On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 2:16 AM, Lefty Leverenz <leftylever...@gmail.com>wrote:
> The wiki gives this syntax for > DESCRIBE< > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/Hive/LanguageManual+DDL#LanguageManualDDL-DescribeTable/View/Column > > > table/view/column: > DESCRIBE [EXTENDED|FORMATTED] [db_name.]table_name[DOT col_name > ( [DOT field_name] | [DOT '$elem$'] | [DOT '$key$'] | [DOT '$value$'] )* ] > This is the only syntax with DOT, but apparently DOT just means "." or > perhaps it's a valid alternative to an actual dot. What's the story here? > Is this something everybody knows except me? > DOT is just "." . We should certainly make it consistent to avoid confusion. Yes, DOT is also optional now, but I am not a fan of that syntax. It has made it almost impossible to extend describe statements to other commands, as you can see from HIVE-5931<https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HIVE-5931?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=13924779#comment-13924779> . Lets just document the syntax with DOT for now. That way it be easier to fix the syntax later if we choose to. -- CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE NOTICE: This message is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential, privileged and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any printing, copying, dissemination, distribution, disclosure or forwarding of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete it from your system. Thank You.
