AWS services or capabilities described in AWS documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with AWS services in China.

DescribeTable

Returns information about the table, including the current status of the table, when it was created, the primary key schema, and any indexes on the table.

Note

If you issue a DescribeTable request immediately after a CreateTable request, DynamoDB might return a ResourceNotFoundException. This is because DescribeTable uses an eventually consistent query, and the metadata for your table might not be available at that moment. Wait for a few seconds, and then try the DescribeTable request again.

Request Syntax


{
   "TableName": "string"
}

Request Parameters

The request accepts the following data in JSON format.

Note

In the following list, the required parameters are described first.

TableName

The name of the table to describe.

Type: String

Length Constraints: Minimum length of 3. Maximum length of 255.

Pattern: [a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+

Required: Yes

Response Syntax


{
   "Table": { 
      "AttributeDefinitions": [ 
         { 
            "AttributeName": "string",
            "AttributeType": "string"
         }
      ],
      "BillingModeSummary": { 
         "BillingMode": "string",
         "LastUpdateToPayPerRequestDateTime": number
      },
      "CreationDateTime": number,
      "GlobalSecondaryIndexes": [ 
         { 
            "Backfilling": boolean,
            "IndexArn": "string",
            "IndexName": "string",
            "IndexSizeBytes": number,
            "IndexStatus": "string",
            "ItemCount": number,
            "KeySchema": [ 
               { 
                  "AttributeName": "string",
                  "KeyType": "string"
               }
            ],
            "Projection": { 
               "NonKeyAttributes": [ "string" ],
               "ProjectionType": "string"
            },
            "ProvisionedThroughput": { 
               "LastDecreaseDateTime": number,
               "LastIncreaseDateTime": number,
               "NumberOfDecreasesToday": number,
               "ReadCapacityUnits": number,
               "WriteCapacityUnits": number
            }
         }
      ],
      "ItemCount": number,
      "KeySchema": [ 
         { 
            "AttributeName": "string",
            "KeyType": "string"
         }
      ],
      "LatestStreamArn": "string",
      "LatestStreamLabel": "string",
      "LocalSecondaryIndexes": [ 
         { 
            "IndexArn": "string",
            "IndexName": "string",
            "IndexSizeBytes": number,
            "ItemCount": number,
            "KeySchema": [ 
               { 
                  "AttributeName": "string",
                  "KeyType": "string"
               }
            ],
            "Projection": { 
               "NonKeyAttributes": [ "string" ],
               "ProjectionType": "string"
            }
         }
      ],
      "ProvisionedThroughput": { 
         "LastDecreaseDateTime": number,
         "LastIncreaseDateTime": number,
         "NumberOfDecreasesToday": number,
         "ReadCapacityUnits": number,
         "WriteCapacityUnits": number
      },
      "RestoreSummary": { 
         "RestoreDateTime": number,
         "RestoreInProgress": boolean,
         "SourceBackupArn": "string",
         "SourceTableArn": "string"
      },
      "SSEDescription": { 
         "KMSMasterKeyArn": "string",
         "SSEType": "string",
         "Status": "string"
      },
      "StreamSpecification": { 
         "StreamEnabled": boolean,
         "StreamViewType": "string"
      },
      "TableArn": "string",
      "TableId": "string",
      "TableName": "string",
      "TableSizeBytes": number,
      "TableStatus": "string"
   }
}

Response Elements

If the action is successful, the service sends back an HTTP 200 response.

The following data is returned in JSON format by the service.

Table

The properties of the table.

Type: TableDescription object

Errors

For information about the errors that are common to all actions, see Common Errors.

InternalServerError

An error occurred on the server side.

HTTP Status Code: 500

ResourceNotFoundException

The operation tried to access a nonexistent table or index. The resource might not be specified correctly, or its status might not be ACTIVE.

HTTP Status Code: 400

Example

Describe a Table

This example describes the Thread table.

Sample Request



POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: dynamodb.<region>.<domain>;
Accept-Encoding: identity
Content-Length: <PayloadSizeBytes>
User-Agent: <UserAgentString>
Content-Type: application/x-amz-json-1.0
Authorization: AWS4-HMAC-SHA256 Credential=<Credential>, SignedHeaders=<Headers>, Signature=<Signature>
X-Amz-Date: <Date>
X-Amz-Target: DynamoDB_20120810.DescribeTable

{
    "TableName":"Thread"
}

Sample Response



HTTP/1.1 200 OK
x-amzn-RequestId: <RequestId>
x-amz-crc32: <Checksum>
Content-Type: application/x-amz-json-1.0
Content-Length: <PayloadSizeBytes>
Date: <Date>
 {
    "Table": {
        "TableArn": "arn:aws:dynamodb:us-west-2:123456789012:table/Thread",
        "AttributeDefinitions": [
            {
                "AttributeName": "ForumName",
                "AttributeType": "S"
            },
            {
                "AttributeName": "LastPostDateTime",
                "AttributeType": "S"
            },
            {
                "AttributeName": "Subject",
                "AttributeType": "S"
            }
        ],
        "CreationDateTime": 1.363729002358E9,
        "ItemCount": 0,
        "KeySchema": [
            {
                "AttributeName": "ForumName",
                "KeyType": "HASH"
            },
            {
                "AttributeName": "Subject",
                "KeyType": "RANGE"
            }
        ],
        "LocalSecondaryIndexes": [
            {
                "IndexArn": "arn:aws:dynamodb:us-west-2:123456789012:table/Thread/index/LastPostIndex",
                "IndexName": "LastPostIndex",
                "IndexSizeBytes": 0,
                "ItemCount": 0,
                "KeySchema": [
                    {
                        "AttributeName": "ForumName",
                        "KeyType": "HASH"
                    },
                    {
                        "AttributeName": "LastPostDateTime",
                        "KeyType": "RANGE"
                    }
                ],
                "Projection": {
                    "ProjectionType": "KEYS_ONLY"
                }
            }
        ],
        "ProvisionedThroughput": {
            "NumberOfDecreasesToday": 0,
            "ReadCapacityUnits": 5,
            "WriteCapacityUnits": 5
        },
        "TableName": "Thread",
        "TableSizeBytes": 0,
        "TableStatus": "ACTIVE"
    }
}