Parquet Tools

Introduction

Parquet Tools is a command-line utility for working with Parquet files, providing essential functionality for inspecting, converting, and analyzing Parquet data. This guide covers installation methods and common usage patterns.

Installation

Using Homebrew

# Install Parquet Tools using Homebrew
brew install parquet-tools

Using pip

# Install Parquet Tools using pip
pip install parquet-tools

Basic Usage

File Inspection

# Show file schema and metadata
parquet-tools show FILE.parquet

# Inspect file details
parquet-tools inspect FILE.parquet

# Count rows in a file
parquet-tools rowcount buildings_8563.parquet

Data Viewing

# View first few rows
parquet-tools head buildings_8563.parquet

# View all rows in JSON format
parquet-tools cat --json buildings_8563.parquet

File Conversion

# Convert Parquet to CSV
parquet-tools csv FILE.parquet > FILE.csv

Common Use Cases

Schema Analysis

# Get detailed schema information
parquet-tools show --detail FILE.parquet

Data Sampling

# View random sample of rows
parquet-tools sample --num-rows 100 FILE.parquet

Best Practices

1. Always check file schema before processing
2. Use appropriate output formats for your needs
3. Consider memory usage when viewing large files
4. Keep track of row counts for data validation
5. Use JSON output for programmatic processing
6. Regular schema validation
7. Document any schema changes