How to use a string as a expression/argument in Scala/Spark? - scala

I am trying to add lot more columns to a dataframe using existing columns in a dataframe. However, Scala dataframes are immutable making it difficult to do it iteratively. So, I came up with a for loop which outputs the string (see a sample code below, which stores the entire statement I can use on the spark dataframe).
val train_df = sqlContext.sql("select * from someTable")
/*for loop output is similar to the Str variable as below*/
var Str = ".withColumn(\"newCol1\",$\"col1\").withColumn(\"newCol2\",$\"col2\").withColumn(\"newCol3\",$\"col3\")"
/* Below is what I am trying to do" */
val train_df_new = train_df.Str
So, how can I save the expression/argument in a string and reuse it in scala/spark to add all those new columns at once to a new dataframe?

Use a foldLeft instead. Here a Map with the old and new column names are used:
val m = Map(("col1", "newCol1"), ("col2", "newCol2"), ("col3", "newCol3"))
val train_df_new = m.keys.foldLeft(train_df)((df, c) => df.withColumnRenamed(c, m(c)))
Instead of withColumnRenamed any iterative function on the dataframe can be used here.

Related

How do you change schema in a Spark `DataFrame.map()` operation without joins?

In Spark v3.0.1 I have a DataFrame of arbitrary schema.
I want to turn that DataFrame of arbitrary schema into a new DataFrame with the same schema and a new column that is the result of a calculation over the data discretely present in each row.
I can safely assume that certain columns of certain types are available for the logical calculation despite the DataFrame being of arbitrary schema.
I have solved this previously by creating a new Dataset[outcome] of two columns:
the KEY from the input DataFrame
the OUTCOME of the calculation
... and then joining that DF back on the initial input to add the new column:
val inputDf = Seq(
("1", "input1", "input2"),
("2", "anotherInput1", "anotherInput2"),
).asDF("key", "logicalInput1", "logicalInput2")
case class outcome(key: String, outcome: String)
val outcomes = inputDf.map(row => {
val input1 = row.getAs[String]("logicalInput1")
val input2 = row.getAs[String]("logicalInput2")
val key = row.getAs[String]("key")
val result = if (input1 != "") input1 + input2 else input2
outcome(key, result)
})
val finalDf = inputDf.join(outcomes, Seq("key"))
Is there a more efficient way to map a DataFrame to a new DataFrame with an extra column given arbitrary columns on the input DF upon which we can assume some columns exist to make the calculation?
I'd like to take the inputDF and map over each row, generating a copy of the row and adding a new column to it with the outcome result without having to join afterwards...
NOTE that in the example above, a simple solution exists using Spark API... My calculation is not as simple as concatenating strings together, so the .map or a udf is required for the solution. I'd like to avoid UDF if possible, though that could work too.
Before answering exact question about using .map I think it is worth a brief discussion about using UDFs for this purpose. UDFs were mentioned in the "note" of the question but not in detail.
When we use .map (or .filter, .flatMap, and any other higher order function) on any Dataset [1] we are forcing Spark to fully deserialize the entire row into an object, transforming the object with a function, and then serializing the entire object again. This is very expensive.
A UDF is effectively a wrapper around a Scala function that routes values from certain columns to the arguments of the UDF. Therefore, Spark is aware of which columns are required by the UDF and which are not and thus we save a lot of serialization (and possibly IO) costs by ignoring columns that are not used by the UDF.
In addition, the query optimizer can't really help with .map but a UDF can be part of a larger plan that the optimizer will (in theory) minimize the cost of execution.
I believe that a UDF will usually be better in the kind of scenario put forth int the question. Another smell that indicate UDFs are a good solution is how little code is required compared to other solutions.
val outcome = udf { (input1: String, input2: String) =>
if (input1 != "") input1 + input2 else input2
}
inputDf.withColumn("outcome", outcome(col("logicalInput1"), col("logicalInput2")))
Now to answer the question about using .map! To avoid the join, we need to have the result of the .map be a Row that has all the contents of the input row with the output added. Row is effectively a sequence of values with type Any. Spark manipulates these values in a type-safe way by using the schema information from the dataset. If we create a new Row with a new schema, and provide .map with an Encoder for the new schema, Spark will know how to create a new DataFrame for us.
val newSchema = inputDf.schema.add("outcome", StringType)
val newEncoder = RowEncoder(newSchema)
inputDf
.map { row =>
val rowWithSchema = row.asInstanceOf[GenericRowWithSchema] // This cast might not always be possible!
val input1 = row.getAs[String]("logicalInput1")
val input2 = row.getAs[String]("logicalInput2")
val key = row.getAs[String]("key")
val result = if (input1 != "") input1 + input2 else input2
new GenericRowWithSchema(rowWithSchema.toSeq.toArray :+ result, row.schema).asInstanceOf[Row] // Encoder is invariant so we have to cast again.
}(newEncoder)
.show()
Not as elegant as the UDFs, but it works in this case. However, I'm not sure that this solution is universal.
[1] DataFrame is just an alias for Dataset[Row]
You should use withColumn with an UDF. I don't see why map should be preferred, and I think it's very difficult to append a column in DataFrame API
Or you switch to Dataset API

Not able to insert Value using SparkSql

I need to insert some values in my hive table using sparksql.I'm using below code.
val filepath:String = "/user/usename/filename.csv'"
val fileName : String = filepath
val result = fileName.split("/")
val fn=result(3) //filename
val e=LocalDateTime.now() //timestamp
First I tried using Insert Into Values but then i found this feature is not available in sparksql.
val ds=sparksession.sql("insert into mytable("filepath,filename,Start_Time") values('${filepath}','${fn}','${e}')
is there any other way to insert these values using sparksql(mytable is empty,I need to load this table everyday)?.
You can directly use Spark Dataframe Write API to insert data into the table.
If you do not have the Spark Dataframe then first create one Dataframe using spark.createDataFrame() then, try as follow to write the data:
df.write.insertInto("name of hive table")
Hi Below code worked for me since i need to use variable in my dataframe so first i created dataframe form selected data then using df.write.insertInto(tablename) saved in hive table.
val filepath:String = "/user/usename/filename.csv'"
val fileName : String = filepath
val result = fileName.split("/")
val fn=result(3) //filename
val e=LocalDateTime.now() //timestamp
val df1=sparksession.sql(s" select '${filepath}' as file_path,'${fn}' as filename,'${e}' as Start_Time")
df1.write.insertInto("dbname.tablename")

Converting Column of Dataframe to Seq[Columns] Scala

I am trying to make the next operation:
var test = df.groupBy(keys.map(col(_)): _*).agg(sequence.head, sequence.tail: _*)
I know that the required parameter inside the agg should be a Seq[Columns].
I have then a dataframe "expr" containing the next:
sequences
count(col("colname1"),"*")
count(col("colname2"),"*")
count(col("colname3"),"*")
count(col("colname4"),"*")
The column sequence is of string type and I want to use the values of each row as input of the agg, but I am not capable to reach those.
Any idea of how to give it a try?
If you can change the strings in the sequences column to be SQL commands, then it would be possible to solve. Spark provides a function expr that takes a SQL string and converts it into a column. Example dataframe with working commands:
val df2 = Seq("sum(case when A like 2 then A end) as A", "count(B) as B").toDF("sequences")
To convert the dataframe to Seq[Column]s do:
val seqs = df2.as[String].collect().map(expr(_))
Then the groupBy and agg:
df.groupBy(...).agg(seqs.head, seqs.tail:_*)

null pointer exception while converting dataframe to list inside udf

I am reading 2 different .csv files which has only column as below:
val dF1 = sqlContext.read.csv("some.csv").select($"ID")
val dF2 = sqlContext.read.csv("other.csv").select($"PID")
trying to search if dF2("PID") exists in dF1("ID"):
val getIdUdf = udf((x:String)=>{dF1.collect().map(_(0)).toList.contains(x)})
val dfFinal = dF2.withColumn("hasId", getIdUdf($"PID"))
This gives me null pointer exception.
but if I convert dF1 outside and use list in udf it works:
val dF1 = sqlContext.read.csv("some.csv").select($"ID").collect().map(_(0)).toList
val getIdUdf = udf((x:String)=>{dF1.contains(x)})
val dfFinal = dF2.withColumn("hasId", getIdUdf($"PID"))
I know I can use join to get this done but want to know what is the reason of null pointer exception here.
Thanks.
Please check this question about accessing dataframe inside the transformation of another dataframe. This is exactly what you are doing with your UDF, and this is not possible in spark. Solution is either to use join, or collect outside of transformation and broadcast.

remove a column from a dataframe spark

I have a Spark dataframe with a very large number of columns. I want to remove two columns from it to get a new dataframe.
Had there been fewer columns, I could have used the select method in the API like this:
pcomments = pcomments.select(pcomments.col("post_id"),pcomments.col("comment_id"),pcomments.col("comment_message"),pcomments.col("user_name"),pcomments.col("comment_createdtime"));
But since picking columns from a long list is a tedious task, is there a workaround?
Use drop method and withColumnRenamed methods.
Example:
val initialDf= ....
val dfAfterDrop=initialDf.drop("column1").drop("coumn2")
val dfAfterColRename= dfAfterDrop.withColumnRenamed("oldColumnName","new ColumnName")
Try this:
val initialDf = ...
val dfAfterDropCols = initialDf.drop("column1", "coumn2")