HBase Shell Commands: A Quick Reference Guide

Master the HBase shell with this quick reference guide to common commands. Learn how to create tables, insert and retrieve data, and perform essential administrative tasks using the HBase command-line interface.

HBase Shell Commands

Introduction to HBase Shell

The HBase shell provides a command-line interface for interacting with your HBase database. You can use it to create tables, insert data, retrieve data, and perform various administrative tasks. This section lists some common HBase shell commands.

Common HBase Shell Commands

These commands use the HBase shell syntax, which involves specifying the table and column family names.

1. create

Creates a new HBase table. The first argument is the table name, and subsequent arguments are the column family names. For example:

create 'mytable', 'mycolumnfamily'
      

This command creates a table named 'mytable' with a column family named 'mycolumnfamily'.

2. list

Lists all tables in the HBase instance.

list
      

TABLE
------
mytable
(Output will vary depending on your tables.)
      

3. put

Inserts a row into a table. You specify the table name, row key, column family, column qualifier, and value. For example:

put 'mytable', 'rowkey1', 'mycolumnfamily:column1', 'value1'
      

4. scan

Retrieves all rows from a table. For example:

scan 'mytable'
      

ROW                                         COLUMN+CELL
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rowkey1                                      column=mycolumnfamily:column1, value=value1, timestamp=...
rowkey2                                      column=mycolumnfamily:column1, value=value2, timestamp=...
(Output will show your data.)
      

5. get

Retrieves a specific row from a table.

get 'mytable', 'rowkey1'
      

ROW                                         COLUMN+CELL
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rowkey1                                      column=mycolumnfamily:column1, value=value1, timestamp=...
(Output will show the specified row.)

      

6. help

Provides a list of available HBase shell commands.

help
      

(A list of HBase commands will be displayed.)