harshmotw-db opened a new pull request, #50343: URL: https://github.com/apache/spark/pull/50343
<!-- Thanks for sending a pull request! Here are some tips for you: 1. If this is your first time, please read our contributor guidelines: https://spark.apache.org/contributing.html 2. Ensure you have added or run the appropriate tests for your PR: https://spark.apache.org/developer-tools.html 3. If the PR is unfinished, add '[WIP]' in your PR title, e.g., '[WIP][SPARK-XXXX] Your PR title ...'. 4. Be sure to keep the PR description updated to reflect all changes. 5. Please write your PR title to summarize what this PR proposes. 6. If possible, provide a concise example to reproduce the issue for a faster review. 7. If you want to add a new configuration, please read the guideline first for naming configurations in 'core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/ConfigEntry.scala'. 8. If you want to add or modify an error type or message, please read the guideline first in 'common/utils/src/main/resources/error/README.md'. --> ### What changes were proposed in this pull request? This PR prohibits ANSI cast from `ArrayType(VariantType, containsNull = false)` to `ArrayType(_, containsNull = false)`, or `StructField(VariantType, nullable = false)` to `StructField(_, nullable = true)` or `MapType(_, VariantType, valueContainsNull = false)` to `MapType(_, _, valueContainsNull = false)`. ### Why are the changes needed? <!-- Please clarify why the changes are needed. For instance, 1. If you propose a new API, clarify the use case for a new API. 2. If you fix a bug, you can clarify why it is a bug. --> Variant is the only data type which can be ANSI cast from a non-null value to a null value. More specifically, variant nulls (generated using `parse_json('null')`) when cast to string result in `null`. However, `array<variant, containsNull = false>` can be cast to `array<string, containsNull = true>`. This should not be allowed since `array(parse_json('null'))` would give `array(null)` after this cast. Here is a demonstration of this problem where we create an `array<string, containsNull = true>` which in fact does not contain nulls: ``` >>> from pyspark.sql.functions import col >>> from pyspark.sql.types import StringType, VariantType, ArrayType >>> >>> df = spark.sql("select array(parse_json('null')) arr") >>> df.printSchema() root |-- arr: array (nullable = false) | |-- element: variant (containsNull = false) >>> df2 = df.select(col('arr').cast(ArrayType(StringType(), False))) >>> df2.selectExpr("arr[0] is null").show() +----------------+ |(arr[0] IS NULL)| +----------------+ | true| +----------------+ >>> df2.printSchema() root |-- arr: array (nullable = false) | |-- element: string (containsNull = false) ``` ### Does this PR introduce _any_ user-facing change? <!-- Note that it means *any* user-facing change including all aspects such as new features, bug fixes, or other behavior changes. Documentation-only updates are not considered user-facing changes. If yes, please clarify the previous behavior and the change this PR proposes - provide the console output, description and/or an example to show the behavior difference if possible. If possible, please also clarify if this is a user-facing change compared to the released Spark versions or within the unreleased branches such as master. If no, write 'No'. --> Yes, users can no longer ANSI cast from `array<variant, containsNull = false>` to `array<_, containsNull = false>`. However, it is unlikely that users were hardcoding `containsNull = false`. ### How was this patch tested? Unit tests making sure that only `containsNull = false` cases fail. ### Was this patch authored or co-authored using generative AI tooling? No. -- This is an automated message from the Apache Git Service. To respond to the message, please log on to GitHub and use the URL above to go to the specific comment. To unsubscribe, e-mail: reviews-unsubscr...@spark.apache.org For queries about this service, please contact Infrastructure at: us...@infra.apache.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: reviews-unsubscr...@spark.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: reviews-h...@spark.apache.org