docs-v2/content/shared/influxdb3-cli/show/retention.md

The influxdb3 show retention command displays effective retention periods for tables in your {{< product-name >}} server.

Usage

# Syntax
influxdb3 show retention [OPTIONS]

Options

Option		Description
-H	--host	Host URL of the running {{< product-name >}} server (default is http://127.0.0.1:8181)
	--token	({{< req >}}) Authentication token
	--database	Filter retention information by database name
	--format	Output format (pretty (default), json, jsonl, csv, or parquet)
	--tls-ca	Path to a custom TLS certificate authority (for testing or self-signed certificates)
	--tls-no-verify	Disable TLS certificate verification (Not recommended in production, useful for self-signed certificates)
-h	--help	Print help information
	--help-all	Print detailed help information

Option environment variables

You can use the following environment variables to set command options:

Environment Variable	Option
INFLUXDB3_HOST_URL	--host
INFLUXDB3_DATABASE_NAME	--database
INFLUXDB3_AUTH_TOKEN	--token
INFLUXDB3_TLS_NO_VERIFY	--tls-no-verify

Examples

• Show retention for all tables
• Show retention for a specific database
• Show retention in JSON format
• Export retention data to Parquet format

In the examples below, replace {{% code-placeholder-key %}}AUTH_TOKEN{{% /code-placeholder-key %}} with your authentication token.

Show retention for all tables

influxdb3 show retention \
  --host http://localhost:8181 \
  --token AUTH_TOKEN

Show retention for a specific database

influxdb3 show retention \
  --host http://localhost:8181 \
  --token AUTH_TOKEN \
  --database mydb

Show retention in JSON format

influxdb3 show retention \
  --host http://localhost:8181 \
  --token AUTH_TOKEN \
  --format json

Export retention data to Parquet format

Parquet is a binary format. When using the parquet format, data is written to standard output by default. Use output redirection or the --output option to save the data to a file.

influxdb3 show retention \
  --host http://localhost:8181 \
  --token AUTH_TOKEN \
  --format parquet \
  --output retention-data.parquet

Output

The command displays the following information for each table:

• Database: The database name
• Table: The table name
• Retention: The effective retention period in human-readable format (for example, "7d" for 7 days, "24h" for 24 hours, "infinite" for no retention)
• Source: Where the retention is defined (table, database, or infinite)

Example output

Database | Table       | Retention | Source
---------|-------------|-----------|----------
mydb     | cpu         | 7d        | database
mydb     | mem         | 24h       | table
mydb     | disk        | infinite  | infinite

Tables with table-level retention policies override the database-level retention. Tables without explicit retention policies inherit the database retention or have infinite retention if none is set.