POST_START

Creating and Inspecting Managed Tables in Databricks Unity Catalog

I started by creating a new managed table in the Unity Catalog to store customer data for the sales team. The table needed to include customer identifiers, names, countries, emails, and timestamps for when each record was created. I used the CREATE TABLE command to define the structure of the training.sales.customers table.

CREATE TABLE training.sales.customers (customer_id BIGINT, customer_name STRING, country STRING, email STRING, created_at TIMESTAMP);

I saw a representative result like this:

I checked if the table was successfully created by listing all the tables in the training.sales schema. This helped me confirm that the table was registered in the Unity Catalog and was not a temporary table.

SHOW TABLES IN training.sales;

I saw a representative result like this:

database	tableName	isTemporary
sales	customers	false
sales	orders	false

I verified the table structure by using the DESCRIBE TABLE command. This gave me a clear view of the columns and their data types, which is essential for ensuring the table is set up correctly for future data ingestion and analysis.

DESCRIBE TABLE training.sales.customers;

I saw a representative result like this:

col_name	data_type	comment
customer_id	bigint	customer identifier
customer_name	string	customer display name
region	string	sales region

I wanted to see more detailed information about the table, including any additional metadata or comments. I used the DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED command to get a more comprehensive view of the table’s properties.

DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED training.sales.customers;

I saw a representative result like this:

col_name	data_type	comment
customer_id	bigint	customer identifier
customer_name	string	customer display name
region	string	sales region

Finally, I used the SHOW CREATE TABLE command to retrieve the exact SQL statement that was used to create the table. This is helpful for auditing, replication, or understanding how the table was initially set up.

SHOW CREATE TABLE training.sales.customers;

I saw a representative result like this:

createtab_stmt
CREATE VIEW production.reporting.daily_sales AS SELECT …