Useful Databricks Magic Commands

Some frequently used magic commands in Databricks

Magic Command	Description	Example
%run	Runs a Python file or a notebook.	%run ./path/to/notebook
%sh	Executes shell commands on the cluster nodes.	%sh ls /dbfs
%fs	Interacts with the Databricks file system.	%fs ls /mnt/data
%sql	Runs SQL queries.	%sql SELECT * FROM table_name
%scala	Switches the notebook context to Scala.	%scala val x = 10
%python	Switches the notebook context to Python.	%python print("Hello, Databricks!")
%md	Writes markdown text.	%md # This is a Markdown Header
%r	Switches the notebook context to R.	%r summary(data_frame)
%lsmagic	Lists all the available magic commands.	%lsmagic
%jobs	Lists all the running jobs.	%jobs
%config	Sets configuration options for the notebook.	%config notebook.display.max_rows=1000
%reload	Reloads the contents of a module.	%reload module_name
%pip	Installs Python packages.	%pip install pandas
%load	Loads the contents of a file into a cell.	%load ./path/to/file.py
%matplotlib	Sets up the matplotlib backend.	%matplotlib inline
%who	Lists all the variables in the current scope.	%who
%env	Sets environment variables.	%env MY_VARIABLE=my_value

Mounting and Unmounting Storage

Command	Example
Mount ADLS	dbutils.fs.mount(   source = "adl://.azuredatalakestore.net/",   mount_point = "/mnt/",   extra_configs = {     "dfs.adls.oauth2.access.token.provider.type": "ClientCredential",     "dfs.adls.oauth2.client.id": dbutils.secrets.get(scope = "", key = "client-id"),     "dfs.adls.oauth2.credential": dbutils.secrets.get(scope = "", key = "client-secret"),     "dfs.adls.oauth2.refresh.url": "https://login.microsoftonline.com//oauth2/token"} )
Unmount Storage	dbutils.fs.unmount("/mnt/")
List Mount Points	display(dbutils.fs.mounts())

File Operations

Command	Example
Read CSV File	df = spark.read.csv("/mnt//data/file.csv", header=True, inferSchema=True) display(df)
Write CSV File	df.write.mode("overwrite").csv("/mnt//output/")
List Files	display(dbutils.fs.ls("/mnt/"))

Secret Management

Command	Example
Set a Secret	databricks secrets create-scope --scope databricks secrets put --scope --key --string-value
Get a Secret	secret = dbutils.secrets.get(scope = "", key = "")

Shell Commands

Command	Example
Run Shell Command	%sh ls -lh /dbfs/mnt//

SQL and Context Switching

Command	Example
Run SQL Query	%sql SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column = 'value'
Switch to Scala	%scala val x = 10
Switch to Python	%python print("Hello, Databricks!")
Switch to R	%r summary(data_frame)

Package Management

Command	Example
Install Packages	%pip install pandas matplotlib

Environment and Module Management

Command	Example
Set Environment Variable	%env MY_VARIABLE=my_value
Load Python File	%load ./scripts/helper.py
Reload Module	%reload my_module

Variable and Configuration Management

Command	Example
List Variables	%who
Notebook Configuration	%config notebook.display.max_rows=1000

Markdown and Plotting

Command	Example
Write Markdown	%md # This is a Markdown Header Here is some detailed description.
Setup Matplotlib	%matplotlib inline import matplotlib.pyplot as plt plt.plot([1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]) plt.show()

Job Management

Command	Example
List Running Jobs	%jobs