRING
)
STORED AS avro
PARTITIONED BY (
    facultyNo   INT,
    classNo     INT
);

Example 3: Using CTAS to Create a DLI Table Using All or Part of the Data in the Source Table

Example description: Based on the DLI table table1 created in Example 1: Creating a DLI Non-Partitioned Table, use the CTAS syntax to copy data from table1 to table1_ctas.

When using CTAS to create a table, you can ignore the syntax used to create the table being copied. This means that regardless of the syntax used to create table1, you can use the DataSource syntax to create table1_ctas.

In this example, the storage format of table1 is orc, and the storage format of table1_ctas may be parquet. This means that the storage format of the table created by CTAS may be different from that of the original table.

Use the SELECT statement following the AS keyword to select required data and insert the data to table1_ctas.

The SELECT syntax is as follows: SELECT <Column name > FROM <Table name > WHERE <Related filter criteria>.

  • In the example, select * from table1 indicates that all statements are selected from table1 and copied to table1_ctas.
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    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS table1_ctas
    STORED AS sequencefile
    AS
    SELECT  *
    FROM table1;
    
  • If you do not need all data in table1, change AS SELECT * FROM table1 to AS SELECT col_1 FROM table1 WHERE col_1 = Ann. In this way, you can run the SELECT statement to insert all rows whose col_1 column is Ann from table1 to table1_ctas.
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    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS table1_ctas
    USING parquet
    AS
    SELECT col_1
    FROM table1
    WHERE col_1 = 'Ann';
    

Example 4: Creating a DLI Non-Partitioned Table and Customizing the Data Type of a Column Field

Example description: Create a DLI non-partitioned table named table2. You can customize the native data types of column fields based on service requirements.

  • STRING, CHAR, or VARCHAR can be used for text characters.
  • TIMESTAMP or DATE can be used for time characters.
  • INT, SMALLINT/SHORT, BIGINT/LONG, or TINYINT can be used for integer characters.
  • FLOAT, DOUBLE, or DECIMAL can be used for decimal calculation.
  • BOOLEAN can be used if only logical switches are involved.

For details, see "Data Types" > "Primitive Data Types".

For details, see Primitive Data Types.

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CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS table2 (
    col_01  STRING,
    col_02  CHAR (2),
    col_03  VARCHAR (32),
    col_04  TIMESTAMP,
    col_05  DATE,
    col_06  INT,
    col_07  SMALLINT,
    col_08  BIGINT,
    col_09  TINYINT,
    col_10  FLOAT,
    col_11  DOUBLE,
    col_12  DECIMAL (10, 3),
    col_13  BOOLEAN
)
STORED AS parquet;

Example 5: Creating a DLI Partitioned Table and Customizing TBLPROPERTIES Parameters

Example description: Create a DLI partitioned table named table3 and partition the table based on col_3. Set dli.multi.version.enable, comment, orc.compress, and auto.purge in TBLPROPERTIES.

  • dli.multi.version.enable: In this example, set this parameter to true, indicating that the DLI data versioning function is enabled for table data backup and restoration.
  • comment: table description, which can be modified later.
  • orc.compress: compression mode of the orc format, which is ZLIB in this example.
  • auto.purge: In this example, set this parameter to true, indicating that data that is deleted or overwritten will bypass the recycle bin and be permanently deleted.
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CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTs table3 (
    col_1 STRING,
    col_2 STRING
)
PARTITIONED BY (col_3 DATE)
STORED AS rcfile
TBLPROPERTIES (
    dli.multi.version.enable    = true,
    comment                     = 'Created by dli',
    orc.compress                = 'ZLIB',
    auto.purge                  = true
);

Example 6: Creating a Non-Partitioned Table in Textfile Format and Setting ROW FORMAT

Example description: In this example, create a non-partitioned table named table4 in the textfile format and set ROW FORMAT (the ROW FORMAT function is available only for textfile tables).

  • Fields: columns in a table. Each field has a name and data type. Fields in a table are separated by slashes (/).
  • COLLECTION ITEMS: A collection item refers to an element in a group of data, which can be an array, a list, or a collection. Collection items in table4 are separated by $.
  • MAP KEYS: A map key is a data structure of key-value pairs and is used to store a group of associated data. Map keys in a table are separated by number signs (#).
  • Rows: rows in a table. Each row contains a group of field values. Rows in a table end with \n. (Note that only \n can be used as the row separator.)
  • NULL: a special value that represents a missing or unknown value. In a table, NULL indicates that the field has no value or the value is unknown. When there is a null value in the data, it is represented by the string null.
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CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS table4 (
    col_1   STRING,
    col_2   INT
)
STORED AS TEXTFILE
ROW FORMAT
DELIMITED FIELDS TERMINATED   BY '/'
COLLECTION ITEMS TERMINATED   BY '$'
MAP KEYS TERMINATED           BY '#'
LINES TERMINATED              BY '\n'
NULL DEFINED                  AS 'NULL';