The HBase shell

The easiest way to access HBase is using the command-line interface called the HBase shell. The HBase shell is based on the Java Virtual Machine-based implementation of Ruby (JRuby) and can be used to connect to local or remote servers for interaction. It also provides both client and administrative operations. The HBase shell, the default HBase tool that comes with the HBase installation, can be launched as follows:

$HBASE_HOME/bin/hbase shell
HBase Shell; enter 'help<RETURN>' for list of supported commands.
Type "exit<RETURN>" to leave the HBase Shell
Version 0.96.2-hadoop2, r1581096, Mon Mar 24 16:03:18 PDT 2014
hbase(main):001:0>

To exit from the HBase shell, the exit or quit command is used as follows:

hbase(main):002:0> quit

Once the HBase shell is started, you can type in help, and then, click on Return to get the help text and the list of all the commands, as shown in the following screenshot:

Let's take a look at the various...