---
title: influxdb3 show retention
description: The influxdb3 show retention command displays effective retention periods for tables in your InfluxDB 3 Enterprise server.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb3/enterprise/reference/cli/influxdb3/show/retention/
estimated_tokens: 2145
product: InfluxDB 3 Enterprise
version: enterprise
---

# influxdb3 show retention

The `influxdb3 show retention` command displays effective retention periods for tables in your InfluxDB 3 Enterprise server.

## Usage

```bash
# Syntax
influxdb3 show retention [OPTIONS]
```

## Options

| Option |  | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| -H | --host | Host URL of the running InfluxDB 3 Enterprise server (default is http://127.0.0.1:8181) |
|  | --token | (Required) 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-all-tables)
-   [Show retention for a specific database](#show-retention-for-a-specific-database)
-   [Show retention in JSON format](#show-retention-in-json-format)
-   [Export retention data to Parquet format](#export-retention-data-to-parquet-format)

In the examples below, replace `AUTH_TOKEN` with your authentication token.

### Show retention for all tables

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

### Show retention for a specific database

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

### Show retention in JSON format

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

### Export retention data to Parquet format

[Parquet](https://parquet.apache.org/) 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.

```bash
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.