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Using EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE in Athena

The EXPLAIN statement shows the logical or distributed execution plan of a specified SQL statement, or validates the SQL statement. You can output the results in text format or in a data format for rendering into a graph.

The EXPLAIN ANALYZE statement shows both the distributed execution plan of a specified SQL statement and the computational cost of each operation in a SQL query. You can output the results in text or JSON format.

Considerations and limitations

The EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE statements in Athena have the following limitations.

EXPLAIN syntax

EXPLAIN [ ( option [, ...]) ] statement

option can be one of the following:

FORMAT { TEXT | GRAPHVIZ | JSON }
TYPE { LOGICAL | DISTRIBUTED | VALIDATE | IO }

If the FORMAT option is not specified, the output defaults to TEXT format. The IO type provides information about the tables and schemas that the query reads. IO is supported only in Athena engine version 2 and can be returned only in JSON format.

EXPLAIN ANALYZE syntax

In addition to the output included in EXPLAIN, EXPLAIN ANALYZE output also includes runtime statistics for the specified query such as CPU usage, the number of rows input, and the number of rows output.

EXPLAIN ANALYZE [ ( option [, ...]) ] statement

option can be one of the following:

FORMAT { TEXT | JSON }

If the FORMAT option is not specified, the output defaults to TEXT format. Because all queries for EXPLAIN ANALYZE are DISTRIBUTED, the TYPE option is not available for EXPLAIN ANALYZE.

statement can be one of the following:

SELECT
CREATE TABLE AS SELECT
INSERT
UNLOAD

EXPLAIN examples

The following examples for EXPLAIN progress from the more straightforward to the more complex.

EXPLAIN example 1: Use the EXPLAIN statement to show a query plan in text format

In the following example, EXPLAIN shows the execution plan for a SELECT query on Elastic Load Balancing logs. The format defaults to text output.

EXPLAIN 
SELECT 
   request_timestamp, 
   elb_name, 
   request_ip 
FROM sampledb.elb_logs;

Results

- Output[request_timestamp, elb_name, request_ip] => [[request_timestamp, elb_name, request_ip]]
    - RemoteExchange[GATHER] => [[request_timestamp, elb_name, request_ip]]
        - TableScan[awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=sampledb, tableName=elb_logs, 
analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty}] => [[request_timestamp, elb_name, request_ip]]
                LAYOUT: sampledb.elb_logs
                request_ip := request_ip:string:2:REGULAR
                request_timestamp := request_timestamp:string:0:REGULAR
                elb_name := elb_name:string:1:REGULAR

EXPLAIN example 2: Graph a query plan

You can use the Athena console to graph a query plan for you. Enter a SELECT statement like the following into the Athena query editor, and then choose EXPLAIN.

SELECT 
      c.c_custkey,
      o.o_orderkey,
      o.o_orderstatus
   FROM tpch100.customer c 
   JOIN tpch100.orders o 
       ON c.c_custkey = o.o_custkey 

The Explain page of the Athena query editor opens and shows you a distributed plan and a logical plan for the query. The following graph shows the logical plan for the example.

For more information about using the query plan graphing features in the Athena console, see Viewing execution plans for SQL queries.

EXPLAIN example 3: Use the EXPLAIN statement to verify partition pruning

When you use a filtering predicate on a partitioned key to query a partitioned table, the query engine applies the predicate to the partitioned key to reduce the amount of data read.

The following example uses an EXPLAIN query to verify partition pruning for a SELECT query on a partitioned table. First, a CREATE TABLE statement creates the tpch100.orders_partitioned table. The table is partitioned on column o_orderdate.

CREATE TABLE `tpch100.orders_partitioned`(
  `o_orderkey` int, 
  `o_custkey` int, 
  `o_orderstatus` string, 
  `o_totalprice` double, 
  `o_orderpriority` string, 
  `o_clerk` string, 
  `o_shippriority` int, 
  `o_comment` string)
PARTITIONED BY ( 
  `o_orderdate` string)
ROW FORMAT SERDE 
  'org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.parquet.serde.ParquetHiveSerDe' 
STORED AS INPUTFORMAT 
  'org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.parquet.MapredParquetInputFormat' 
OUTPUTFORMAT 
  'org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.parquet.MapredParquetOutputFormat'
LOCATION
  's3://<your_s3_bucket>/<your_directory_path>/'

The tpch100.orders_partitioned table has several partitions on o_orderdate, as shown by the SHOW PARTITIONS command.

SHOW PARTITIONS tpch100.orders_partitioned;

o_orderdate=1994
o_orderdate=2015
o_orderdate=1998
o_orderdate=1995
o_orderdate=1993
o_orderdate=1997
o_orderdate=1992
o_orderdate=1996

The following EXPLAIN query verifies partition pruning on the specified SELECT statement.

EXPLAIN 
SELECT 
   o_orderkey, 
   o_custkey, 
   o_orderdate 
FROM tpch100.orders_partitioned
WHERE o_orderdate = '1995'

Results

Query Plan
- Output[o_orderkey, o_custkey, o_orderdate] => [[o_orderkey, o_custkey, o_orderdate]]
    - RemoteExchange[GATHER] => [[o_orderkey, o_custkey, o_orderdate]]
        - TableScan[awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=tpch100, tableName=orders_partitioned, 
analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty}] => [[o_orderkey, o_custkey, o_orderdate]]
                LAYOUT: tpch100.orders_partitioned
                o_orderdate := o_orderdate:string:-1:PARTITION_KEY
                    :: [[1995]]
                o_custkey := o_custkey:int:1:REGULAR
                o_orderkey := o_orderkey:int:0:REGULAR

The bold text in the result shows that the predicate o_orderdate = '1995' was applied on the PARTITION_KEY.

EXPLAIN example 4: Use an EXPLAIN query to check the join order and join type

The following EXPLAIN query checks the SELECT statement's join order and join type. Use a query like this to examine query memory usage so that you can reduce the chances of getting an EXCEEDED_LOCAL_MEMORY_LIMIT error.

EXPLAIN (TYPE DISTRIBUTED)
   SELECT 
      c.c_custkey, 
      o.o_orderkey,
      o.o_orderstatus
   FROM tpch100.customer c 
   JOIN tpch100.orders o 
       ON c.c_custkey = o.o_custkey 
   WHERE c.c_custkey = 123

Results

Query Plan
Fragment 0 [SINGLE]
    Output layout: [c_custkey, o_orderkey, o_orderstatus]
    Output partitioning: SINGLE []
    Stage Execution Strategy: UNGROUPED_EXECUTION
    - Output[c_custkey, o_orderkey, o_orderstatus] => [[c_custkey, o_orderkey, o_orderstatus]]
        - RemoteSource[1] => [[c_custkey, o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]]

Fragment 1 [SOURCE]
    Output layout: [c_custkey, o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]
    Output partitioning: SINGLE []
    Stage Execution Strategy: UNGROUPED_EXECUTION
    - CrossJoin => [[c_custkey, o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]]
            Distribution: REPLICATED
        - ScanFilter[table = awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=tpch100, 
tableName=customer, analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty}, grouped = false, 
filterPredicate = ("c_custkey" = 123)] => [[c_custkey]]
                LAYOUT: tpch100.customer
                c_custkey := c_custkey:int:0:REGULAR
        - LocalExchange[SINGLE] () => [[o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]]
            - RemoteSource[2] => [[o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]]

Fragment 2 [SOURCE]
    Output layout: [o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]
    Output partitioning: BROADCAST []
    Stage Execution Strategy: UNGROUPED_EXECUTION
    - ScanFilterProject[table = awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=tpch100, 
tableName=orders, analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty}, grouped = false, 
filterPredicate = ("o_custkey" = 123)] => [[o_orderstatus, o_orderkey]]
            LAYOUT: tpch100.orders
            o_orderstatus := o_orderstatus:string:2:REGULAR
            o_custkey := o_custkey:int:1:REGULAR
            o_orderkey := o_orderkey:int:0:REGULAR

The example query was optimized into a cross join for better performance. The results show that tpch100.orders will be distributed as the BROADCAST distribution type. This implies that the tpch100.orders table will be distributed to all nodes that perform the join operation. The BROADCAST distribution type will require that the all of the filtered results of the tpch100.orders table fit into the memory of each node that performs the join operation.

However, the tpch100.customer table is smaller than tpch100.orders. Because tpch100.customer requires less memory, you can rewrite the query to BROADCAST tpch100.customer instead of tpch100.orders. This reduces the chance of the query receiving the EXCEEDED_LOCAL_MEMORY_LIMIT error. This strategy assumes the following points:

The following example shows the rewritten query.

SELECT 
    c.c_custkey,
    o.o_orderkey,
    o.o_orderstatus
FROM tpch100.orders o
JOIN tpch100.customer c -- the filtered results of tpch100.customer are distributed to all nodes.
    ON c.c_custkey = o.o_custkey 
WHERE c.c_custkey = 123

EXPLAIN example 5: Use an EXPLAIN query to remove predicates that have no effect

You can use an EXPLAIN query to check the effectiveness of filtering predicates. You can use the results to remove predicates that have no effect, as in the following example.

EXPLAIN
   SELECT 
      c.c_name
   FROM tpch100.customer c
   WHERE c.c_custkey = CAST(RANDOM() * 1000 AS INT)
   AND c.c_custkey BETWEEN 1000 AND 2000
   AND c.c_custkey = 1500

Results

Query Plan
- Output[c_name] => [[c_name]]
    - RemoteExchange[GATHER] => [[c_name]]
        - ScanFilterProject[table = 
awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=tpch100, 
tableName=customer, analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty}, 
filterPredicate = (("c_custkey" = 1500) AND ("c_custkey" = 
CAST(("random"() * 1E3) AS int)))] => [[c_name]]
                LAYOUT: tpch100.customer
                c_custkey := c_custkey:int:0:REGULAR
                c_name := c_name:string:1:REGULAR

The filterPredicate in the results shows that the optimizer merged the original three predicates into two predicates and changed their order of application.

filterPredicate = (("c_custkey" = 1500) AND ("c_custkey" = CAST(("random"() * 1E3) AS int)))

Because the results show that the predicate AND c.c_custkey BETWEEN 1000 AND 2000 has no effect, you can remove this predicate without changing the query results.

For information about the terms used in the results of EXPLAIN queries, see Understanding Athena EXPLAIN statement results.

EXPLAIN ANALYZE examples

The following examples show example EXPLAIN ANALYZE queries and outputs.

EXPLAIN ANALYZE example 1: Use EXPLAIN ANALYZE to show a query plan and computational cost in text format

In the following example, EXPLAIN ANALYZE shows the execution plan and computational costs for a SELECT query on CloudFront logs. The format defaults to text output.

EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT FROM cloudfront_logs LIMIT 10

Results

 Fragment 1
     CPU: 24.60ms, Input: 10 rows (1.48kB); per task: std.dev.: 0.00, Output: 10 rows (1.48kB)
     Output layout: [date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status, referrer,\
       os, browser, browserversion]
Limit[10] => [[date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status, referrer, os,\
  browser, browserversion]]
             CPU: 1.00ms (0.03%), Output: 10 rows (1.48kB)
             Input avg.: 10.00 rows, Input std.dev.: 0.00%
LocalExchange[SINGLE] () => [[date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status, referrer, os,\
 browser, browserversion]]
                 CPU: 0.00ns (0.00%), Output: 10 rows (1.48kB)
                 Input avg.: 0.63 rows, Input std.dev.: 387.30%
RemoteSource[2] => [[date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status, referrer, os,\
  browser, browserversion]]
                     CPU: 1.00ms (0.03%), Output: 10 rows (1.48kB)
                     Input avg.: 0.63 rows, Input std.dev.: 387.30%

 Fragment 2
     CPU: 3.83s, Input: 998 rows (147.21kB); per task: std.dev.: 0.00, Output: 20 rows (2.95kB)
     Output layout: [date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status, referrer, os,\
       browser, browserversion]
LimitPartial[10] => [[date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status, referrer, os,\
  browser, browserversion]]
             CPU: 5.00ms (0.13%), Output: 20 rows (2.95kB)
             Input avg.: 166.33 rows, Input std.dev.: 141.42%
TableScan[awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=default, tableName=cloudfront_logs,\
  analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty}, 
grouped = false] => [[date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, st
                 CPU: 3.82s (99.82%), Output: 998 rows (147.21kB)
                 Input avg.: 166.33 rows, Input std.dev.: 141.42%
                 LAYOUT: default.cloudfront_logs
                 date := date:date:0:REGULAR
                 referrer := referrer:string:9:REGULAR
                 os := os:string:10:REGULAR
                 method := method:string:5:REGULAR
                 bytes := bytes:int:3:REGULAR
                 browser := browser:string:11:REGULAR
                 host := host:string:6:REGULAR
                 requestip := requestip:string:4:REGULAR
                 location := location:string:2:REGULAR
                 time := time:string:1:REGULAR
                 uri := uri:string:7:REGULAR
                 browserversion := browserversion:string:12:REGULAR
                 status := status:int:8:REGULAR

EXPLAIN ANALYZE example 2: Use EXPLAIN ANALYZE to show a query plan in JSON format

The following example shows the execution plan and computational costs for a SELECT query on CloudFront logs. The example specifies JSON as the output format.

EXPLAIN ANALYZE (FORMAT JSON) SELECT * FROM cloudfront_logs LIMIT 10

Results

{ 
    "fragments": [{ 
        "id": "1", 
 
        "stageStats": { 
            "totalCpuTime": "3.31ms", 
            "inputRows": "10 rows", 
            "inputDataSize": "1514B", 
            "stdDevInputRows": "0.00", 
            "outputRows": "10 rows", 
            "outputDataSize": "1514B" 
        }, 
        "outputLayout": "date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host,\
           uri, status, referrer, os, browser, browserversion", 
 
        "logicalPlan": { 
            "1": [{ 
                "name": "Limit", 
                "identifier": "[10]", 
                "outputs": ["date", "time", "location", "bytes", "requestip", "method", "host",\
                  "uri", "status", "referrer", "os", "browser", "browserversion"], 
                "details": "", 
                "distributedNodeStats": { 
                    "nodeCpuTime": "0.00ns", 
                    "nodeOutputRows": 10, 
                    "nodeOutputDataSize": "1514B", 
                    "operatorInputRowsStats": [{ 
                        "nodeInputRows": 10.0, 
                        "nodeInputRowsStdDev": 0.0 
                    }] 
                }, 
                "children": [{ 
                    "name": "LocalExchange", 
                    "identifier": "[SINGLE] ()", 
                    "outputs": ["date", "time", "location", "bytes", "requestip", "method", "host",\
                      "uri", "status", "referrer", "os", "browser", "browserversion"], 
                    "details": "", 
                    "distributedNodeStats": { 
                        "nodeCpuTime": "0.00ns", 
                        "nodeOutputRows": 10, 
                        "nodeOutputDataSize": "1514B", 
                        "operatorInputRowsStats": [{ 
                            "nodeInputRows": 0.625, 
                            "nodeInputRowsStdDev": 387.2983346207417 
                        }] 
                    }, 
                    "children": [{ 
                        "name": "RemoteSource", 
                        "identifier": "[2]", 
                        "outputs": ["date", "time", "location", "bytes", "requestip", "method", "host",\
                          "uri", "status", "referrer", "os", "browser", "browserversion"], 
                        "details": "", 
                        "distributedNodeStats": { 
                            "nodeCpuTime": "0.00ns", 
                            "nodeOutputRows": 10, 
                            "nodeOutputDataSize": "1514B", 
                            "operatorInputRowsStats": [{ 
                                "nodeInputRows": 0.625, 
                                "nodeInputRowsStdDev": 387.2983346207417 
                            }] 
                        }, 
                        "children": [] 
                    }] 
                }] 
            }] 
        } 
    }, { 
        "id": "2", 
 
        "stageStats": { 
            "totalCpuTime": "1.62s", 
            "inputRows": "500 rows", 
            "inputDataSize": "75564B", 
            "stdDevInputRows": "0.00", 
            "outputRows": "10 rows", 
            "outputDataSize": "1514B" 
        }, 
        "outputLayout": "date, time, location, bytes, requestip, method, host, uri, status,\
           referrer, os, browser, browserversion", 
 
        "logicalPlan": { 
            "1": [{ 
                "name": "LimitPartial", 
                "identifier": "[10]", 
                "outputs": ["date", "time", "location", "bytes", "requestip", "method", "host", "uri",\
                  "status", "referrer", "os", "browser", "browserversion"], 
                "details": "", 
                "distributedNodeStats": { 
                    "nodeCpuTime": "0.00ns", 
                    "nodeOutputRows": 10, 
                    "nodeOutputDataSize": "1514B", 
                    "operatorInputRowsStats": [{ 
                        "nodeInputRows": 83.33333333333333, 
                        "nodeInputRowsStdDev": 223.60679774997897 
                    }] 
                }, 
                "children": [{ 
                    "name": "TableScan", 
                    "identifier": "[awsdatacatalog:HiveTableHandle{schemaName=default,\
                       tableName=cloudfront_logs, analyzePartitionValues=Optional.empty},\
                       grouped = false]", 
                    "outputs": ["date", "time", "location", "bytes", "requestip", "method", "host", "uri",\
                       "status", "referrer", "os", "browser", "browserversion"], 
                    "details": "LAYOUT: default.cloudfront_logs\ndate := date:date:0:REGULAR\nreferrer :=\
                       referrer: string:9:REGULAR\nos := os:string:10:REGULAR\nmethod := method:string:5:\
                       REGULAR\nbytes := bytes:int:3:REGULAR\nbrowser := browser:string:11:REGULAR\nhost :=\
                       host:string:6:REGULAR\nrequestip := requestip:string:4:REGULAR\nlocation :=\
                       location:string:2:REGULAR\ntime := time:string:1: REGULAR\nuri := uri:string:7:\
                       REGULAR\nbrowserversion := browserversion:string:12:REGULAR\nstatus :=\
                       status:int:8:REGULAR\n", 
                    "distributedNodeStats": { 
                        "nodeCpuTime": "1.62s", 
                        "nodeOutputRows": 500, 
                        "nodeOutputDataSize": "75564B", 
                        "operatorInputRowsStats": [{ 
                            "nodeInputRows": 83.33333333333333, 
                            "nodeInputRowsStdDev": 223.60679774997897 
                        }] 
                    }, 
                    "children": [] 
                }] 
            }] 
        } 
    }] 
}

Additional resources

For additional information, see the following resources.