How to list column families in keyspace?

Question

How can I get list of all column families in keyspace in Cassandra using CQL 3?

Answer 1

cqlsh> select columnfamily_name from system.schema_columnfamilies where keyspace_name = 'test';

 columnfamily_name
-------------------
           commits
               foo
     has_all_types
      item_by_user
              test
             test2
      user_by_item

(7 rows)

Answer 2

Or even more simply (if you are using cqlsh), switch over to your keyspace with use and then execute describe tables:

cqlsh> use products;
cqlsh:products> describe tables;

itemmaster    itemhierarchy         companyitemfavorites
testtable

Note: The describe command is specific to cqlsh only.

Answer 3

CQL API supports both TABLES and COLUMNFAMILIES:

$ cqlsh
cqlsh> DESCRIBE KEYSPACES;
cqlsh> USE keyspace_shaharma;

see column families,

cqlsh:keyspace_shaharma> DESCRIBE COLUMNFAMILIES;

or

cqlsh:keyspace_shaharma> DESCRIBE TABLES;

Answer 4

To list the column family or tables in the keyspace :

1. By using select Query:

   SELECT table_name FROM system_schema.tables WHERE keyspace_name ='mydb';

2. By selecting Keyspace and then we can list the tables available inside the keyspace :

   use keyspace_name describe tables;

3. By using Describe Keyword:

   describe COLUMNFAMILIES;