# Using the HBase shell
<a name="emr-hbase-connect"></a>

After you create an HBase cluster, the next step is to connect to HBase so you can begin reading and writing data (data writes are not supported on a read-replica cluster). You can use the [HBase shell](https://hbase.apache.org/book.html#shell) to test commands.

**To open the HBase shell**

1. Use SSH to connect to the main server in the HBase cluster. For information about how to connect to the Amazon EMR primary node using SSH, see [Connect to the primary node using SSH](https://docs.amazonaws.cn/emr/latest/ManagementGuide/emr-connect-master-node-ssh.html) in the *Amazon EMR Management Guide*. 

1. Run `hbase shell`. The HBase shell opens with a prompt similar to the following.

   ```
   hbase(main):001:0>
   ```

You can issue HBase shell commands from the prompt. For more information about the shell commands and how to call them, type help at the HBase prompt and press Enter. 

## Create a table
<a name="emr-hbase-create-table"></a>

The following command creates a table named 't1' that has a single column family named 'f1'.

```
hbase(main):001:0>create 't1', 'f1'
```

## Put a value
<a name="emr-hbase-put-value"></a>

The following command puts value 'v1' for row 'r1' in table 't1' and column 'f1'.

```
hbase(main):001:0>put 't1', 'r1', 'f1:col1', 'v1'
```

## Get a value
<a name="emr-hbase-get-value"></a>

The following command gets the values for row 'r1' in table 't1'.

```
hbase(main):001:0>get 't1', 'r1'
```

## Delete a table
<a name="emr-hbase-delete-table"></a>

The following command drops and deletes table 't1'. 

```
hbase(main):001:0>drop 'ns1:t1',false
```

The boolean value corresponds to whether or not you want to archive your table, so you can set it to `true` if you want to save it. You can also run `drop 'ns1:t1'` with no boolean to archive the table.