Databricks Data Engineer Associate Question 104
Single answerYou have a table created from an external source in Databricks, and you want to confirm whether it is a Delta Lake table. After running the command DESCRIBE DETAIL table_name, you notice that the format field in the output shows parquet. What does this indicate about the table?
- A
The table is a Delta Lake table because Delta uses Parquet as its storage format.
- B
The table is not a Delta Lake table because Delta tables always show the format as 'delta'.
- C
The table is a Delta Lake table because the
DESCRIBE DETAILcommand only works with Delta tables. - D
The table is not a Delta Lake table because the
DESCRIBE DETAILcommand cannot verify table types.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Delta Lake tables explicitly store metadata about their format and can be distinguished by the format field in the output of the DESCRIBE DETAIL command. If the field shows 'delta', it is a Delta Lake table. If it shows another format, such as 'parquet', the table is not a Delta Lake table.
- A. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. While Delta Lake uses Parquet as its underlying storage format, Delta tables specifically show their format as 'delta' in the
DESCRIBE DETAILoutput. - B. Correct.
This is correct. Delta tables explicitly show their format as 'delta' in the
DESCRIBE DETAILoutput. If the format field shows 'parquet', then the table is not a Delta Lake table. - C. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. The
DESCRIBE DETAILcommand works with both Delta and non-Delta tables, so seeing the output does not guarantee the table is a Delta Lake table. - D. Incorrect.
This is incorrect. The
DESCRIBE DETAILcommand can verify table types, but in this case, the format field clearly indicates the table type.