DynamoDB / Client / batch_get_item

batch_get_item

DynamoDB.Client.batch_get_item(**kwargs)

The BatchGetItem operation returns the attributes of one or more items from one or more tables. You identify requested items by primary key.

A single operation can retrieve up to 16 MB of data, which can contain as many as 100 items. BatchGetItem returns a partial result if the response size limit is exceeded, the table’s provisioned throughput is exceeded, more than 1MB per partition is requested, or an internal processing failure occurs. If a partial result is returned, the operation returns a value for UnprocessedKeys. You can use this value to retry the operation starting with the next item to get.

Warning

If you request more than 100 items, BatchGetItem returns a ValidationException with the message “Too many items requested for the BatchGetItem call.”

For example, if you ask to retrieve 100 items, but each individual item is 300 KB in size, the system returns 52 items (so as not to exceed the 16 MB limit). It also returns an appropriate UnprocessedKeys value so you can get the next page of results. If desired, your application can include its own logic to assemble the pages of results into one dataset.

If none of the items can be processed due to insufficient provisioned throughput on all of the tables in the request, then BatchGetItem returns a ProvisionedThroughputExceededException. If at least one of the items is successfully processed, then BatchGetItem completes successfully, while returning the keys of the unread items in UnprocessedKeys.

Warning

If DynamoDB returns any unprocessed items, you should retry the batch operation on those items. However, we strongly recommend that you use an exponential backoff algorithm. If you retry the batch operation immediately, the underlying read or write requests can still fail due to throttling on the individual tables. If you delay the batch operation using exponential backoff, the individual requests in the batch are much more likely to succeed.

For more information, see Batch Operations and Error Handling in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

By default, BatchGetItem performs eventually consistent reads on every table in the request. If you want strongly consistent reads instead, you can set ConsistentRead to true for any or all tables.

In order to minimize response latency, BatchGetItem may retrieve items in parallel.

When designing your application, keep in mind that DynamoDB does not return items in any particular order. To help parse the response by item, include the primary key values for the items in your request in the ProjectionExpression parameter.

If a requested item does not exist, it is not returned in the result. Requests for nonexistent items consume the minimum read capacity units according to the type of read. For more information, see Working with Tables in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

See also: AWS API Documentation

Request Syntax

response = client.batch_get_item(
    RequestItems={
        'string': {
            'Keys': [
                {
                    'string': {
                        'S': 'string',
                        'N': 'string',
                        'B': b'bytes',
                        'SS': [
                            'string',
                        ],
                        'NS': [
                            'string',
                        ],
                        'BS': [
                            b'bytes',
                        ],
                        'M': {
                            'string': {'... recursive ...'}
                        },
                        'L': [
                            {'... recursive ...'},
                        ],
                        'NULL': True|False,
                        'BOOL': True|False
                    }
                },
            ],
            'AttributesToGet': [
                'string',
            ],
            'ConsistentRead': True|False,
            'ProjectionExpression': 'string',
            'ExpressionAttributeNames': {
                'string': 'string'
            }
        }
    },
    ReturnConsumedCapacity='INDEXES'|'TOTAL'|'NONE'
)

Parameters:

• RequestItems (dict) –

  [REQUIRED]

  A map of one or more table names or table ARNs and, for each table, a map that describes one or more items to retrieve from that table. Each table name or ARN can be used only once per BatchGetItem request.

  Each element in the map of items to retrieve consists of the following:

  • ConsistentRead - If true, a strongly consistent read is used; if false (the default), an eventually consistent read is used.

  • ExpressionAttributeNames - One or more substitution tokens for attribute names in the ProjectionExpression parameter. The following are some use cases for using ExpressionAttributeNames:

    • To access an attribute whose name conflicts with a DynamoDB reserved word.

    • To create a placeholder for repeating occurrences of an attribute name in an expression.

    • To prevent special characters in an attribute name from being misinterpreted in an expression.

  Use the # character in an expression to dereference an attribute name. For example, consider the following attribute name:

  • Percentile

  The name of this attribute conflicts with a reserved word, so it cannot be used directly in an expression. (For the complete list of reserved words, see Reserved Words in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide). To work around this, you could specify the following for ExpressionAttributeNames:

  • {"#P":"Percentile"}

  You could then use this substitution in an expression, as in this example:

  • #P = :val

  Note

  Tokens that begin with the : character are expression attribute values, which are placeholders for the actual value at runtime.

  For more information about expression attribute names, see Accessing Item Attributes in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

  • Keys - An array of primary key attribute values that define specific items in the table. For each primary key, you must provide all of the key attributes. For example, with a simple primary key, you only need to provide the partition key value. For a composite key, you must provide both the partition key value and the sort key value.

  • ProjectionExpression - A string that identifies one or more attributes to retrieve from the table. These attributes can include scalars, sets, or elements of a JSON document. The attributes in the expression must be separated by commas. If no attribute names are specified, then all attributes are returned. If any of the requested attributes are not found, they do not appear in the result. For more information, see Accessing Item Attributes in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

  • AttributesToGet - This is a legacy parameter. Use ProjectionExpression instead. For more information, see AttributesToGet in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

  • (string) –

    • (dict) –

      Represents a set of primary keys and, for each key, the attributes to retrieve from the table.

      For each primary key, you must provide all of the key attributes. For example, with a simple primary key, you only need to provide the partition key. For a composite primary key, you must provide both the partition key and the sort key.

      • Keys (list) – [REQUIRED]

        The primary key attribute values that define the items and the attributes associated with the items.

        • (dict) –

          • (string) –

            • (dict) –

              Represents the data for an attribute.

              Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

              For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

              • S (string) –

                An attribute of type String. For example:

                "S": "Hello"

              • N (string) –

                An attribute of type Number. For example:

                "N": "123.45"

                Numbers are sent across the network to DynamoDB as strings, to maximize compatibility across languages and libraries. However, DynamoDB treats them as number type attributes for mathematical operations.

              • B (bytes) –

                An attribute of type Binary. For example:

                "B": "dGhpcyB0ZXh0IGlzIGJhc2U2NC1lbmNvZGVk"

              • SS (list) –

                An attribute of type String Set. For example:

                "SS": ["Giraffe", "Hippo" ,"Zebra"]

                • (string) –

              • NS (list) –

                An attribute of type Number Set. For example:

                "NS": ["42.2", "-19", "7.5", "3.14"]

                Numbers are sent across the network to DynamoDB as strings, to maximize compatibility across languages and libraries. However, DynamoDB treats them as number type attributes for mathematical operations.

                • (string) –

              • BS (list) –

                An attribute of type Binary Set. For example:

                "BS": ["U3Vubnk=", "UmFpbnk=", "U25vd3k="]

                • (bytes) –

              • M (dict) –

                An attribute of type Map. For example:

                "M": {"Name": {"S": "Joe"}, "Age": {"N": "35"}}

                • (string) –

                  • (dict) –

                    Represents the data for an attribute.

                    Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                    For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

              • L (list) –

                An attribute of type List. For example:

                "L": [ {"S": "Cookies"} , {"S": "Coffee"}, {"N": "3.14159"}]

                • (dict) –

                  Represents the data for an attribute.

                  Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                  For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

              • NULL (boolean) –

                An attribute of type Null. For example:

                "NULL": true

              • BOOL (boolean) –

                An attribute of type Boolean. For example:

                "BOOL": true

      • AttributesToGet (list) –

        This is a legacy parameter. Use ProjectionExpression instead. For more information, see Legacy Conditional Parameters in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

        • (string) –

      • ConsistentRead (boolean) –

        The consistency of a read operation. If set to true, then a strongly consistent read is used; otherwise, an eventually consistent read is used.

      • ProjectionExpression (string) –

        A string that identifies one or more attributes to retrieve from the table. These attributes can include scalars, sets, or elements of a JSON document. The attributes in the ProjectionExpression must be separated by commas.

        If no attribute names are specified, then all attributes will be returned. If any of the requested attributes are not found, they will not appear in the result.

        For more information, see Accessing Item Attributes in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

      • ExpressionAttributeNames (dict) –

        One or more substitution tokens for attribute names in an expression. The following are some use cases for using ExpressionAttributeNames:

        • To access an attribute whose name conflicts with a DynamoDB reserved word.

        • To create a placeholder for repeating occurrences of an attribute name in an expression.

        • To prevent special characters in an attribute name from being misinterpreted in an expression.

        Use the # character in an expression to dereference an attribute name. For example, consider the following attribute name:

        • Percentile

        The name of this attribute conflicts with a reserved word, so it cannot be used directly in an expression. (For the complete list of reserved words, see Reserved Words in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide). To work around this, you could specify the following for ExpressionAttributeNames:

        • {"#P":"Percentile"}

        You could then use this substitution in an expression, as in this example:

        • #P = :val

        Note

        Tokens that begin with the : character are expression attribute values, which are placeholders for the actual value at runtime.

        For more information on expression attribute names, see Accessing Item Attributes in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

        • (string) –

          • (string) –

• ReturnConsumedCapacity (string) –

  Determines the level of detail about either provisioned or on-demand throughput consumption that is returned in the response:

  • INDEXES - The response includes the aggregate ConsumedCapacity for the operation, together with ConsumedCapacity for each table and secondary index that was accessed. Note that some operations, such as GetItem and BatchGetItem, do not access any indexes at all. In these cases, specifying INDEXES will only return ConsumedCapacity information for table(s).

  • TOTAL - The response includes only the aggregate ConsumedCapacity for the operation.

  • NONE - No ConsumedCapacity details are included in the response.

Return type:

dict

Returns:

Response Syntax

{
    'Responses': {
        'string': [
            {
                'string': {
                    'S': 'string',
                    'N': 'string',
                    'B': b'bytes',
                    'SS': [
                        'string',
                    ],
                    'NS': [
                        'string',
                    ],
                    'BS': [
                        b'bytes',
                    ],
                    'M': {
                        'string': {'... recursive ...'}
                    },
                    'L': [
                        {'... recursive ...'},
                    ],
                    'NULL': True|False,
                    'BOOL': True|False
                }
            },
        ]
    },
    'UnprocessedKeys': {
        'string': {
            'Keys': [
                {
                    'string': {
                        'S': 'string',
                        'N': 'string',
                        'B': b'bytes',
                        'SS': [
                            'string',
                        ],
                        'NS': [
                            'string',
                        ],
                        'BS': [
                            b'bytes',
                        ],
                        'M': {
                            'string': {'... recursive ...'}
                        },
                        'L': [
                            {'... recursive ...'},
                        ],
                        'NULL': True|False,
                        'BOOL': True|False
                    }
                },
            ],
            'AttributesToGet': [
                'string',
            ],
            'ConsistentRead': True|False,
            'ProjectionExpression': 'string',
            'ExpressionAttributeNames': {
                'string': 'string'
            }
        }
    },
    'ConsumedCapacity': [
        {
            'TableName': 'string',
            'CapacityUnits': 123.0,
            'ReadCapacityUnits': 123.0,
            'WriteCapacityUnits': 123.0,
            'Table': {
                'ReadCapacityUnits': 123.0,
                'WriteCapacityUnits': 123.0,
                'CapacityUnits': 123.0
            },
            'LocalSecondaryIndexes': {
                'string': {
                    'ReadCapacityUnits': 123.0,
                    'WriteCapacityUnits': 123.0,
                    'CapacityUnits': 123.0
                }
            },
            'GlobalSecondaryIndexes': {
                'string': {
                    'ReadCapacityUnits': 123.0,
                    'WriteCapacityUnits': 123.0,
                    'CapacityUnits': 123.0
                }
            }
        },
    ]
}

Response Structure

• (dict) –

  Represents the output of a BatchGetItem operation.

  • Responses (dict) –

    A map of table name or table ARN to a list of items. Each object in Responses consists of a table name or ARN, along with a map of attribute data consisting of the data type and attribute value.

    • (string) –

      • (list) –

        • (dict) –

          • (string) –

            • (dict) –

              Represents the data for an attribute.

              Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

              For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

              • S (string) –

                An attribute of type String. For example:

                "S": "Hello"

              • N (string) –

                An attribute of type Number. For example:

                "N": "123.45"

                Numbers are sent across the network to DynamoDB as strings, to maximize compatibility across languages and libraries. However, DynamoDB treats them as number type attributes for mathematical operations.

              • B (bytes) –

                An attribute of type Binary. For example:

                "B": "dGhpcyB0ZXh0IGlzIGJhc2U2NC1lbmNvZGVk"

              • SS (list) –

                An attribute of type String Set. For example:

                "SS": ["Giraffe", "Hippo" ,"Zebra"]

                • (string) –

              • NS (list) –

                An attribute of type Number Set. For example:

                "NS": ["42.2", "-19", "7.5", "3.14"]

                Numbers are sent across the network to DynamoDB as strings, to maximize compatibility across languages and libraries. However, DynamoDB treats them as number type attributes for mathematical operations.

                • (string) –

              • BS (list) –

                An attribute of type Binary Set. For example:

                "BS": ["U3Vubnk=", "UmFpbnk=", "U25vd3k="]

                • (bytes) –

              • M (dict) –

                An attribute of type Map. For example:

                "M": {"Name": {"S": "Joe"}, "Age": {"N": "35"}}

                • (string) –

                  • (dict) –

                    Represents the data for an attribute.

                    Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                    For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

              • L (list) –

                An attribute of type List. For example:

                "L": [ {"S": "Cookies"} , {"S": "Coffee"}, {"N": "3.14159"}]

                • (dict) –

                  Represents the data for an attribute.

                  Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                  For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

              • NULL (boolean) –

                An attribute of type Null. For example:

                "NULL": true

              • BOOL (boolean) –

                An attribute of type Boolean. For example:

                "BOOL": true

  • UnprocessedKeys (dict) –

    A map of tables and their respective keys that were not processed with the current response. The UnprocessedKeys value is in the same form as RequestItems, so the value can be provided directly to a subsequent BatchGetItem operation. For more information, see RequestItems in the Request Parameters section.

    Each element consists of:

    • Keys - An array of primary key attribute values that define specific items in the table.

    • ProjectionExpression - One or more attributes to be retrieved from the table or index. By default, all attributes are returned. If a requested attribute is not found, it does not appear in the result.

    • ConsistentRead - The consistency of a read operation. If set to true, then a strongly consistent read is used; otherwise, an eventually consistent read is used.

    If there are no unprocessed keys remaining, the response contains an empty UnprocessedKeys map.

    • (string) –

      • (dict) –

        Represents a set of primary keys and, for each key, the attributes to retrieve from the table.

        For each primary key, you must provide all of the key attributes. For example, with a simple primary key, you only need to provide the partition key. For a composite primary key, you must provide both the partition key and the sort key.

        • Keys (list) –

          The primary key attribute values that define the items and the attributes associated with the items.

          • (dict) –

            • (string) –

              • (dict) –

                Represents the data for an attribute.

                Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

                • S (string) –

                  An attribute of type String. For example:

                  "S": "Hello"

                • N (string) –

                  An attribute of type Number. For example:

                  "N": "123.45"

                  Numbers are sent across the network to DynamoDB as strings, to maximize compatibility across languages and libraries. However, DynamoDB treats them as number type attributes for mathematical operations.

                • B (bytes) –

                  An attribute of type Binary. For example:

                  "B": "dGhpcyB0ZXh0IGlzIGJhc2U2NC1lbmNvZGVk"

                • SS (list) –

                  An attribute of type String Set. For example:

                  "SS": ["Giraffe", "Hippo" ,"Zebra"]

                  • (string) –

                • NS (list) –

                  An attribute of type Number Set. For example:

                  "NS": ["42.2", "-19", "7.5", "3.14"]

                  Numbers are sent across the network to DynamoDB as strings, to maximize compatibility across languages and libraries. However, DynamoDB treats them as number type attributes for mathematical operations.

                  • (string) –

                • BS (list) –

                  An attribute of type Binary Set. For example:

                  "BS": ["U3Vubnk=", "UmFpbnk=", "U25vd3k="]

                  • (bytes) –

                • M (dict) –

                  An attribute of type Map. For example:

                  "M": {"Name": {"S": "Joe"}, "Age": {"N": "35"}}

                  • (string) –

                    • (dict) –

                      Represents the data for an attribute.

                      Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                      For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

                • L (list) –

                  An attribute of type List. For example:

                  "L": [ {"S": "Cookies"} , {"S": "Coffee"}, {"N": "3.14159"}]

                  • (dict) –

                    Represents the data for an attribute.

                    Each attribute value is described as a name-value pair. The name is the data type, and the value is the data itself.

                    For more information, see Data Types in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

                • NULL (boolean) –

                  An attribute of type Null. For example:

                  "NULL": true

                • BOOL (boolean) –

                  An attribute of type Boolean. For example:

                  "BOOL": true

        • AttributesToGet (list) –

          This is a legacy parameter. Use ProjectionExpression instead. For more information, see Legacy Conditional Parameters in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

          • (string) –

        • ConsistentRead (boolean) –

          The consistency of a read operation. If set to true, then a strongly consistent read is used; otherwise, an eventually consistent read is used.

        • ProjectionExpression (string) –

          A string that identifies one or more attributes to retrieve from the table. These attributes can include scalars, sets, or elements of a JSON document. The attributes in the ProjectionExpression must be separated by commas.

          If no attribute names are specified, then all attributes will be returned. If any of the requested attributes are not found, they will not appear in the result.

          For more information, see Accessing Item Attributes in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

        • ExpressionAttributeNames (dict) –

          One or more substitution tokens for attribute names in an expression. The following are some use cases for using ExpressionAttributeNames:

          • To access an attribute whose name conflicts with a DynamoDB reserved word.

          • To create a placeholder for repeating occurrences of an attribute name in an expression.

          • To prevent special characters in an attribute name from being misinterpreted in an expression.

          Use the # character in an expression to dereference an attribute name. For example, consider the following attribute name:

          • Percentile

          The name of this attribute conflicts with a reserved word, so it cannot be used directly in an expression. (For the complete list of reserved words, see Reserved Words in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide). To work around this, you could specify the following for ExpressionAttributeNames:

          • {"#P":"Percentile"}

          You could then use this substitution in an expression, as in this example:

          • #P = :val

          Note

          Tokens that begin with the : character are expression attribute values, which are placeholders for the actual value at runtime.

          For more information on expression attribute names, see Accessing Item Attributes in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

          • (string) –

            • (string) –

  • ConsumedCapacity (list) –

    The read capacity units consumed by the entire BatchGetItem operation.

    Each element consists of:

    • TableName - The table that consumed the provisioned throughput.

    • CapacityUnits - The total number of capacity units consumed.

    • (dict) –

      The capacity units consumed by an operation. The data returned includes the total provisioned throughput consumed, along with statistics for the table and any indexes involved in the operation. ConsumedCapacity is only returned if the request asked for it. For more information, see Provisioned capacity mode in the Amazon DynamoDB Developer Guide.

      • TableName (string) –

        The name of the table that was affected by the operation. If you had specified the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of a table in the input, you’ll see the table ARN in the response.

      • CapacityUnits (float) –

        The total number of capacity units consumed by the operation.

      • ReadCapacityUnits (float) –

        The total number of read capacity units consumed by the operation.

      • WriteCapacityUnits (float) –

        The total number of write capacity units consumed by the operation.

      • Table (dict) –

        The amount of throughput consumed on the table affected by the operation.

        • ReadCapacityUnits (float) –

          The total number of read capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

        • WriteCapacityUnits (float) –

          The total number of write capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

        • CapacityUnits (float) –

          The total number of capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

      • LocalSecondaryIndexes (dict) –

        The amount of throughput consumed on each local index affected by the operation.

        • (string) –

          • (dict) –

            Represents the amount of provisioned throughput capacity consumed on a table or an index.

            • ReadCapacityUnits (float) –

              The total number of read capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

            • WriteCapacityUnits (float) –

              The total number of write capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

            • CapacityUnits (float) –

              The total number of capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

      • GlobalSecondaryIndexes (dict) –

        The amount of throughput consumed on each global index affected by the operation.

        • (string) –

          • (dict) –

            Represents the amount of provisioned throughput capacity consumed on a table or an index.

            • ReadCapacityUnits (float) –

              The total number of read capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

            • WriteCapacityUnits (float) –

              The total number of write capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

            • CapacityUnits (float) –

              The total number of capacity units consumed on a table or an index.

Exceptions

• DynamoDB.Client.exceptions.ProvisionedThroughputExceededException

• DynamoDB.Client.exceptions.ResourceNotFoundException

• DynamoDB.Client.exceptions.RequestLimitExceeded

• DynamoDB.Client.exceptions.InternalServerError

Examples

This example reads multiple items from the Music table using a batch of three GetItem requests. Only the AlbumTitle attribute is returned.

response = client.batch_get_item(
    RequestItems={
        'Music': {
            'Keys': [
                {
                    'Artist': {
                        'S': 'No One You Know',
                    },
                    'SongTitle': {
                        'S': 'Call Me Today',
                    },
                },
                {
                    'Artist': {
                        'S': 'Acme Band',
                    },
                    'SongTitle': {
                        'S': 'Happy Day',
                    },
                },
                {
                    'Artist': {
                        'S': 'No One You Know',
                    },
                    'SongTitle': {
                        'S': 'Scared of My Shadow',
                    },
                },
            ],
            'ProjectionExpression': 'AlbumTitle',
        },
    },
)

print(response)

Expected Output:

{
    'Responses': {
        'Music': [
            {
                'AlbumTitle': {
                    'S': 'Somewhat Famous',
                },
            },
            {
                'AlbumTitle': {
                    'S': 'Blue Sky Blues',
                },
            },
            {
                'AlbumTitle': {
                    'S': 'Louder Than Ever',
                },
            },
        ],
    },
    'ResponseMetadata': {
        '...': '...',
    },
}