Viewing labels

This page explains how to view labels on your BigQuery resources.

You can view labels by:

Using the Google Cloud console
Querying INFORMATION_SCHEMA views
Using the bq command-line tool's bq show command
Calling the datasets.get or tables.get API methods
Using the client libraries

Because views are treated like table resources, you use the tables.get method to get label information for both views and tables.

Before you begin

Grant Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles that give users the necessary permissions to perform each task in this document.

Required permissions

The permissions required for viewing labels depend on the types of resources you can access. To perform the tasks in this document, you need the following permissions.

Permissions to view dataset details

To view dataset details, you need the bigquery.datasets.get IAM permission.

Each of the following predefined IAM roles includes the permissions that you need in order to view dataset details:

roles/bigquery.user
roles/bigquery.metadataViewer
roles/bigquery.dataViewer
roles/bigquery.dataOwner
roles/bigquery.dataEditor
roles/bigquery.admin

Additionally, if you have the bigquery.datasets.create permission, you can view details of the datasets that you create.

For more information on IAM roles and permissions in BigQuery, see Predefined roles and permissions.

Permissions to view table or view details

To view table or view details, you need the bigquery.tables.get IAM permission.

All predefined IAM roles include the permissions that you need in order to view table or view details except for roles/bigquery.user and roles/bigquery.jobUser.

Additionally, if you have the bigquery.datasets.create permission, you can view details of the tables and views in the datasets that you create.

For more information on IAM roles and permissions in BigQuery, see Predefined roles and permissions.

Permissions to job details

To view job details, you need the bigquery.jobs.get IAM permission.

Each of the following predefined IAM roles includes the permissions that you need in order to view job details:

roles/bigquery.admin (lets you view details of all the jobs in the project)
roles/bigquery.user (lets you view details of your jobs)
roles/bigquery.jobUser (lets you view details of your jobs)

For more information on IAM roles and permissions in BigQuery, see Predefined roles and permissions.

Viewing dataset, table, and view labels

To view a resource's labels, select one of the following options:

Console

For datasets, the dataset details page is automatically opened. For tables and views, click Details to open the details page. Label information appears in the information table for the resource.

SQL

Query the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SCHEMATA_OPTIONS view to see the labels on a dataset, or the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_OPTIONS view to see the labels on a table. For example, the following SQL query returns the labels on the dataset named mydataset:

In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

Go to BigQuery

In the query editor, enter the following statement:

SELECT
  *
FROM
  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SCHEMATA_OPTIONS
WHERE
  schema_name = 'mydataset'
  AND option_name = 'labels';

Click Run.

For more information about how to run queries, see Run an interactive query.

bq

Use the bq show command with the resource ID. The --format flag can be used to control the output. If the resource is in a project other than your default project, add the project ID in the following format: [PROJECT_ID]:[DATASET]. For readability, the output is controlled by setting the --format flag to pretty.

bq show --format=pretty [RESOURCE_ID]

Where [RESOURCE_ID] is a valid dataset, table, view, or job ID.

Examples:

Enter the following command to display labels for mydataset in your default project.

bq show --format=pretty mydataset

The output looks like the following:

+-----------------+--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
|  Last modified  |                          ACLs                          |       Labels        |
+-----------------+--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| 11 Jul 19:34:34 | Owners:                                                | department:shipping |
|                 |   projectOwners,                                       |                     |
|                 | Writers:                                               |                     |
|                 |   projectWriters                                       |                     |
|                 | Readers:                                               |                     |
|                 |   projectReaders                                       |                     |
+-----------------+--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+

Enter the following command to display labels for mydataset.mytable. mydataset is in myotherproject, not your default project.

bq show --format=pretty myotherproject:mydataset.mytable

The output looks like the following for a clustered table:

+-----------------+------------------------------+------------+-------------+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+------------------+---------+
|  Last modified  |            Schema            | Total Rows | Total Bytes |   Expiration    |               Time Partitioning                | Clustered Fields | Labels  |
+-----------------+------------------------------+------------+-------------+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+------------------+---------+
| 25 Jun 19:28:14 | |- timestamp: timestamp      | 0          | 0           | 25 Jul 19:28:14 | DAY (field: timestamp, expirationMs: 86400000) | customer_id      | org:dev |
|                 | |- customer_id: string       |            |             |                 |                                                |                  |         |
|                 | |- transaction_amount: float |            |             |                 |                                                |                  |         |
+-----------------+------------------------------+------------+-------------+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+------------------+---------+

API

Call the datasets.get method or the tables.get method. The response includes all labels associated with that resource.

Alternatively, you can use datasets.list to view the labels for multiple datasets or tables.list to view the labels for multiple tables and views.

Because views are treated like table resources, you use the tables.get and tables.list methods to view label information for both views and tables.

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	"cloud.google.com/go/bigquery"
)

// printDatasetLabels retrieves label metadata from a dataset and prints it to an io.Writer.
func printDatasetLabels(w io.Writer, projectID, datasetID string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// datasetID := "mydataset"
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := bigquery.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("bigquery.NewClient: %v", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	meta, err := client.Dataset(datasetID).Metadata(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Dataset %s labels:\n", datasetID)
	if len(meta.Labels) == 0 {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "Dataset has no labels defined.")
		return nil
	}
	for k, v := range meta.Labels {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "\t%s:%s\n", k, v)
	}
	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryException;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryOptions;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.Dataset;

// Sample to get dataset labels
public class GetDatasetLabels {

  public static void runGetDatasetLabels() {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String datasetName = "MY_DATASET_NAME";
    getDatasetLabels(datasetName);
  }

  public static void getDatasetLabels(String datasetName) {
    try {
      // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
      // once, and can be reused for multiple requests.
      BigQuery bigquery = BigQueryOptions.getDefaultInstance().getService();

      Dataset dataset = bigquery.getDataset(datasetName);
      dataset
          .getLabels()
          .forEach((key, value) -> System.out.println("Retrieved labels successfully"));
    } catch (BigQueryException e) {
      System.out.println("Label was not found. \n" + e.toString());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

// Import the Google Cloud client library
const {BigQuery} = require('@google-cloud/bigquery');
const bigquery = new BigQuery();

async function getDatasetLabels() {
  // Gets labels on a dataset.

  /**
   * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
   */
  // const datasetId = "my_dataset";

  // Retrieve current dataset metadata.
  const dataset = bigquery.dataset(datasetId);
  const [metadata] = await dataset.getMetadata();
  const labels = metadata.labels;

  console.log(`${datasetId} Labels:`);
  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(labels)) {
    console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
  }
}
getDatasetLabels();

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.


from google.cloud import bigquery

# Construct a BigQuery client object.
client = bigquery.Client()

# TODO(developer): Set dataset_id to the ID of the dataset to fetch.
# dataset_id = "your-project.your_dataset"

dataset = client.get_dataset(dataset_id)  # Make an API request.

# View dataset labels.
print("Dataset ID: {}".format(dataset_id))
print("Labels:")
if dataset.labels:
    for label, value in dataset.labels.items():
        print("\t{}: {}".format(label, value))
else:
    print("\tDataset has no labels defined.")

Viewing table labels

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	"cloud.google.com/go/bigquery"
)

// tableLabels demonstrates fetching metadata from a table and printing the Label metadata to an io.Writer.
func tableLabels(w io.Writer, projectID, datasetID, tableID string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// datasetID := "mydataset"
	// tableID := "mytable"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := bigquery.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("bigquery.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	meta, err := client.Dataset(datasetID).Table(tableID).Metadata(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Table %s labels:\n", datasetID)
	if len(meta.Labels) == 0 {
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "Table has no labels defined.")
		return nil
	}
	for k, v := range meta.Labels {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "\t%s:%s\n", k, v)
	}
	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQuery;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryException;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.BigQueryOptions;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.Table;
import com.google.cloud.bigquery.TableId;

// Sample to get table labels
public class GetTableLabels {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String datasetName = "MY_DATASET_NAME";
    String tableName = "MY_TABLE_NAME";
    getTableLabels(datasetName, tableName);
  }

  public static void getTableLabels(String datasetName, String tableName) {
    try {
      // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
      // once, and can be reused for multiple requests.
      BigQuery bigquery = BigQueryOptions.getDefaultInstance().getService();

      // This example table starts with existing label { color: 'green' }
      Table table = bigquery.getTable(TableId.of(datasetName, tableName));
      table
          .getLabels()
          .forEach((key, value) -> System.out.println("Retrieved labels successfully"));
    } catch (BigQueryException e) {
      System.out.println("Label was not deleted. \n" + e.toString());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

// Import the Google Cloud client library
const {BigQuery} = require('@google-cloud/bigquery');
const bigquery = new BigQuery();

async function getTableLabels() {
  // Gets labels on a dataset.

  /**
   * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
   */
  // const datasetId = "my_dataset";
  // const tableId = "my_table";

  // Retrieve current dataset metadata.
  const table = bigquery.dataset(datasetId).table(tableId);
  const [metadata] = await table.getMetadata();
  const labels = metadata.labels;

  console.log(`${tableId} Labels:`);
  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(labels)) {
    console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
  }
}
getTableLabels();

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the BigQuery Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for client libraries.

from google.cloud import bigquery

client = bigquery.Client()

# TODO(dev): Change table_id to the full name of the table you want to create.
table_id = "your-project.your_dataset.your_table_name"

table = client.get_table(table_id)  # API Request

# View table labels
print(f"Table ID: {table_id}.")
if table.labels:
    for label, value in table.labels.items():
        print(f"\t{label}: {value}")
else:
    print("\tTable has no labels defined.")

Viewing job labels

To see the labels on a job, select one of the following options:

SQL

Query the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.JOB_BY_* views to see the labels on a job. For example, the following SQL query returns the query text and labels on the jobs submitted by the current user in the current project:

In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

Go to BigQuery

In the query editor, enter the following statement:

SELECT
  query,
  labels
FROM
  INFORMATION_SCHEMA.JOBS_BY_USER;

Click Run.

For more information about how to run queries, see Run an interactive query.

bq

To see the labels for a query job using the bq command-line tool, enter the bq show -j command with the query job's job ID. The --format flag can be used to control the output. For example, if your query job has job ID bqjob_r1234d57f78901_000023746d4q12_1, enter the following command:

bq show -j --format=pretty bqjob_r1234d57f78901_000023746d4q12_1

The output should look like the following:

+----------+---------+-----------------+----------+-------------------+-----------------+--------------+----------------------+
| Job Type |  State  |   Start Time    | Duration |    User Email     | Bytes Processed | Bytes Billed |        Labels        |
+----------+---------+-----------------+----------+-------------------+-----------------+--------------+----------------------+
| query    | SUCCESS | 03 Dec 15:00:41 | 0:00:00  | email@example.com | 255             | 10485760     | department:shipping  |
|          |         |                 |          |                   |                 |              | costcenter:logistics |
+----------+---------+-----------------+----------+-------------------+-----------------+--------------+----------------------+

API

Call the jobs.get method. The response includes all labels associated with that resource.

What's next

Learn how to add labels to BigQuery resources.
Learn how to update labels on BigQuery resources.
Learn how to filter resources using labels.
Learn how to delete labels on BigQuery resources.
Read about Using labels in the Resource Manager documentation.