How to List Glossary Terms with Microsoft Purview CLI¶

This guide explains the various ways to list and retrieve glossary terms using the Microsoft Purview CLI.

Overview¶

The Purview CLI provides several commands to list glossary terms with different levels of detail and filtering options. This flexibility allows you to get exactly the information you need.

Commands for Listing Terms¶

1. List All Terms in a Glossary (Recommended)¶

Command:

pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid <GLOSSARY_GUID>

Alternative (same functionality):

pvw glossary read-terms --glossary-guid <GLOSSARY_GUID>

Parameters: - --glossary-guid (required): The GUID of the glossary containing the terms - --limit (optional): Number of results to return (default: 1000) - --offset (optional): Pagination offset for large result sets (default: 0) - --sort (optional): Sort order - ASC or DESC (default: ASC) - --ext-info (optional): Include extended information (flag) - --include-term-hierarchy (optional): Include term hierarchy relationships (flag)

Examples:

# Basic usage - list all terms in a glossary
pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012"

# With pagination - get first 50 terms
pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012" --limit 50

# Include extended info and hierarchy
pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012" --ext-info --include-term-hierarchy

# Get next page of results
pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012" --limit 50 --offset 50

2. List Term Headers Only (Lightweight)¶

For better performance when you only need basic term information:

Command:

pvw glossary read-terms-headers --glossary-guid <GLOSSARY_GUID>

Parameters: - --glossary-guid (required): The GUID of the glossary - --limit, --offset, --sort: Same pagination options as above

Example:

pvw glossary read-terms-headers --glossary-guid "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012" --limit 100

3. List Terms in a Specific Category¶

Command:

pvw glossary read-category-terms --category-guid <CATEGORY_GUID>

Parameters: - --category-guid (required): The GUID of the category - --limit, --offset, --sort: Pagination options

Example:

pvw glossary read-category-terms --category-guid "87654321-4321-4321-4321-210987654321"

4. Get Details of a Specific Term¶

Command:

pvw glossary read-term --term-guid <TERM_GUID>

Parameters: - --term-guid (required): The GUID of the specific term - --include-term-hierarchy (optional): Include hierarchy relationships

Example:

pvw glossary read-term --term-guid "abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-ef1234567890" --include-term-hierarchy

Finding Glossary GUIDs¶

Before you can list terms, you need to know the glossary GUID. Use these commands:

List all glossaries:

pvw glossary list

Get detailed glossary information:

pvw glossary read --glossary-guid <GLOSSARY_GUID>

Output Format¶

All commands return JSON-formatted output containing: - Term details (name, definition, status, etc.) - Relationships and hierarchy information (if requested) - Associated entities and categories - Metadata and audit information

Common Use Cases¶

1. Browse All Terms in a Business Glossary¶

pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "your-glossary-guid" --include-term-hierarchy

2. Quick Overview of Terms (Headers Only)¶

pvw glossary read-terms-headers --glossary-guid "your-glossary-guid"

3. Paginated Browsing of Large Glossaries¶

# First page
pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "your-glossary-guid" --limit 25

# Second page
pvw glossary list-terms --glossary-guid "your-glossary-guid" --limit 25 --offset 25

4. Terms in a Specific Domain/Category¶

pvw glossary read-category-terms --category-guid "your-category-guid"

Tips¶

Performance: Use read-terms-headers for faster responses when you don't need full term details
Pagination: Use --limit and --offset for large glossaries to avoid overwhelming output
Hierarchy: Add --include-term-hierarchy to see term relationships and parent-child structures
Extended Info: Use --ext-info to get additional metadata about each term

API Mapping¶

These CLI commands map to the following Microsoft Purview REST API endpoints: - list-terms → GET /catalog/api/atlas/v2/glossary/{glossaryGuid}/terms - read-terms-headers → GET /catalog/api/atlas/v2/glossary/{glossaryGuid}/terms/headers - read-category-terms → GET /catalog/api/atlas/v2/glossary/category/{categoryGuid}/terms - read-term → GET /catalog/api/atlas/v2/glossary/term/{termGuid}