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06-19-2025 04:09 AM
I'm trying to understand if predicate pushdown is supported when using the DESCRIBE HISTORY command on a Delta table in Databricks.
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06-19-2025 10:08 AM
`DESCRIBE HISTORY` on a Delta table in Databricks does **not support predicate pushdown** in the same way as regular SQL queries on data tables.
This is because `DESCRIBE HISTORY` is a **metadata operation** that reads the Delta log files to return table version history. While you can apply filters like:
```sql
SELECT * FROM (DESCRIBE HISTORY delta.`/path/to/table`) WHERE userName = 'xyz'
```
the filter is applied **after** the metadata is retrieved — not during the log scanning. So there’s **no performance gain** from the filter in terms of pushdown.
If you're dealing with a large number of table versions, it's better to use:
```sql
DESCRIBE HISTORY delta.`/path/to/table` LIMIT 10;
```
to limit how much history is read.