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Introduction
There are multiple types of databases. One among these is NoSQL. HBase is a NoSQL type of database made on top of Hadoop. With every passing moment, data is getting huge, and handling such a tremendous amount of data. The world badly needed a non-relational database. Thus NoSQL, usually referred to as a non-relational database system, was developed.
The NoSQL database was further divided into its types, and the HBase was categorized into the column-oriented database. In this article, we will cover the HBase commands in detail.
The HBase consists of various types of commands which are given below.
General commands
Data definition commands
Data manipulation commands.
Other HBase shell commands
To handle big data Hadoop, we must familiarize ourselves with the concept of HBase and to do that, We should have a clear understanding of HBase commands.
Let us begin by discussing the general commands in HBase.
The HBase general commands consist of the following commands.
Status
Table help
Whoami
version
Status
As the name suggests, This command displays the system's status like several active servers present in the cluster, dead servers, and the server's average load.
Following is the syntax for this command
HBase(main):009:0> status.
We can also add different parameters depending on how detailed the system's status we want to know. By default, it will have the 'summary' parameter. We can use the other two parameters, 'simple' and 'detailed.'
Following is the syntax for using the server command with the simple parameter.
HBase(main):009:0> status ‘simple’
Table help
This HBase command guides us with different table reference commands. The following is the syntax for it.
HBase(main):007:0> table_help
Whoami
It displays the current user details from the HBase cluster.
It will provide information like the groups present in the HBase cluster, the name of the user, etc.
Following is the syntax for it.
HBase(main):009:0> whoami
Version
This command will give details of the current version of the HBase shell.
Following is the syntax for it.
HBase(main):009:0> version
Let us now move towards the Data definition commands in the HBase shell.
Data Definition Commands
These commands are the ones that help to create, alter, delete a table.
Let us discuss these commands in brief.
Create
This command is used to create a table in the HBase cluster. Let us look at its syntax.
create <tablename>, <columnfamilyname>
We can use the' list' command to display the tables to check whether the table has been successfully created in the HBase cluster. Let us discuss this command separately.
List
This command is used to display all the tables present in the database.
It follows a straightforward syntax which is given below.
hbase>list
Disable
If we want to delete or drop a table, we need first to disable it, and We can do this with the help of the 'disable' command. Its syntax is given below.
disable <tablename>
Disable all
This command will disable all the tables with matching the regular expression. Given below is its syntax.
disable_all 'matching the regular expression.'
Enable
This command is used to enable the table. Just we need to write-enable along with the table name to execute this command in the HBase shell.
Show filter
This command is used to show all the filters in the database. Following is the syntax for it.
hbase> show_filter
Drop
This command is used to delete the table permanently. To permanently delete a table from the database, we need to make sure the table is disabled first.
Following is the syntax for it.
drop<tablename>
Drop all
This command will delete all the table which matches the regular expression or the regex.
The syntax for it is given below.
drop_all <”regex”>
Alter
The Alter command is one of the most critical data definition commands in the HBase, as it helps to add/modify/delete column families.
Let us look at its syntax for adding a column family.
alter ‘tablename’, Name =>’columnfamilyname’, VERSIONS => version_number
Suppose we want to delete a column name from the table, then we can use the following syntax.
Alter ‘tablename’ , delete => ‘columnname’
This was all about the data definition commands. Let us now discuss the data manipulation commands in the HBase.
Data Manipulation Commands
Once we are done creating a table, we need to insert data into it and perform critical operations. The Data manipulation commands help us to do that.
Let us discuss these commands in detail.
Count
It will display many rows inside the table. Following is the syntax of it.
Count 'table name.'
Append
This command appends a cell value at specified table/row/column coordinates.
Delete
This command will delete the cell value at the defined table, row, or column.
Following is its syntax.
Delete ‘tablename’, ‘columnname’, ‘rowname’
Put
This command will put a cell value at a specified table/column/row.
Following is its syntax.
Put ‘tablename’,’columnname’, ‘rowname’,’value’
Get
This command will return the content of a row or a cell. Its syntax is given below.
Get ‘tablename’, ‘rowname’
This was all about the data manipulation commands, marking the end of the article. We tried to cover almost all of the essential orders in the HBase shell, but several other commands are beyond this blog's scope. Let us now see some of the frequently asked questions related to this topic.
Getcounter
This command returns a counter cell value at specified table/row/column coordinates.
Truncate
This command disables, drop and recreates the specified table.
Incr
This command increments the cell value at specified positions. It follows the following syntax.
Incr ‘t1’,’r1’’c1’
Frequently asked questions
1. What are the other commands in HBase?
The Other commands include the following
Admin commands
Replication commands
Snapshot commands
Security commands
2. Name some of the data definition commands in the HBase?
Following are some commands from DDL
Create
Disable
Drop
Show filter
3. Name some of the data manipulation commands in the Hbase?
Following are some of the commands in DML.
Append
Count
Delete
Put
Get
4. Name some of the general commands in the HBase? Following are some of the general commands in the Hbase.
Status
Enable
Show filter
Drop
Drop all
5. Hbase is which type of database? Hbase is a NoSQL type of database, which is made on the top of Hadoop.
Key takeaways
In this blog, we discussed a Non-relation database management system named HBase. We got to know about the different kinds of commands used in it. At first, discussed the general commands, then the data definition commands, and at last, we saw some of the data manipulation commands used in HBase.
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