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Data & Analytics · Intermediate

External Table

A table whose data files reside in external storage and are queried in place, with only metadata kept in the database.

Definition

In Snowflake, external tables are read-only, expose files through a VALUE VARIANT column plus virtual columns, and need metadata refresh. In Databricks, external tables have data at a specified location, and dropping the table doesn't delete the files. BigQuery and Athena use the same concept.

Exam tip

Dropping an external table removes metadata only; dropping a managed table also deletes the data.

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