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
# }