> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kinetica.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# /show/table/metadata

```
URL: http://<db.host>:<db.port>/show/table/metadata
```

Retrieves the user provided metadata for the specified tables.

## Input Parameter Description

<ParamField body="table_names" type="array of strings">
  Names of tables whose metadata will be fetched, in \[schema\_name.]table\_name format, using standard [name resolution rules](../../concepts/tables/#table-name-resolution). All provided tables must exist, or an error is returned.
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="options" type="map of string to strings">
  Optional parameters.

  The default value is an empty map ( \{} ).
</ParamField>

## Output Parameter Description

The Kinetica server embeds the endpoint response inside a standard response structure which contains status information and the actual response to the query.  Here is a description of the various fields of the wrapper:

<ResponseField name="status" type="String">
  'OK' or 'ERROR'
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="message" type="String">
  Empty if success or an error message
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="data_type" type="String">
  'show\_table\_metadata\_response' or 'none' in case of an error
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="data" type="String">
  Empty string
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="data_str" type="JSON or String">
  This embedded JSON represents the result of the /show/table/metadata endpoint:

  <Expandable title="data_str">
    <ResponseField name="table_names" type="array of strings">
      Value of input parameter *table\_names*.
    </ResponseField>

    <ResponseField name="metadata_maps" type="array of maps of string to strings">
      A list of maps which contain the metadata of the tables in the order the tables are listed in input parameter *table\_names*. Each map has (metadata attribute name, metadata attribute value) pairs.
    </ResponseField>

    <ResponseField name="info" type="map of string to strings">
      Additional information.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>

  Empty string in case of an error.
</ResponseField>