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Entity Commands

Comprehensive toolkit for managing catalog entities, classifications, labels, and business metadata in Microsoft Purview.

Quick Start

Start with entity operations: Create, read, update, delete, classify, label, and bulk-process catalog entities and their metadata.

What You Can Do

  • Create and update individual or bulk entities
  • Add and manage classifications, labels, and business metadata
  • Bulk import/export entity data
  • Manage entity collections
  • Change entity ownership and assignments

Quick Examples

pvw entity read --guid <entity-guid>

pvw entity create --help

pvw entity createbulk --help

pvw entity createclassifications --help

Available Actions

Read Operations

Command Purpose
read Retrieve a single entity by GUID
readbulk Retrieve multiple entities by GUID
readbulkuniqueattribute Retrieve by qualified name
readheader Get entity header information
readclassification Get classifications for entity
readclassifications List all classifications
readuniqueattribute Retrieve entity by unique attribute

Create Operations

Command Purpose
create Create a single entity
createbulk Create multiple entities
createclassifications Add classifications
createbulkclassification Bulk add classifications
createorupdatecollection Create or assign to collection
createorupdatecollectionbulk Bulk collection assignment

Update Operations

Command Purpose
put Create or update entity
putclassifications Set classifications
putuniqueattribute Update by unique attribute
putuniqueattributeclassifications Update classifications by unique attribute
addorupdatebusinessmetadata Add or update business metadata
addorupdatebusinessattribute Add or update business attribute

Label Operations

Command Purpose
addlabels Add labels to entity
setlabels Set labels (replaces existing)
deletelabels Remove labels
addlabelsByUniqueAttribute Add labels by unique attribute
setLabelsByUniqueAttribute Set labels by unique attribute
deleteLabelsByUniqueAttribute Remove labels by unique attribute

Delete Operations

Command Purpose
delete Delete entity
deletebulk Delete multiple entities
deleteclassification Remove classification
deletebusinessmetadata Remove business metadata
deletebusinessattribute Remove business attribute

Collection Management

Command Purpose
changecollection Move entity to different collection
createorupdatecollection Assign to collection

Business Metadata

Command Purpose
getbusinessmetadatatemplate Get metadata template
importbusinessmetadata Import metadata definitions
addorupdatebusinessmetadata Update metadata

Common Workflows

Bulk Import Entities

For high-volume entity creation with performance optimization, see Entity Bulk CSV Guide.

Classify Entities

# Add classification to single entity
pvw entity createclassifications --help

# Bulk add classifications
pvw entity createbulkclassification --help

Manage Labels

# Add labels
pvw entity addlabels --help

# Set labels (replaces)
pvw entity setlabels --help