@Override
  public List<TableMeta> get_table_meta(String dbnames, String tblNames, List<String> tblTypes)
      throws MetaException, NoSuchObjectException {
    List<TableMeta> t = null;
    String[] parsedDbName = parseDbName(dbnames, conf);
    startTableFunction("get_table_metas", parsedDbName[CAT_NAME], parsedDbName[DB_NAME], tblNames);
    Exception ex = null;
    try {
      t = getMS().getTableMeta(parsedDbName[CAT_NAME], parsedDbName[DB_NAME], tblNames, tblTypes);
      t = FilterUtils.filterTableMetasIfEnabled(isServerFilterEnabled, filterHook, t);
      t = filterReadableTables(parsedDbName[CAT_NAME], t);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      ex = e;
      throw newMetaException(e);
    } finally {
      endFunction("get_table_metas", t != null, ex);
    }
    return t;
  }
This function retrieves table from metastore. If getColumnStats flag is true,
then engine should be specified so the table is retrieve with the column stats
for that engine.
standalone-metastore/metastore-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/metastore/HMSHandler.java