> ## 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.

# DESCRIBE FILE CACHE

Shows the settings of the database's
[file caches](https://docs.kinetica.com/content/config.md#config-main-file-cache).  File caches can be
described by any user.

```sql title="DESCRIBE FILE CACHE Syntax" theme={null}
DESC[RIBE] FILE CACHE [<cache name>]
```

Specify a `<cache name>` to describe only that file cache; the only file cache
is `external_files`.  Cache names are case-sensitive and must be given in
lowercase.

To change a file cache's settings, use
[ALTER SYSTEM SET PROPERTIES](https://docs.kinetica.com/content/sql/system_properties/alter-system-set-properties.md#sql-alter-system-properties).

## Response

The response to `DESCRIBE FILE CACHE` has one row per file cache, with the
following columns:

| Output Column | Description |
| - | - |
| `CACHE_NAME` | Name of the file cache. |
| `ENABLED` | Whether the file cache is enabled. |
| `PERSISTENT` | Not populated.  To see whether the file cache retains its entries on disk across restarts, use [SHOW SYSTEM PROPERTIES](https://docs.kinetica.com/content/sql/system_properties/show-system-properties.md#sql-show-system-properties) to show the cache's `conf.file_cache.<cache name>.persistence` property. |
| `MAX_DISK_SIZE` | Maximum size, in bytes, of the data the file cache can hold on disk. |
| `MAX_MEMORY_SIZE` | Maximum size, in bytes, of the data the file cache can hold in memory. |
| `BLOCK_SIZE` | Size, in bytes, of the blocks into which the file cache splits the files it caches. |
| `STATS_WINDOW` | Time span, in seconds, over which the file cache's hit & miss statistics are kept. |

## Examples

To show the settings of the external files cache:

```sql DESCRIBE FILE CACHE Example theme={null}
DESCRIBE FILE CACHE external_files
```


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