Drop Relation Target#

The drop target is used for dropping relations, i.e. dropping tables in relational database, dropping tables in Hive or removing output directories. The target can be used for cleaning up tables which are not used anymore.

Example#

targets:
  drop_stations:
    kind: drop
    relation: stations

relations:
  stations:
    kind: file
    format: parquet
    location: "$basedir/stations/"
    schema:
      kind: avro
      file: "${project.basedir}/schema/stations.avsc"

You can also directly specify the relation inside the target definition. This saves you from having to create a separate relation definition in the relations section. This is only recommended, if you do not access the target relation otherwise, such that a shared definition would not provide any benefit.

targets:
  drop_stations:
    kind: drop
    relation:
      kind: file
      name: stations-relation
      format: parquet
      location: "$basedir/stations/"
      schema:
        kind: avro
        file: "${project.basedir}/schema/stations.avsc"

Fields#

kind (mandatory) (type: string): drop
description (optional) (type: string): Optional descriptive text of the build target
relation (mandatory) (type: string): Specifies the name of the relation to drop, or alternatively directly embeds the relation.

Description#

The drop target will drop a relation and all its contents. It will be executed both during the CREATE phase and during the DESTROY phase.

Supported Execution Phases#

CREATE - This will drop the target relation or migrate it to the newest schema (if possible).
VERIFY - This will verify that the target relation does not exist anymore.
DESTROY - This will also drop the relation itself and all its content.

Dirty Condition#

A drop target is considered being dirty during the CREATE and DESTROY phase as long as the target relation physically exists.