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describe()

This operation describes the current collection.

Request Syntax

describe(timeout: float | None)

PARAMETERS:

  • timeout (float | None)

    The timeout duration for this operation. Setting this to None indicates that this operation timeouts when any response arrives or any error occurs.

RETURN TYPE:

dict

RETURNS:

A dictionary that contains detailed information about the specified collection.

{
'collection_name': 'test_01',
'auto_id': False,
'num_shards': 1,
'description': '',
'fields': [
{
'field_id': 100,
'name': 'id',
'description': '',
'type': 5,
'params': {},
'element_type': 0,
'is_primary': True
},
{
'field_id': 101,
'name': 'vector',
'description': '',
'type': 101,
'params': {
'dim': 768
},
'element_type': 0
}
],
'aliases': [],
'collection_id': 446738261026541332,
'consistency_level': 2,
'properties': {},
'num_partitions': 1
}

PARAMETERS:

  • collection_name (str) -

    The name of the current collection.

  • auto_id (bool) -

    Whether Zilliz Cloud automatically generates the primary key for the collection.

  • num_shards (int) -

    The number of shards the current collection has.

  • description (str)

    The description of the current collection.

  • fields (list)

    A list of fields in the current collection.

    • field_id (int)

      The ID of the current field.

    • name (str)

      The name of the current field.

    • description (str)

      The description of the current field.

    • type (int)

      The type of the current field. For details, refer to DataType.

    • params (dict)

      Additional attributes of the current fields.

      • For VARCHAR fields, max_length (int) is a possible attribute, which determines the number of characters in the value of the current field.

      • For FLOAT_VECTOR fields, dim (int) is a possible attribute, which determines the number of vector embeddings in the value of the current field.

    • element_type (int)

    • is_primary (bool)

      Whether the current field serves as the primary key of the collection.

  • aliases (list)

    A list of collection aliases. You can use any alias in the list to use the current collection.

  • collection_id (int)

    The ID of the current collection. Zilliz Cloud allocates an ID for each collection while creating it.

  • consistency_level (int)

    The consistency level of the current collection. For details, refer to ConsistencyLevel.

  • properties (dict)

  • num_partitions (int)

    The number of partitions in the current collection.

EXCEPTIONS:

  • DescribeCollectionException

    This arises when any error occurs during this operation.

Example

from pymilvus import Collection, CollectionSchema, FieldSchema, DataType

schema = CollectionSchema([
FieldSchema("id", DataType.INT64, is_primary=True),
FieldSchema("vector", DataType.FLOAT_VECTOR, dim=5)
])

# Create a collection
collection = Collection(
name="test_collection",
schema=schema
)

# Get detailed information about the collection
collection.describe()

# Output
# {
# 'collection_name': 'test_01',
# 'auto_id': False,
# 'num_shards': 1,
# 'description': '',
# 'fields': [
# {
# 'field_id': 100,
# 'name': 'id',
# 'description': '',
# 'type': 5,
# 'params': {},
# 'element_type': 0,
# 'is_primary': True
# },
# {
# 'field_id': 101,
# 'name': 'vector',
# 'description': '',
# 'type': 101,
# 'params': {
# 'dim': 768
# },
# 'element_type': 0
# }
# ],
# 'aliases': [],
# 'collection_id': 446738261026541332,
# 'consistency_level': 2,
# 'properties': {},
# 'num_partitions': 1
# }