A table-valued function (TVF) that reads data from Parquet files stored in Amazon S3. The function can use either a location object (recommended) or direct credentials to access the data. READ_PARQUET returns a table with data from the specified Parquet file.

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Syntax

-- Using location object (recommended)
READ_PARQUET (
  LOCATION => location_name
  [, ESTIMATED_ROWS => <estimated_rows>]
)

-- Using static credentials
READ_PARQUET (
  URL => <file_url>
  [, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID => <aws_access_key_id>]
  [, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY => <aws_secret_access_key>]
  [, AWS_SESSION_TOKEN => <aws_session_token>]
  [, AWS_ROLE_ARN => <aws_role_arn>]
  [, AWS_ROLE_EXTERNAL_ID => <aws_role_external_id>]
  [, ESTIMATED_ROWS => <estimated_rows>]
)

​
Parameters

ParameterDescriptionSupported input types
LOCATIONThe name of a location object that contains the Amazon S3 URL and credentials. Firebolt recommends using LOCATION to store credentials for authentication. LOCATION must be specified as a string literal (e.g., LOCATION => 'my_location'). Unlike URL, it cannot be used as a positional parameter. For a comprehensive guide, see LOCATION objects.TEXT
URLThe location of the Amazon S3 bucket containing your files. The expected format is s3://{bucket_name}/{full_file_path_glob_pattern}.TEXT
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDThe AWS access key ID.TEXT
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYThe AWS secret access key.TEXT
AWS_SESSION_TOKENThe AWS session token.TEXT
AWS_ROLE_ARNThe AWS role ARN.TEXT
AWS_ROLE_EXTERNAL_IDThe AWS role external ID.TEXT
ESTIMATED_ROWSHints the estimated number of rows returned by READ_PARQUET to query planning for improved join ordering.INT, BIGINT
  • When using static credentials:
    • The URL can be passed as either the first positional parameter or a named parameter
    • If you provide either AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID or AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, you must provide both
    • Providing an AWS session token is optional
    • Credentials are not required for accessing public buckets

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Return Type

The result is a table with data from the Parquet files. Columns are read and parsed using their inferred data types.

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Best practice

Firebolt recommends using a LOCATION object to store credentials for authentication. When using READ_PARQUET(), the URL parameter in the location should contain only parquet files (see location table-valued functions).

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Examples

Example The following code example reads the first 5 rows from a Parquet file using a LOCATION object to store credentials for authentication: 
SELECT * 
FROM READ_PARQUET(
    LOCATION => 'my_parquet_location'
) 
LIMIT 5;
Example The following code example reads the first 5 rows from a Parquet file using static credentials for authentication: 
SELECT * 
FROM READ_PARQUET(
    URL => 's3://firebolt-publishing-public/help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/TournamentID=92/cc2a2a0b4e8b4fb39abf20a956e7cc3e-0.parquet'
) 
LIMIT 5;
Returns
GameIDPlayerIDTimestampSelectedCarCurrentLevelCurrentSpeedCurrentPlayTimeCurrentScoreEventErrorCode
18452022-10-27 13:36:33Solara1000BrakeNoError
18452022-10-27 13:36:33Solara13390.98722RightTurnGraphicsFreeze
18452022-10-27 13:36:34Solara12881.974420TiltNoError
18452022-10-27 13:36:35Solara12602.961653BlockTextNotFound
18452022-10-27 13:36:36Solara11963.948881FullSpeedNoError

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Using URL

  • The URL can be passed as either the first positional parameter or a named parameter. For example, the following two queries will both read the same file:
  • Credentials are optional.
SELECT * FROM READ_PARQUET('s3://firebolt-publishing-public/help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/TournamentID=92/cc2a2a0b4e8b4fb39abf20a956e7cc3e-0.parquet');
SELECT * FROM READ_PARQUET(URL => 's3://firebolt-publishing-public/help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/TournamentID=92/cc2a2a0b4e8b4fb39abf20a956e7cc3e-0.parquet');
  • The url can represent a single file or a glob pattern. If a glob pattern is used, all files matching the pattern will be read. A special column $source_file_name can be used to identify the source file of each row in the result set:
SELECT *, $source_file_name FROM READ_PARQUET('s3://firebolt-publishing-public/help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/*.parquet') LIMIT 5;
When using glob patterns, the wildcard (*) can only be used at the end of the path. You can use it with any text before or after, such as *.parquet, date=2025*.parquet, or data_*.parquet. The pattern will recursively match files in all subdirectories. For example: 
SELECT count(*) FROM READ_PARQUET('s3://firebolt-publishing-public/*.parquet');
counts rows of all Parquet files in the bucket, including those in subdirectories like help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/*.parquet. The column $source_file_name can be used in combination with REGEXP_EXTRACT to extract data from the source file path. The following code returns the TournamentID for each record it reads based on its file path: 
SELECT REGEXP_EXTRACT($source_file_name, 'TournamentID=(\d+)','',1) as TournamentID, *
FROM READ_PARQUET(URL => 's3://firebolt-publishing-public/help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/*.parquet')
LIMIT 5;
For example, it returns 92 for records in file s3://firebolt-publishing-public/help_center_assets/firebolt_sample_dataset/playstats/TournamentID=92/cc2a2a0b4e8b4fb39abf20a956e7cc3e-0.parquet.