lakehouse shortcuts allow users to reference data without copying it.

• A. Consolidates multiple Parquet files into a large file
• B. Removes old files no longer referenced by a Delta table log
• C. Applies optimized sorting, encoding, and compression to Delta parquet files to enable fast read operations
• D. Allows users to reference data without copying it

Answer: (D)

Shortcuts in a lakehouse are about pointing to data that already exists rather than making new copies. By using a metadata reference to the files stored in the data lake, you can query and analyze the data without duplicating it, keeping storage costs low and ensuring you’re always working with the single source of truth. This is exactly what it means to reference data without copying it. The other options describe managing or optimizing how data is stored or accessed (like combining files, deleting unused data, or applying performance-focused encoding and sorting) but they don’t capture the idea of using pointers to existing data instead of creating duplicates.