RESTORE

Applies to: check marked yes Databricks SQL check marked yes Databricks Runtime 7.4 and above

Restores a Delta table to an earlier state. Restoring to an earlier version number or a timestamp is supported.

Syntax 

RESTORE [ TABLE ] table_name [ TO ] time_travel_version

time_travel_version
 { TIMESTAMP AS OF timestamp_expression |
   VERSION AS OF version }

Parameters

  • timestamp_expression can be any one of:

    • '2018-10-18T22:15:12.013Z', that is, a string that can be cast to a timestamp

    • cast('2018-10-18 13:36:32 CEST' as timestamp)

    • '2018-10-18', that is, a date string

    • current_timestamp() - interval 12 hours

    • date_sub(current_date(), 1)

    • Any other expression that is or can be cast to a timestamp

  • version is a long value that can be obtained from the output of DESCRIBE HISTORY table_spec.

Neither timestamp_expression nor version can be subqueries.

Examples 

-- Restore the employee table to a specific timestamp
> RESTORE TABLE employee TO TIMESTAMP AS OF '2022-08-02 00:00:00';
 table_size_after_restore num_of_files_after_restore num_removed_files num_restored_files removed_files_size restored_files_size
                      100                          3                 1                  0                574                   0

-- Restore the employee table to a specific version number retrieved from DESCRIBE HISTORY employee
> RESTORE TABLE employee TO VERSION AS OF 1;
 table_size_after_restore num_of_files_after_restore num_removed_files num_restored_files removed_files_size restored_files_size
                      100                          3                 1                  0                574                   0

-- Restore the employee table to the state it was in an hour ago
> RESTORE TABLE employee TO TIMESTAMP AS OF current_timestamp() - INTERVAL '1' HOUR;
 table_size_after_restore num_of_files_after_restore num_removed_files num_restored_files removed_files_size restored_files_size
                      100                          3                 1                  0                574                   0