The cbt tool is a command-line tool that allows you to interact with Cloud Bigtable.
See the [cbt overview](https://cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/cbt-overview) to learn how to install the cbt tool.
Usage:
cbt [-<option> <option-argument>] <command> <required-argument> [optional-argument]
The commands are:
count Count rows in a table createinstance Create an instance with an initial cluster createcluster Create a cluster in the configured instance createfamily Create a column family createtable Create a table updatecluster Update a cluster in the configured instance deleteinstance Delete an instance deletecluster Delete a cluster from the configured instance deletecolumn Delete all cells in a column deletefamily Delete a column family deleterow Delete a row deleteallrows Delete all rows deletetable Delete a table doc Print godoc-suitable documentation for cbt help Print help text import Batch write many rows based on the input file listinstances List instances in a project listclusters List clusters in an instance lookup Read from a single row ls List tables and column families mddoc Print documentation for cbt in Markdown format read Read rows set Set value of a cell (write) setgcpolicy Set the garbage-collection policy (age, versions) for a column family waitforreplication Block until all the completed writes have been replicated to all the clusters createtablefromsnapshot Create a table from a snapshot (snapshots alpha) createsnapshot Create a snapshot from a source table (snapshots alpha) listsnapshots List snapshots in a cluster (snapshots alpha) getsnapshot Get snapshot info (snapshots alpha) deletesnapshot Delete snapshot in a cluster (snapshots alpha) version Print the current cbt version createappprofile Create app profile for an instance getappprofile Read app profile for an instance listappprofile Lists app profile for an instance updateappprofile Update app profile for an instance deleteappprofile Delete app profile for an instance
The options are:
-project string
project ID. If unset uses gcloud configured project
-instance string
Cloud Bigtable instance
-creds string
Path to the credentials file. If set, uses the application credentials in this file
-timeout string
Timeout (e.g. 10s, 100ms, 5m )
Example: cbt -instance=my-instance ls
Use "cbt help <command>" for more information about a command.
Alpha features are not currently available to most Cloud Bigtable customers. Alpha features might be changed in backward-incompatible ways and are not recommended for production use. They are not subject to any SLA or deprecation policy.
Syntax rules for the Bash shell apply to the cbt tool. This means, for example,
that you must put quotes around values that contain spaces or operators. It also means that
if a value is arbitrary bytes, you need to prefix it with a dollar sign and use single quotes.
Example:
cbt -project my-project -instance my-instance lookup my-table $'\224\257\312W\365:\205d\333\2471\315'
For convenience, you can add values for the -project, -instance, -creds, -admin-endpoint and -data-endpoint options to your ~/.cbtrc file in the following format:
project = my-project-123 instance = my-instance creds = path-to-account-key.json admin-endpoint = hostname:port data-endpoint = hostname:port auth-token = AJAvW039NO1nDcijk_J6_rFXG_... timeout = 30s
All values are optional and can be overridden at the command prompt.
Count rows in a table
Usage:
cbt count <table-id>
Create an instance with an initial cluster
Usage:
cbt createinstance <instance-id> <display-name> <cluster-id> <zone> <num-nodes> <storage-type>
instance-id Permanent, unique ID for the instance
display-name Description of the instance
cluster-id Permanent, unique ID for the cluster in the instance
zone The zone in which to create the cluster
num-nodes The number of nodes to create
storage-type SSD or HDD
Example: cbt createinstance my-instance "My instance" my-instance-c1 us-central1-b 3 SSD
Create a cluster in the configured instance
Usage:
cbt createcluster <cluster-id> <zone> <num-nodes> <storage-type>
cluster-id Permanent, unique ID for the cluster in the instance
zone The zone in which to create the cluster
num-nodes The number of nodes to create
storage-type SSD or HDD
Example: cbt createcluster my-instance-c2 europe-west1-b 3 SSD
Create a column family
Usage:
cbt createfamily <table-id> <family>
Example: cbt createfamily mobile-time-series stats_summary
Create a table
Usage:
cbt createtable <table-id> [families=<family>:gcpolicy=<gcpolicy-expression>,...]
[splits=<split-row-key-1>,<split-row-key-2>,...]
families Column families and their associated garbage collection (gc) policies.
Put gc policies in quotes when they include shell operators && and ||. For gcpolicy,
see "setgcpolicy".
splits Row key(s) where the table should initially be split
Example: cbt createtable mobile-time-series "families=stats_summary:maxage=10d||maxversions=1,stats_detail:maxage=10d||maxversions=1" splits=tablet,phone
Update a cluster in the configured instance
Usage:
cbt updatecluster <cluster-id> [num-nodes=<num-nodes>]
cluster-id Permanent, unique ID for the cluster in the instance
num-nodes The new number of nodes
Example: cbt updatecluster my-instance-c1 num-nodes=5
Delete an instance
Usage:
cbt deleteinstance <instance-id>
Example: cbt deleteinstance my-instance
Delete a cluster from the configured instance
Usage:
cbt deletecluster <cluster-id>
Example: cbt deletecluster my-instance-c2
Delete all cells in a column
Usage:
cbt deletecolumn <table-id> <row-key> <family> <column> [app-profile=<app-profile-id>]
app-profile=<app-profile-id> The app profile ID to use for the request
Example: cbt deletecolumn mobile-time-series phone#4c410523#20190501 stats_summary os_name
Delete a column family
Usage:
cbt deletefamily <table-id> <family>
Example: cbt deletefamily mobile-time-series stats_summary
Delete a row
Usage:
cbt deleterow <table-id> <row-key> [app-profile=<app-profile-id>]
app-profile=<app-profile-id> The app profile ID to use for the request
Example: cbt deleterow mobile-time-series phone#4c410523#20190501
Delete all rows
Usage:
cbt deleteallrows <table-id>
Example: cbt deleteallrows mobile-time-series
Delete a table
Usage:
cbt deletetable <table-id>
Example: cbt deletetable mobile-time-series
Print godoc-suitable documentation for cbt
Usage:
cbt doc
Print help text
Usage:
cbt help <command>
Example: cbt help createtable
Batch write many rows based on the input file
Usage:
cbt import <table-id> <input-file> [app-profile=<app-profile-id>] [column-family=<family-name>] [batch-size=<500>] [workers=<1>]
app-profile=<app-profile-id> The app profile ID to use for the request
column-family=<family-name> The column family label to use
batch-size=<500> The max number of rows per batch write request
workers=<1> The number of worker threads
Import data from a csv file into an existing cbt table that has the required column families.
See <example.csv.github.com/cbt-import-sample.csv> for a sample .csv file and formatting.
If no column family row is present, use the column-family flag to specify an existing family.
Examples:
cbt import csv-import-table cbt-import-sample.csv
cbt import csv-import-table cbt-import-sample.csv app-profile=batch-write-profile column-family=my-family workers=5
List instances in a project
Usage:
cbt listinstances
List clusters in an instance
Usage:
cbt listclusters
Read from a single row
Usage:
cbt lookup <table-id> <row-key> [columns=<family>:<qualifier>,...] [cells-per-column=<n>] [app-profile=<app profile id>] row-key String or raw bytes. Raw bytes must be enclosed in single quotes and have a dollar-sign prefix columns=<family>:<qualifier>,... Read only these columns, comma-separated cells-per-column=<n> Read only this number of cells per column app-profile=<app-profile-id> The app profile ID to use for the request Example: cbt lookup mobile-time-series phone#4c410523#20190501 columns=stats_summary:os_build,os_name cells-per-column=1 Example: cbt lookup mobile-time-series $'\x41\x42'
List tables and column families
Usage:
cbt ls List tables
cbt ls <table-id> List column families in a table
Example: cbt ls mobile-time-series
Print documentation for cbt in Markdown format
Usage:
cbt mddoc
Read rows
Usage:
cbt read <table-id> [start=<row-key>] [end=<row-key>] [prefix=<row-key-prefix>] [regex=<regex>] [columns=<family>:<qualifier>,...] [count=<n>] [cells-per-column=<n>] [app-profile=<app-profile-id>]
start=<row-key> Start reading at this row
end=<row-row> Stop reading before this row
prefix=<row-key-prefix> Read rows with this prefix
regex=<regex> Read rows with keys matching this regex
columns=<family>:<qualifier>,... Read only these columns, comma-separated
count=<n> Read only this many rows
cells-per-column=<n> Read only this many cells per column
app-profile=<app-profile-id> The app profile ID to use for the request
Examples: (see 'set' examples to create data to read)
cbt read mobile-time-series prefix=phone columns=stats_summary:os_build,os_name count=10
cbt read mobile-time-series start=phone#4c410523#20190501 end=phone#4c410523#20190601
cbt read mobile-time-series regex="phone.*" cells-per-column=1
Note: Using a regex without also specifying start, end, prefix, or count results in a full
table scan, which can be slow.
Set value of a cell (write)
Usage:
cbt set <table-id> <row-key> [app-profile=<app-profile-id>] <family>:<column>=<val>[@<timestamp>] ...
app-profile=<app profile id> The app profile ID to use for the request
<family>:<column>=<val>[@<timestamp>] may be repeated to set multiple cells.
timestamp is an optional integer.
If the timestamp cannot be parsed, '@<timestamp>' will be interpreted as part of the value.
For most uses, a timestamp is the number of microseconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
Examples:
cbt set mobile-time-series phone#4c410523#20190501 stats_summary:connected_cell=1@12345 stats_summary:connected_cell=0@1570041766
cbt set mobile-time-series phone#4c410523#20190501 stats_summary:os_build=PQ2A.190405.003 stats_summary:os_name=android
Set the garbage-collection policy (age, versions) for a column family
Usage:
cbt setgcpolicy <table> <family> ((maxage=<d> | maxversions=<n>) [(and|or) (maxage=<d> | maxversions=<n>),...] | never)
maxage=<d> Maximum timestamp age to preserve. Acceptable units: ms, s, m, h, d
maxversions=<n> Maximum number of versions to preserve
Put garbage collection policies in quotes when they include shell operators && and ||.
Examples:
cbt setgcpolicy mobile-time-series stats_detail maxage=10d
cbt setgcpolicy mobile-time-series stats_summary maxage=10d or maxversions=1
Block until all the completed writes have been replicated to all the clusters
Usage:
cbt waitforreplication <table-id>
Create a table from a snapshot (snapshots alpha)
Usage:
cbt createtablefromsnapshot <table> <cluster> <snapshot> table The name of the table to create cluster The cluster where the snapshot is located snapshot The snapshot to restore
Create a snapshot from a source table (snapshots alpha)
Usage:
cbt createsnapshot <cluster> <snapshot> <table> [ttl=<d>] [ttl=<d>] Lifespan of the snapshot (e.g. "1h", "4d")
List snapshots in a cluster (snapshots alpha)
Usage:
cbt listsnapshots [<cluster>]
Get snapshot info (snapshots alpha)
Usage:
cbt getsnapshot <cluster> <snapshot>
Delete snapshot in a cluster (snapshots alpha)
Usage:
cbt deletesnapshot <cluster> <snapshot>
Print the current cbt version
Usage:
cbt version
Create app profile for an instance
Usage:
cbt createappprofile <instance-id> <app-profile-id> <description> (route-any | [ route-to=<cluster-id> : transactional-writes]) [-force]
force: Optional flag to override any warnings causing the command to fail
Examples:
cbt createappprofile my-instance multi-cluster "Routes to nearest available cluster" route-any
cbt createappprofile my-instance single-cluster "Europe routing" route-to=my-instance-c2
Read app profile for an instance
Usage:
cbt getappprofile <instance-id> <profile-id>
Lists app profile for an instance
Usage:
cbt listappprofile <instance-id>
Update app profile for an instance
Usage:
cbt updateappprofile <instance-id> <profile-id> <description>(route-any | [ route-to=<cluster-id> : transactional-writes]) [-force]
force: Optional flag to override any warnings causing the command to fail
Example: cbt updateappprofile my-instance multi-cluster "Use this one." route-any
Delete app profile for an instance
Usage:
cbt deleteappprofile <instance-id> <profile-id>
Example: cbt deleteappprofile my-instance single-cluster