$ hive -e "describe pokes;" Column Type Comments ------ ---- -------- foo int None bar string None $ hive -e "describe extended pokes;" Column Type Comments ------ ---- -------- foo int None bar string None # Detailed Information Database: default Owner: thiruvel CreateTime: Tue Jul 27 20:02:36 GMT+05:30 2010 LastAccessTime: Thu Jan 01 05:30:00 GMT+05:30 1970 Protect Mode: None Retention: 0 Location: hdfs://localhost/user/hive/warehouse/pokes Table Parameters: transient_lastDdlTime 1281619244 # Storage Information SerDe: org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.lazy.LazySimpleSerDe InputFormat: org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TextInputFormat OutputFormat: org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.HiveIgnoreKeyTextOutputFormat Sort Columns: [] Bucket Columns: [] Storage Desc Params: serialization.format 1