TABLE

Config path: /<database>/<schema>/table/<name>.yaml

Example:

columns:
  actor_id: NUMBER(10,0) NOT NULL
  first_name: VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL
  last_name: VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL
  last_update: TIMESTAMP_NTZ(3)

primary_key: [actor_id]

columns:
  ticket_no:
    type: VARCHAR(13) NOT NULL
    comment: "Ticket number"

  flight_id:
    type: NUMBER(10,0) NOT NULL
    comment: "Flight ID"

  boarding_no:
    type: NUMBER(10,0) NOT NULL
    comment: "Boarding pass number"

  seat_no:
    type: VARCHAR(4) NOT NULL
    comment: "Seat number"

primary_key: [ticket_no, flight_id]

unique_keys:
  - [flight_id, boarding_no]
  - [flight_id, seat_no]

foreign_keys:
  - columns: [ticket_no, flight_id]
    ref_table: ticket_flights
    ref_columns: [ticket_no, flight_id]

Schema

• columns (dict)

  • {key} (ident) - column name

  • {value} (str) - full data type with optional "NOT NULL" constraint --- OR ---
  • {value} (dict)

    • type (str) - full data type with optional "NOT NULL" constraint
    • default (str) - default SQL expression

    • default_sequence (ident) - sequence used for "auto increment"

    • collate (str) - column collation for string comparison
    • comment (str)

• is_transient (bool) - make table TRANSIENT

• retention_time (int) - data retention time in days

• cluster_by (list)

  • {items} (str) - SQL expressions for CLUSTER BY

• change_tracking (bool) - enable CHANGE TRACKING

• search_optimization (bool) - enable SEARCH OPTIMIZATION on the whole table --- OR ---

• search_optimization (dict) - enable SEARCH OPTIMIZATION on specific columns

  • {key} (str) - search optimization method (e.g. EQUALITY, SUBSTRING, GEO);

  • {value} (list)

    • {items} (str) - search optimization targets (column names and VARIANT column paths)

• comment (str)

• primary_key (list)

  • {items} (ident) - column names for PRIMARY KEY constraint

• unique_keys (list)

  • {items} (list)

    • {items} (ident) - column names for UNIQUE KEY constraint

• foreign_keys (list)

  • {items} (dict) - FOREIGN KEY definitions

    • columns (list)

      • {items} (ident) - column names from current table

    • ref_table (ident) - reference table

    • ref_columns (list)

      • {items} (ident) - column names from reference table

Policy reference parameters

• aggregation_policy (dict)

  • policy_name (ident) - name of AGGREGATION POLICY
  • columns (list)

    • {items} (ident) - optional reference column names defining "entity"

• masking_policies (list)

  • {items} (dict)

    • policy_name (ident) - name of MASKING POLICY
    • columns (list)

      • {items} (ident) - reference column names

• projection_policies (list)

  • {items} (dict)

    • policy_name (ident) - name of PROJECTION POLICY
    • column (ident) - reference column name

• row_access_policy (dict)

  • policy_name (ident) - name of ROW ACCESS POLICY
  • columns (list)

    • {items} (ident) - reference column names

Usage notes

1. Columns definition has two possible syntax options:

   a) Short syntax (str) with column type definition only. b) Full syntax (dict) with type definition as well as other properties.

2. Column type is a full native Snowflake data type definition, exactly how it appears in output of DESC TABLE command. Aliases and short forms are not allowed.
3. Column default is an SQL expression, not value. VARCHAR values should be enclosed in quotes. TIMESTAMP_* values should be casted explicitly.

4. Anonymous auto-increment is not supported. All sequences must be created explicitly and assigned to default_sequence of relevant table columns. It helps to preserve sequence value when table is re-created to apply changes which cannot be applied via ALTER TABLE.
5. is_transient and retention_time are inherited from parent SCHEMA and DATABASE objects if omitted.
6. Currently only standard column names are supported for SEARCH OPTIMIZATION on specific columns. Paths for VARIANT columns are not supported due to high complexity of parsing the output of DESC SEARCH OPTIMIZATION ON ... command. We expect it to be improved in future, once this features leaves the "Public preview" status.

Safe & unsafe operations

The following operations on tables are considered as "safe":

• Create a new table from scratch;

• Add a new column to the end of existing table;

• Change comment on table;

• Change comment on specific column;

All other operations are "unsafe".

Additionally, in order to execute CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE ... AS SELECT , the following CLI option must be specified: --apply-replace-table

Links

• CREATE TABLE
• ALTER TABLE
• ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN
• SHOW TABLE
• DESC TABLE
• Parser & JSON Schema (GitHub)