What is mnesia:table_info/2 used for?

mnesia:table_info(Table, Item) returns a specific, structured piece of metadata about a table — its size, storage type, attribute list, index list, and more — suitable for use in application code, unlike the human-readable printout from mnesia:info/0.

mnesia:table_info(person, size).           %% -> 42
mnesia:table_info(person, disc_copies).    %% -> [node1@host, node2@host]
mnesia:table_info(person, attributes).     %% -> [id, name, age]

This is the function you'd reach for programmatically — for example, checking a table's current size before deciding whether to run a bulk migration, or verifying which nodes currently hold a copy before performing a maintenance operation — rather than parsing the free-form text that mnesia:info/0 prints for humans in a shell.

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