Update a table description
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Update a table's description.
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For detailed documentation that includes this code sample, see the following:
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[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis content demonstrates how to update a table's description in BigQuery using Go, Java, Node.js, and Python client libraries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eEach code sample requires setting up Application Default Credentials for BigQuery authentication before use.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code snippets in each language retrieve the existing table metadata, modify the description field, and then update the table with the new description.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe content refers users to more detailed documentation on managing tables and views for BigQuery, as well as more code samples for other Google Cloud products.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Update a table description\n\nUpdate a table's description.\n\nExplore further\n---------------\n\n\nFor detailed documentation that includes this code sample, see the following:\n\n- [Manage logical views](/bigquery/docs/managing-views)\n- [Manage tables](/bigquery/docs/managing-tables)\n\nCode sample\n-----------\n\n### Go\n\n\nBefore trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the\n[BigQuery quickstart using\nclient libraries](/bigquery/docs/quickstarts/quickstart-client-libraries).\n\n\nFor more information, see the\n[BigQuery Go API\nreference documentation](https://godoc.org/cloud.google.com/go/bigquery).\n\n\nTo authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials.\nFor more information, see\n\n[Set up authentication for client libraries](/bigquery/docs/authentication#client-libs).\n\n import (\n \t\"context\"\n \t\"fmt\"\n\n \t\"cloud.google.com/go/bigquery\"\n )\n\n // updateTableDescription demonstrates how to fetch a table's metadata and updates the Description metadata.\n func updateTableDescription(projectID, datasetID, tableID string) error {\n \t// projectID := \"my-project-id\"\n \t// datasetID := \"mydataset\"\n \t// tableID := \"mytable\"\n \tctx := context.Background()\n \tclient, err := bigquery.NewClient(ctx, projectID)\n \tif err != nil {\n \t\treturn fmt.Errorf(\"bigquery.NewClient: %w\", err)\n \t}\n \tdefer client.Close()\n\n \ttableRef := client.Dataset(datasetID).Table(tableID)\n \tmeta, err := tableRef.Metadata(ctx)\n \tif err != nil {\n \t\treturn err\n \t}\n \tupdate := bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/go/docs/reference/cloud.google.com/go/bigquery/latest/index.html#cloud_google_com_go_bigquery_TableMetadataToUpdate{\n \t\tDescription: \"Updated description.\",\n \t}\n \tif _, err = tableRef.Update(ctx, update, meta.ETag); err != nil {\n \t\treturn err\n \t}\n \treturn nil\n }\n\n### Java\n\n\nBefore trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the\n[BigQuery quickstart using\nclient libraries](/bigquery/docs/quickstarts/quickstart-client-libraries).\n\n\nFor more information, see the\n[BigQuery Java API\nreference documentation](/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/overview).\n\n\nTo authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials.\nFor more information, see\n\n[Set up authentication for client libraries](/bigquery/docs/authentication#client-libs).\n\n import com.google.cloud.bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery.html;\n import com.google.cloud.bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryException.html;\n import com.google.cloud.bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryOptions.html;\n import com.google.cloud.bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-biglake/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.biglake.v1.Table.html;\n\n public class UpdateTableDescription {\n\n public static void main(String[] args) {\n // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.\n String datasetName = \"MY_DATASET_NAME\";\n String tableName = \"MY_TABLE_NAME\";\n String newDescription = \"this is the new table description\";\n updateTableDescription(datasetName, tableName, newDescription);\n }\n\n public static void updateTableDescription(\n String datasetName, String tableName, String newDescription) {\n try {\n // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created\n // once, and can be reused for multiple requests.\n https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery.html bigquery = https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryOptions.html.getDefaultInstance().getService();\n\n https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-biglake/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.biglake.v1.Table.html table = bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery.html#com_google_cloud_bigquery_BigQuery_getTable_com_google_cloud_bigquery_TableId_com_google_cloud_bigquery_BigQuery_TableOption____(datasetName, tableName);\n bigquery.https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery.html#com_google_cloud_bigquery_BigQuery_update_com_google_cloud_bigquery_DatasetInfo_com_google_cloud_bigquery_BigQuery_DatasetOption____(table.toBuilder().setDescription(newDescription).build());\n System.out.println(\"Table description updated successfully to \" + newDescription);\n } catch (https://cloud.google.com/java/docs/reference/google-cloud-bigquery/latest/com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryException.html e) {\n System.out.println(\"Table description was not updated \\n\" + e.toString());\n }\n }\n }\n\n### Node.js\n\n\nBefore trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the\n[BigQuery quickstart using\nclient libraries](/bigquery/docs/quickstarts/quickstart-client-libraries).\n\n\nFor more information, see the\n[BigQuery Node.js API\nreference documentation](https://googleapis.dev/nodejs/bigquery/latest/index.html).\n\n\nTo authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials.\nFor more information, see\n\n[Set up authentication for client libraries](/bigquery/docs/authentication#client-libs).\n\n // Import the Google Cloud client library\n const {BigQuery} = require('https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/docs/reference/bigquery/latest/overview.html');\n const bigquery = new https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/docs/reference/bigquery/latest/bigquery/bigquery.html();\n\n async function updateTableDescription() {\n // Updates a table's description.\n\n // Retreive current table metadata\n const table = bigquery.dataset(datasetId).table(tableId);\n const [metadata] = await table.getMetadata();\n\n // Set new table description\n const description = 'New table description.';\n metadata.description = description;\n const [apiResponse] = await table.setMetadata(metadata);\n const newDescription = apiResponse.description;\n\n console.log(`${tableId} description: ${newDescription}`);\n }\n\n### Python\n\n\nBefore trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the\n[BigQuery quickstart using\nclient libraries](/bigquery/docs/quickstarts/quickstart-client-libraries).\n\n\nFor more information, see the\n[BigQuery Python API\nreference documentation](/python/docs/reference/bigquery/latest).\n\n\nTo authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials.\nFor more information, see\n\n[Set up authentication for client libraries](/bigquery/docs/authentication#client-libs).\n\n # from google.cloud import bigquery\n # client = bigquery.Client()\n # project = client.project\n # dataset_ref = bigquery.DatasetReference(project, dataset_id)\n # table_ref = dataset_ref.table('my_table')\n # table = client.get_table(table_ref) # API request\n\n assert table.description == \"Original description.\"\n table.description = \"Updated description.\"\n\n table = client.update_table(table, [\"description\"]) # API request\n\n assert table.description == \"Updated description.\"\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n\nTo search and filter code samples for other Google Cloud products, see the\n[Google Cloud sample browser](/docs/samples?product=bigquery)."]]