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Data & Analytics · Advanced

Z-Ordering

A Delta Lake technique that co-locates related values across files using a space-filling curve, improving data skipping on frequently filtered columns.

Definition

Z-ordering is applied with OPTIMIZE ... ZORDER BY and works best on high-cardinality filter columns. It is not incremental, and Databricks now recommends liquid clustering for new tables.

Exam tip

For new Delta tables, liquid clustering supersedes partitioning plus Z-ordering.

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