# Export VCF header

**URL:** <https://discuss.hail.is/t/export-vcf-header/1167>\
**Category:** Hail Query & hailctl\
**Created:** [November 15, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://discuss.hail.is/t/export-vcf-header/1167 "2019-11-15T20:04:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ch-kr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discuss.hail.is/ch-kr/32/317_2.png) [@ch-kr](https://discuss.hail.is/u/ch-kr)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://discuss.hail.is/t/export-vcf-header/1167/1 "2019-11-15T20:04:55Z")

</div>

I wrote a VCF with `hl.export_vcf`, and all of the FORMAT fields have empty descriptions:

```auto
##FORMAT=<ID=AD,Number=.,Type=Integer,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=DP,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=GQ,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=GT,Number=1,Type=String,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=MIN_DP,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=PGT,Number=1,Type=String,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=PID,Number=1,Type=String,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=PL,Number=.,Type=Integer,Description="">
##FORMAT=<ID=SB,Number=.,Type=Integer,Description="">

```

Is this expected? Do I need to include these fields in my `metadata` dictionary?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tpoterba](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discuss.hail.is/tpoterba/32/61_2.png) [@tpoterba](https://discuss.hail.is/u/tpoterba)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://discuss.hail.is/t/export-vcf-header/1167/2 "2019-11-15T20:08:58Z")

</div>

yeah, Hail doesn’t have any default descriptions.

Metadata is the way to go, sorry.