# Use path extractors
<a name="ion-serde-using-path-extractors"></a>

Amazon Ion is a document style file format, but Apache Hive is a flat columnar format. You can use special Amazon Ion SerDe properties called `path extractors` to map between the two formats. Path extractors flatten the hierarchical Amazon Ion format, map Amazon Ion values to Hive columns, and can be used to rename fields.

Athena can generate the extractors for you, but you can also define your own extractors if necessary.

**Topics**
+ [Use Athena generated path extractors](ion-serde-generated-path-extractors.md)
+ [Specify your own path extractors](ion-serde-specifying-your-own-path-extractors.md)
+ [Use search paths in path extractors](ion-serde-using-search-paths-in-path-extractors.md)
+ [Path extractor examples](ion-serde-examples.md)