This page refers to theexplore parameter that is part of amodel.

explore can also be used as part of a dashboard filter, described on theDashboard parameters documentation page.

explore can also be used as part of a dashboard element. A representative example of its usage is provided on theColumn chart parameters for LookML dashboards documentation page.

Usage

explore:explore_name{ . . .}

Definition

If there is a plus sign (+) in front of the Explore name, such asexplore: +orders, that is arefinement of an Explore. See theLookML refinements documentation page for more information.

explore adds an existingview to the Looker menu of Explores as described on theLookML terms and concepts documentation page. As a best practice, an Explore should be defined inside of amodel file.

Explores are typically named after an existingview. However, if you want to have multiple Explores based on the same view, you can add afrom parameter to the Explore. In that case, the Explore can be given anyvalid name, which includes only lowercase letters (a-z), digits (0-9), and underscores.

explore plays an important role in the SQL that Looker generates. Suppose a user choosesCustomers from the Explore menu and runs a query. Thiscustomers Explore is based on the view calledcustomers, which is associated with a database table. That table is placed in theFROM clause of the user's SQL query.

explore can havemany child parameters that affect the display and filter behavior and that specify adding joins for the Explore. If an Explore includes one or more joins, then those joins can havejoin parameters that specify the preferred join behavior.

Examples

Add an option to the Explore menu based on the view calledusers:

explore: users {  # additional explore parameters go here}

Add an option to the Explore menu calledEvents based on the view calleduser_events:

explore: events {  from: user_events}

Common challenges

explore needs to reference an existing view name

You cannot use theexplore parameter to define the database table, dimensions, measures, and other fields that are part of a view. Instead, you first need to define a view using theview parameter. Then you can reference the name of that view inexplore.

explore needs to reference the view name, not its filename

Typically, the name of a view is the same as the view file where the view is defined. This is not required — the view name and view filename can be different.

For example, you have a view calledusers defined inside of a file calledcompany_users. The view filecompany_users looks like this:

view: users { ... }

You then add theusers view to the Explore menu with:

explore: users { ... }

Even though theusers view is inside of a file calledcompany_users, the name of the file does not matter. Only the name of the view in theview parameter matters.

When you use ameasure oftype: count in an Explore, the visualization labels the resulting values with the view name rather than the word "Count." To avoid confusion, we recommend pluralizing your view name, selectingShow Full Field Name underSeries in the visualization settings, or using aview_label with a pluralized version of your view name.

Things to know

explore is usually used with additional parameters

It's possible to useexplore by itself, without additional parameters. In practice, you typically seeexplore used with additional options. For example, it's very common tojoin additional views into an Explore.

All of the additional parameters that are associated withexplore are shown on theExplore parameters page. The parameters that can be used for ajoin within an Explore are shown on theJoin parameters page.