Create, Drop, Alter and Use Database - Hive SQL

This page shows how to create, drop, alter and use Hive databases via Hive SQL (HQL).

Create database

CREATE (DATABASE|SCHEMA) [IF NOT EXISTS] database_name
  [COMMENT database_comment]
  [LOCATION hdfs_path]
  [MANAGEDLOCATION hdfs_path]
  [WITH DBPROPERTIES (property_name=property_value, ...)];

LOCATION is used to specify default HDFS location for external table while MANAGEDLOCATION is the default HDFS location for managed tables.

Example:

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS hql;
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS hql;

Output:

OK

Alter database

ALTER (DATABASE|SCHEMA) database_name SET OWNER [USER|ROLE] user_or_role;
ALTER (DATABASE|SCHEMA) database_name SET LOCATION hdfs_path;
ALTER (DATABASE|SCHEMA) database_name SET MANAGEDLOCATION hdfs_path;
ALTER (DATABASE|SCHEMA) database_name SET DBPROPERTIES (property_name=property_value, ...); 

Example:

ALTER DATABASE hql SET DBPROPERTIES('database usage'='Hive SQL tutorials.'); 

Output:

OK

Use database

USE database_name;

Example:

USE hql;

Output:

OK

The above command sets current database to hql.

Drop database

DROP (DATABASE|SCHEMA) [IF EXISTS] database_name [RESTRICT|CASCADE];

The default drop option is RESTRICT which will error out if the database is not empty. Use CASCADE option to drop all the objects in the database too.

Example:

DROP SCHEMA hql CASCADE;

Output:

OK

Install Hive database

Follow the article below to install Hive on Windows 10 via WSL if you don't have available available Hive database to practice Hive SQL:

• Apache Hive 3.1.1 Installation on Windows 10 using Windows Subsystem for Linux

Examples on this page are based on Hive 3.* syntax.

Run query

All these SQL statements can be run using beeline CLI:

$HIVE_HOME/bin/beeline --silent=true

The above command line connects to the default HiveServer2 service via beeline. Once beeline is loaded, type the following command to connect:

0: jdbc:hive2://localhost:10000> !connect jdbc:hive2://localhost:10000
Enter username for jdbc:hive2://localhost:10000: hive
Enter password for jdbc:hive2://localhost:10000:
1: jdbc:hive2://localhost:10000>

The terminal looks like the following screenshot: