# Can we have HDB table without sym column?

**URL:** <https://forum.kx.com/t/can-we-have-hdb-table-without-sym-column/11094>\
**Category:** Community Support\
**Tags:** kdb-and-q\
**Created:** [July 5, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://forum.kx.com/t/can-we-have-hdb-table-without-sym-column/11094 "2016-07-05T11:32:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carfield11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@carfield11](https://forum.kx.com/u/carfield11)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://forum.kx.com/t/can-we-have-hdb-table-without-sym-column/11094/1 "2016-07-05T11:32:00Z")

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Hi, I’ve created few new table in the RDB, without sym columns, and that working fine.

However, after it archive to HDB, and I just run “select from table where date=xxx” , there is error saying that “folder/sym file” is missing, is that a sym column is mandatory for all HDB?

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**Author:** ![david\_demner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@david\_demner](https://forum.kx.com/u/david_demner)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.kx.com/t/can-we-have-hdb-table-without-sym-column/11094/2 "2016-07-05T14:59:00Z")

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Your hdb is probably missing the sym file=FD. Is there a sym variable defin= ed? key`:sym `sym in key`. How did you save the tables? If you used .Q.en[`:.] kdb probably made the s= ym file in the rdb root not the hdb root. You’d have to use .Q.en[`:hdbroot=] instead. If none of your tables have symbol columns, you could create an empty sym f= ile and try again. From: Carfield Yim Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 03:32 To: Kdb+ Personal Developers Reply To: [personal-kdbplus@googlegroups.com](mailto:personal-kdbplus@googlegroups.com) Subject: [personal kdb+] Can we have HDB table without sym column? Hi, I’ve created few new table in the RDB, without sym columns, and that wo= rking fine. However, after it archive to HDB, and I just run “select from table where d= ate=3Dxxx” , there is error saying that “folder/sym file” is missing, is th= at a sym column is mandatory for all HDB? – Submitted via Google Groups

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**Author:** ![carfield11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@carfield11](https://forum.kx.com/u/carfield11)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.kx.com/t/can-we-have-hdb-table-without-sym-column/11094/3 "2016-07-05T15:08:00Z")

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Thanks David, I use&nbsp;.Q.dpft&nbsp;

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**Author:** ![carfield11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@carfield11](https://forum.kx.com/u/carfield11)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.kx.com/t/can-we-have-hdb-table-without-sym-column/11094/4 "2016-07-05T16:00:00Z")

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Sorry, please ignore, it is just I default to use `sym as&nbsp;;<tt>`p#field if that is not specified