[jira] [Created] (SPARK-41266) Spark does not parse timestamp strings when using the IN operator

["Laurens Versluis (Jira)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Laurens Versluis created SPARK-41266:
----------------------------------------

             Summary: Spark does not parse timestamp strings when using the IN operator
                 Key: SPARK-41266
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SPARK-41266
             Project: Spark
          Issue Type: Bug
          Components: SQL
    Affects Versions: 3.2.1
         Environment: Windows 10, Spark 3.2.1 with Java 11
            Reporter: Laurens Versluis


Likely affects more versions, tested only with 3.2.1.

 

Summary:

Spark will convert a timestamp string to a timestamp when using the equal operator (=), yet won't do this when using the IN operator.

 

Details:

While debugging an issue why we got no results on a query, we found out that when using the equal symbol `=` in the WHERE clause combined with a TimeStampType column that Spark will convert the string to a timestamp and filter.

However, when using the IN operator (our query), it will not do so, and perform a cast to string. We expected the behavior to be similar, or at least that Spark realizes the IN clause operates on a TimeStampType column and thus attempts to convert to timestamp first before falling back to string comparison.

 

*Minimal reproducible example:*

Suppose we have a one-line dataset with the follow contents and schema:

 
{noformat}
+----------------------------+
|starttime                   |
+----------------------------+
|2019-08-11 19:33:05         |
+----------------------------+
root
 |-- starttime: timestamp (nullable = true){noformat}
Then if we fire the following queries, we will not get results for the IN-clause one using a timestamp string with timezone information:

 

 
{code:java}
// Works - Spark casts the argument to a string and the internal representation of the time seems to match it...
singleCol.filter("starttime IN ('2019-08-11 19:33:05')").show();
// Works
singleCol.filter("starttime = '2019-08-11 19:33:05'").show();
// Works
singleCol.filter("starttime = '2019-08-11T19:33:05Z'").show();
// Doesn't work
singleCol.filter("starttime IN ('2019-08-11T19:33:05Z')").show();
//Works
singleCol.filter("starttime IN (to_timestamp('2019-08-11T19:33:05Z'))").show(); {code}
 

We can see from the output that a cast to string is taking place:
{noformat}
[...] isnotnull(starttime#59),(cast(starttime#59 as string) = 2019-08-11 19:33:05){noformat}
Since the = operator does work, it would be consistent if operators such as the IN operator would have similar, consistent behavior.



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