Meta functions

These functions provide instance-level information and table, column and partition information including metadata. They are particularly useful for learning useful information about your instance, including:

• Designated timestamp columns
• Attached, detached, or attachable partitions
• Partition storage size on disk
• Running sql commands

build

Arguments:

• build() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns a string with the current QuestDB version and hash.

Examples:

SELECT build();

build
Build Information: QuestDB 7.3.5, JDK 17.0.7, Commit Hash 460b817b0a3705c5633619a8ef9efb5163f1569c

functions

Arguments:

• functions() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns all available database functions.

Examples:

functions();

name	signature	signature_translated	runtime_constant	type
or	or(TT)	or(boolean, boolean)	FALSE	STANDARD
and	and(TT)	and(boolean, boolean)	FALSE	STANDARD
not	not(T)	not(boolean)	FALSE	STANDARD

query_activity

Arguments:

• query_activity() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns metadata on running SQL queries, including columns such as:

• query_id - identifier of the query that can be used with cancel query command or cancelQuery() function
• worker_id - identifier of worker thread that initiated query processing. Note that many multithreaded queries also run on other workers
• worker_pool - name of worker pool used to execute the query
• username - name of user executing the query
• query_start - timestamp of when query started
• state_change - timestamp of latest query state change, such as a cancellation
• state - state of running query, can be active or cancelled
• query - text of sql query

Examples:

SELECT * FROM query_activity();

query_id	worker_id	worker_pool	username	query_start	state_change	state	query
62179	5	shared	bob	2024-01-09T10:03:05.557397Z	2024-01-09T10:03:05.557397	active	select * from query_activity()
57777	6	shared	bob	2024-01-09T08:58:55.988017Z	2024-01-09T08:58:55.988017Z	active	SELECT symbol,approx_percentile(price, 50, 2) from trades

memory_metrics

Arguments:

• memory_metrics() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns granular memory metrics.

Examples:

memory_metrics();

memory_tag	bytes
TOTAL_USED	142624730
RSS	328609792
MMAP_DEFAULT	196728
NATIVE_DEFAULT	256
MMAP_O3	0
NATIVE_O3	96

reader_pool

Arguments:

• reader_pool() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns information about the current state of the reader pool in QuestDB. The reader pool is a cache of table readers that are kept open to speed up subsequent reads from the same table. The returned information includes the table name, the ID of the thread that currently owns the reader, the timestamp of the last time the reader was accessed, and the current transaction ID with which the reader is associated.

Examples:

SELECT * FROM reader_pool();

table_name	owner_thread_id	last_access_timestamp	current_txn
sensors	null	2023-12-01T19:28:14.311703Z	1

writer_pool

Arguments:

• writer_pool() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns information about the current state of the writer pool in QuestDB. The writer pool is a cache of table writers that are kept open to speed up subsequent writes to the same table. The returned information includes the table name, the ID of the thread that currently owns the writer, the timestamp of the last time the writer was accessed, and the reason for the ownership.

Examples:

SELECT * FROM writer_pool();

table_name	owner_thread_id	last_access_timestamp	ownership_reason
sys.column_versions_purge_log	1	2023-12-01T18:50:03.412468Z	QuestDB system
telemetry_config	1	2023-12-01T18:50:03.470604Z	telemetryConfig
telemetry	1	2023-12-01T18:50:03.464501Z	telemetry
sys.telemetry_wal	1	2023-12-01T18:50:03.467924Z	telemetry
example_table	null	2023-12-01T20:33:33.270984Z	null

current database, schema, or user

current_database(), current_schema(), and current_user() are standard SQL functions that return information about the current database, schema, schemas, and user, respectively.

-- Get the current database
SELECT current_database();

-- Get the current schema
SELECT current_schema();

-- Get the current user
SELECT current_user();

Each of these functions returns a single value, so you can use them in a SELECT statement without any arguments.

tables

tables() or all_tables() returns all tables in the database including table metadata.

Arguments:

• tables() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns a table.

Examples:

List all tables

tables();

id	name	designatedTimestamp	partitionBy	maxUncommittedRows	o3MaxLag	walEnabled	directoryName	dedup
1	my_table	ts	DAY	500000	30000000 0	false	my_table	false
2	device_data	null	NONE	10000	30000000	false	device_data	false
3	short_lived	null	HOUR	10000	30000000	false	short_lived (->)	false

All tables in reverse alphabetical order

tables() ORDER BY name DESC;

id	name	designatedTimestamp	partitionBy	maxUncommittedRows	o3MaxLag	walEnabled	directoryName	dedup
2	device_data	null	NONE	10000	30000000	false	device_data	false
1	my_table	ts	DAY	500000	300000000	false	my_table	false
3	short_lived	ts	HOUR	10000	30000000	false	short_lived (->)	false

note

(->) means the table was created using the IN VOLUME clause.

All tables with a daily partitioning strategy

tables() WHERE partitionBy = 'DAY'

id	name	designatedTimestamp	partitionBy	maxUncommittedRows	walEnabled	directoryName	dedup
1	my_table	ts	DAY	500000	true	my_table	false

table_storage

table_storage() - Returns a table containing information about the storage and structure of all user tables in the database.

Provides detailed storage information about all user tables within QuestDB. It returns one row per table, including information about partitioning, row counts, and disk usage.

• The table_storage() function excludes system tables; it only lists user-created tables.
• The diskSize value represents the total size of all files associated with the table on disk, including data, index, and metadata files.
• The partitionBy column indicates the partitioning strategy used for the table. It can be NONE if the table is not partitioned.

Return values:

The function returns the following columns:

• tableName (string): The name of the table.
• walEnabled (boolean): Indicates whether Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) is enabled for the table.
• partitionBy (string): The partitioning type of the table (e.g., NONE, DAY, MONTH, YEAR, etc.).
• partitionCount (long): The number of partitions the table has.
• rowCount (long): The total number of rows in the table.
• diskSize (long): The total disk space used by the table, in bytes.

Examples:

Retrieve storage information for all tables.

Checking our demo tablesDemo this query

SELECT * FROM table_storage();

• The query retrieves storage details for all tables in the database.
• The diskSize column shows the total disk space used by each table in bytes.

tableName	walEnabled	partitionBy	partitionCount	rowCount	diskSize
trips	true	MONTH	126	1634599313	261536158948
AAPL_orderbook	true	HOUR	16	3024878	2149403527
weather	false	NONE	1	137627	9972598
trades	true	DAY	954	1000848308	32764798760
ethblocks_json	true	DAY	3328	20688364	28311960478

---

Filter tables with WAL enabled.

WAL only tablesDemo this query

SELECT tableName, rowCount, diskSize
FROM table_storage()
WHERE walEnabled = true;

tableName	rowCount	diskSize
trips	1634599313	261536158948
AAPL_orderbook	3024878	2149403527
trades	1000850255	32764804264
ethblocks_json	20688364	28311960478

---

Show tables partitioned by HOUR.

Show tables partitioned by hourDemo this query

SELECT tableName, partitionCount, rowCount
FROM table_storage()
WHERE partitionBy = 'HOUR';

wal_tables

wal_tables() returns the WAL status for all WAL tables in the database.

Arguments:

• wal_tables() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns a table including the following information:

• name - table name
• suspended - suspended status flag
• writerTxn - the last committed transaction in TableWriter
• writerLagTxnCount - the number of transactions that are kept invisible when writing to the table; these transactions will be eventually moved to the table data and become visible for readers
• sequencerTxn - the last committed transaction in the sequencer

Examples:

List all tables

wal_tables();

name	suspended	writerTxn	writerLagTxnCount	sequencerTxn
sensor_wal	false	2	1	4
weather_wal	false	3	0	3
test_wal	true	7	1	9

table_columns

table_columns('tableName') returns the schema of a table.

Arguments:

• tableName is the name of an existing table as a string.

Return value:

Returns a table with the following columns:

• column - name of the available columns in the table
• type - type of the column
• indexed - if indexing is applied to this column
• indexBlockCapacity - how many row IDs to store in a single storage block on disk
• symbolCached - whether this symbol column is cached
• symbolCapacity - how many distinct values this column of symbol type is expected to have
• designated - if this is set as the designated timestamp column for this table
• upsertKey - if this column is a part of UPSERT KEYS list for table deduplication

For more details on the meaning and use of these values, see the CREATE TABLE documentation.

Examples:

Get all columns in a table

table_columns('my_table');

column	type	indexed	indexBlockCapacity	symbolCached	symbolCapacity	designated	upsertKey
symb	SYMBOL	true	1048576	false	256	false	false
price	DOUBLE	false	0	false	0	false	false
ts	TIMESTAMP	false	0	false	0	true	false
s	VARCHAR	false	0	false	0	false	false

Get designated timestamp column

SELECT column, type, designated FROM table_columns('my_table') WHERE designated = true;

column	type	designated
ts	TIMESTAMP	true

Get the count of column types

SELECT type, count() FROM table_columns('my_table');

type	count
SYMBOL	1
DOUBLE	1
TIMESTAMP	1
VARCHAR	1

table_partitions

table_partitions('tableName') returns information for the partitions of a table with the option to filter the partitions.

Arguments:

• tableName is the name of an existing table as a string.

Return value:

Returns a table with the following columns:

• index - INTEGER, index of the partition (NaN when the partition is not attached)
• partitionBy - STRING, one of NONE, HOUR, DAY, WEEK, MONTH and YEAR
• name - STRING, name of the partition, e.g. 2023-03-14, 2023-03-14.detached, 2023-03-14.attachable
• minTimestamp - LONG, min timestamp of the partition (NaN when the table is not partitioned)
• maxTimestamp - LONG, max timestamp of the partition (NaN when the table is not partitioned)
• numRows - LONG, number of rows in the partition
• diskSize - LONG, size of the partition in bytes
• diskSizeHuman - STRING, size of the partition meant for humans to read (same output as function size_pretty)
• readOnly - BOOLEAN, true if the partition is attached via soft link
• active - BOOLEAN, true if the partition is the last partition, and whether we are writing to it (at least one record)
• attached - BOOLEAN, true if the partition is attached
• detached - BOOLEAN, true if the partition is detached (name of the partition will contain the .detached extension)
• attachable - BOOLEAN, true if the partition is detached and can be attached (name of the partition will contain the .attachable extension)

Examples:

Create table my_table

CREATE TABLE my_table AS (
    SELECT
        rnd_symbol('EURO', 'USD', 'OTHER') symbol,
        rnd_double() * 50.0 price,
        rnd_double() * 20.0 amount,
        to_timestamp('2023-01-01', 'yyyy-MM-dd') + x * 6 * 3600 * 100000L timestamp
    FROM long_sequence(700)
), INDEX(symbol capacity 32) TIMESTAMP(timestamp) PARTITION BY WEEK;

Get all partitions from my_table

table_partitions('my_table');

index	partitionBy	name	minTimestamp	maxTimestamp	numRows	diskSize	diskSizeHuman	readOnly	active	attached	detached	attachable
0	WEEK	2022-W52	2023-01-01 00:36:00.0	2023-01-01 23:24:00.0	39	98304	96.0 KiB	false	false	true	false	false
1	WEEK	2023-W01	2023-01-02 00:00:00.0	2023-01-08 23:24:00.0	280	98304	96.0 KiB	false	false	true	false	false
2	WEEK	2023-W02	2023-01-09 00:00:00.0	2023-01-15 23:24:00.0	280	98304	96.0 KiB	false	false	true	false	false
3	WEEK	2023-W03	2023-01-16 00:00:00.0	2023-01-18 12:00:00.0	101	83902464	80.0 MiB	false	true	true	false	false

Get size of a table in disk

SELECT size_pretty(sum(diskSize)) FROM table_partitions('my_table');

size_pretty
80.3 MB

Get active partition of a table

SELECT * FROM table_partitions('my_table') WHERE active = true

index	partitionBy	name	minTimestamp	maxTimestamp	numRows	diskSize	diskSizeHuman	readOnly	active	attached	detached	attachable
3	WEEK	2023-W03	2023-01-16 00:00:00.0	2023-01-18 12:00:00.0	101	83902464	80.0 MiB	false	true	true	false	false

version/pg_catalog.version

version() or pg_catalog.version() returns the supported version of the PostgreSQL Wire Protocol.

Arguments:

• version() or pg_catalog.version() does not require arguments.

Return value:

Returns string.

Examples:

SELECT version();

--The above equals to:

SELECT pg_catalog.version();

version
PostgreSQL 12.3, compiled by Visual C++ build 1914, 64-bit, QuestDB

hydrate_table_metadata('table1', 'table2' ...)

`hydrate_table_metadata' re-reads table metadata from disk to update the static metadata cache.

warning

This function should only be used when directed by QuestDB support. Misuse could cause corruption of the metadata cache, requiring the database to be restarted.

Arguments:

A variable list of strings, corresponding to table names.

Alternatively, a single asterisk, '*', representing all tables.

Return value:

Returns boolean. true if successful, false if unsuccessful.

Examples:

Simply pass table names as arguments to the function.

SELECT hydrate_table_metadata('trades', 'trips')

hydrate_table_metadata
true

If you want to re-read metadata for all user tables, simply use an asterisk:

SELECT hydrate_table_metadata('*')