Skip to content

Spark DDL

To use Iceberg in Spark, first configure Spark catalogs. Iceberg uses Apache Spark's DataSourceV2 API for data source and catalog implementations.

CREATE TABLE

Spark 3 can create tables in any Iceberg catalog with the clause USING iceberg:

CREATE TABLE prod.db.sample (
    id bigint COMMENT 'unique id',
    data string)
USING iceberg

Iceberg will convert the column type in Spark to corresponding Iceberg type. Please check the section of type compatibility on creating table for details.

Table create commands, including CTAS and RTAS, support the full range of Spark create clauses, including:

  • PARTITIONED BY (partition-expressions) to configure partitioning
  • LOCATION '(fully-qualified-uri)' to set the table location
  • COMMENT 'table documentation' to set a table description
  • TBLPROPERTIES ('key'='value', ...) to set table configuration

Create commands may also set the default format with the USING clause. This is only supported for SparkCatalog because Spark handles the USING clause differently for the built-in catalog.

PARTITIONED BY

To create a partitioned table, use PARTITIONED BY:

CREATE TABLE prod.db.sample (
    id bigint,
    data string,
    category string)
USING iceberg
PARTITIONED BY (category)

The PARTITIONED BY clause supports transform expressions to create hidden partitions.

CREATE TABLE prod.db.sample (
    id bigint,
    data string,
    category string,
    ts timestamp)
USING iceberg
PARTITIONED BY (bucket(16, id), days(ts), category)

Supported transformations are:

  • years(ts): partition by year
  • months(ts): partition by month
  • days(ts) or date(ts): equivalent to dateint partitioning
  • hours(ts) or date_hour(ts): equivalent to dateint and hour partitioning
  • bucket(N, col): partition by hashed value mod N buckets
  • truncate(L, col): partition by value truncated to L
    • Strings are truncated to the given length
    • Integers and longs truncate to bins: truncate(10, i) produces partitions 0, 10, 20, 30, ...

CREATE TABLE ... AS SELECT

Iceberg supports CTAS as an atomic operation when using a SparkCatalog. CTAS is supported, but is not atomic when using SparkSessionCatalog.

CREATE TABLE prod.db.sample
USING iceberg
AS SELECT ...

The newly created table won't inherit the partition spec and table properties from the source table in SELECT, you can use PARTITIONED BY and TBLPROPERTIES in CTAS to declare partition spec and table properties for the new table.

CREATE TABLE prod.db.sample
USING iceberg
PARTITIONED BY (part)
TBLPROPERTIES ('key'='value')
AS SELECT ...

REPLACE TABLE ... AS SELECT

Iceberg supports RTAS as an atomic operation when using a SparkCatalog. RTAS is supported, but is not atomic when using SparkSessionCatalog.

Atomic table replacement creates a new snapshot with the results of the SELECT query, but keeps table history.

REPLACE TABLE prod.db.sample
USING iceberg
AS SELECT ...

REPLACE TABLE prod.db.sample
USING iceberg
PARTITIONED BY (part)
TBLPROPERTIES ('key'='value')
AS SELECT ...

CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE prod.db.sample
USING iceberg
AS SELECT ...

The schema and partition spec will be replaced if changed. To avoid modifying the table's schema and partitioning, use INSERT OVERWRITE instead of REPLACE TABLE. The new table properties in the REPLACE TABLE command will be merged with any existing table properties. The existing table properties will be updated if changed else they are preserved.

DROP TABLE

The drop table behavior changed in 0.14.

Prior to 0.14, running DROP TABLE would remove the table from the catalog and delete the table contents as well.

From 0.14 onwards, DROP TABLE would only remove the table from the catalog. In order to delete the table contents DROP TABLE PURGE should be used.

DROP TABLE

To drop the table from the catalog, run:

DROP TABLE prod.db.sample

DROP TABLE PURGE

To drop the table from the catalog and delete the table's contents, run:

DROP TABLE prod.db.sample PURGE

ALTER TABLE

Iceberg has full ALTER TABLE support in Spark 3, including:

  • Renaming a table
  • Setting or removing table properties
  • Adding, deleting, and renaming columns
  • Adding, deleting, and renaming nested fields
  • Reordering top-level columns and nested struct fields
  • Widening the type of int, float, and decimal fields
  • Making required columns optional

In addition, SQL extensions can be used to add support for partition evolution and setting a table's write order

ALTER TABLE ... RENAME TO

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample RENAME TO prod.db.new_name

ALTER TABLE ... SET TBLPROPERTIES

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample SET TBLPROPERTIES (
    'read.split.target-size'='268435456'
)

Iceberg uses table properties to control table behavior. For a list of available properties, see Table configuration.

UNSET is used to remove properties:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample UNSET TBLPROPERTIES ('read.split.target-size')

SET TBLPROPERTIES can also be used to set the table comment (description):

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample SET TBLPROPERTIES (
    'comment' = 'A table comment.'
)

ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN

To add a column to Iceberg, use the ADD COLUMNS clause with ALTER TABLE:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMNS (
    new_column string comment 'new_column docs'
  )

Multiple columns can be added at the same time, separated by commas.

Nested columns should be identified using the full column name:

-- create a struct column
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN point struct<x: double, y: double>;

-- add a field to the struct
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN point.z double

-- create a nested array column of struct
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN points array<struct<x: double, y: double>>;

-- add a field to the struct within an array. Using keyword 'element' to access the array's element column.
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN points.element.z double

-- create a map column of struct key and struct value
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN points map<struct<x: int>, struct<a: int>>;

-- add a field to the value struct in a map. Using keyword 'value' to access the map's value column.
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN points.value.b int

Note: Altering a map 'key' column by adding columns is not allowed. Only map values can be updated.

Add columns in any position by adding FIRST or AFTER clauses:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN new_column bigint AFTER other_column

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample
ADD COLUMN nested.new_column bigint FIRST

ALTER TABLE ... RENAME COLUMN

Iceberg allows any field to be renamed. To rename a field, use RENAME COLUMN:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample RENAME COLUMN data TO payload
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample RENAME COLUMN location.lat TO latitude

Note that nested rename commands only rename the leaf field. The above command renames location.lat to location.latitude

ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN

Alter column is used to widen types, make a field optional, set comments, and reorder fields.

Iceberg allows updating column types if the update is safe. Safe updates are:

  • int to bigint
  • float to double
  • decimal(P,S) to decimal(P2,S) when P2 > P (scale cannot change)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ALTER COLUMN measurement TYPE double

To add or remove columns from a struct, use ADD COLUMN or DROP COLUMN with a nested column name.

Column comments can also be updated using ALTER COLUMN:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ALTER COLUMN measurement TYPE double COMMENT 'unit is bytes per second'
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ALTER COLUMN measurement COMMENT 'unit is kilobytes per second'

Iceberg allows reordering top-level columns or columns in a struct using FIRST and AFTER clauses:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ALTER COLUMN col FIRST

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ALTER COLUMN nested.col AFTER other_col

Nullability can be changed using SET NOT NULL and DROP NOT NULL:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ALTER COLUMN id DROP NOT NULL

Info

ALTER COLUMN is not used to update struct types. Use ADD COLUMN and DROP COLUMN to add or remove struct fields.

ALTER TABLE ... DROP COLUMN

To drop columns, use ALTER TABLE ... DROP COLUMN:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP COLUMN id
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP COLUMN point.z

ALTER TABLE SQL extensions

These commands are available in Spark 3 when using Iceberg SQL extensions.

ALTER TABLE ... ADD PARTITION FIELD

Iceberg supports adding new partition fields to a spec using ADD PARTITION FIELD:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ADD PARTITION FIELD catalog -- identity transform

Partition transforms are also supported:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ADD PARTITION FIELD bucket(16, id)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ADD PARTITION FIELD truncate(4, data)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ADD PARTITION FIELD years(ts)
-- use optional AS keyword to specify a custom name for the partition field 
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample ADD PARTITION FIELD bucket(16, id) AS shard

Adding a partition field is a metadata operation and does not change any of the existing table data. New data will be written with the new partitioning, but existing data will remain in the old partition layout. Old data files will have null values for the new partition fields in metadata tables.

Dynamic partition overwrite behavior will change when the table's partitioning changes because dynamic overwrite replaces partitions implicitly. To overwrite explicitly, use the new DataFrameWriterV2 API.

Note

To migrate from daily to hourly partitioning with transforms, it is not necessary to drop the daily partition field. Keeping the field ensures existing metadata table queries continue to work.

Danger

Dynamic partition overwrite behavior will change when partitioning changes For example, if you partition by days and move to partitioning by hours, overwrites will overwrite hourly partitions but not days anymore.

ALTER TABLE ... DROP PARTITION FIELD

Partition fields can be removed using DROP PARTITION FIELD:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP PARTITION FIELD catalog
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP PARTITION FIELD bucket(16, id)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP PARTITION FIELD truncate(4, data)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP PARTITION FIELD years(ts)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP PARTITION FIELD shard

Note that although the partition is removed, the column will still exist in the table schema.

Dropping a partition field is a metadata operation and does not change any of the existing table data. New data will be written with the new partitioning, but existing data will remain in the old partition layout.

Danger

Dynamic partition overwrite behavior will change when partitioning changes For example, if you partition by days and move to partitioning by hours, overwrites will overwrite hourly partitions but not days anymore.

Danger

Be careful when dropping a partition field because it will change the schema of metadata tables, like files, and may cause metadata queries to fail or produce different results.

ALTER TABLE ... REPLACE PARTITION FIELD

A partition field can be replaced by a new partition field in a single metadata update by using REPLACE PARTITION FIELD:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample REPLACE PARTITION FIELD ts_day WITH days(ts)
-- use optional AS keyword to specify a custom name for the new partition field 
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample REPLACE PARTITION FIELD ts_day WITH days(ts) AS day_of_ts

ALTER TABLE ... WRITE ORDERED BY

Iceberg tables can be configured with a sort order that is used to automatically sort data that is written to the table in some engines. For example, MERGE INTO in Spark will use the table ordering.

To set the write order for a table, use WRITE ORDERED BY:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample WRITE ORDERED BY category, id
-- use optional ASC/DEC keyword to specify sort order of each field (default ASC)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample WRITE ORDERED BY category ASC, id DESC
-- use optional NULLS FIRST/NULLS LAST keyword to specify null order of each field (default FIRST)
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample WRITE ORDERED BY category ASC NULLS LAST, id DESC NULLS FIRST

Info

Table write order does not guarantee data order for queries. It only affects how data is written to the table.

WRITE ORDERED BY sets a global ordering where rows are ordered across tasks, like using ORDER BY in an INSERT command:

INSERT INTO prod.db.sample
SELECT id, data, category, ts FROM another_table
ORDER BY ts, category

To order within each task, not across tasks, use LOCALLY ORDERED BY:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample WRITE LOCALLY ORDERED BY category, id

ALTER TABLE ... WRITE DISTRIBUTED BY PARTITION

WRITE DISTRIBUTED BY PARTITION will request that each partition is handled by one writer, the default implementation is hash distribution.

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample WRITE DISTRIBUTED BY PARTITION

DISTRIBUTED BY PARTITION and LOCALLY ORDERED BY may be used together, to distribute by partition and locally order rows within each task.

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample WRITE DISTRIBUTED BY PARTITION LOCALLY ORDERED BY category, id

ALTER TABLE ... SET IDENTIFIER FIELDS

Iceberg supports setting identifier fields to a spec using SET IDENTIFIER FIELDS:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample SET IDENTIFIER FIELDS id
-- single column
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample SET IDENTIFIER FIELDS id, data
-- multiple columns

identifier fields must be NOT NULL, The later ALTER statement will overwrite the previous setting.

ALTER TABLE ... DROP IDENTIFIER FIELDS

Identifier fields can be removed using DROP IDENTIFIER FIELDS:

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP IDENTIFIER FIELDS id
-- single column
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP IDENTIFIER FIELDS id, data
-- multiple columns

Note that although the identifier is removed, the column will still exist in the table schema.

Branching and Tagging DDL

ALTER TABLE ... CREATE BRANCH

Branches can be created via the CREATE BRANCH statement, which includes the snapshot to create the branch at and an optional retention clause.

-- CREATE audit-branch at snapshot 1234 with default retention.
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample CREATE BRANCH audit-branch
AS OF VERSION 1234

-- CREATE audit-branch at snapshot 1234, retain audit-branch for 31 days, and retain the latest 31 days. The latest 3 snapshot snapshots, and 2 days worth of snapshots 
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample CREATE BRANCH audit-branch
AS OF VERSION 1234 RETAIN 30 DAYS 
WITH RETENTION 3 SNAPSHOTS 2 DAYS

ALTER TABLE ... CREATE TAG

Tags can be created via the CREATE TAG statement, which includes the snapshot to create the branch at and an optional retention clause.

-- CREATE historical-tag at snapshot 1234 with default retention.
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample CREATE TAG historical-tag AS OF VERSION 1234

-- CREATE historical-tag at snapshot 1234 and retain it for 1 year. 
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample CREATE TAG historical-tag 
AS OF VERSION 1234 RETAIN 365 DAYS

ALTER TABLE ... REPLACE BRANCH

The snapshot which a branch references can be updated via the REPLACE BRANCH sql. Retention can also be updated in this statement. 

-- REPLACE audit-branch to reference snapshot 4567 and update the retention to 60 days
ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample REPLACE BRANCH audit-branch
AS OF VERSION 4567 RETAIN 60 DAYS

ALTER TABLE ... DROP BRANCH

Branches can be removed via the DROP BRANCH sql

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP BRANCH audit-branch

ALTER TABLE ... DROP TAG

Tags can be removed via the DROP TAG sql

ALTER TABLE prod.db.sample DROP TAG historical-tag