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  • Python

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 Milvus 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. Milvus 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
# }

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