error during delta table merge with CHAR data type

[Winnie2024]

I need to create one delte table. And it will be upserted many times as the time on. I have the code like below:

from delta.tables import *

DeltaTable.createIfNotExists(spark) \
.tableName("test") \
.addColumn("id", "VARCHAR(15)")\
.addColumn("code", "CHAR(3)")\
.execute()

dt_test = DeltaTable.forName(spark, "test")

dt_test_update = spark.createDataFrame([
("1","001"),
("2","002"),
],
schema=["id","code"]
)

dt_test.alias('test') \
.merge(
dt_test_update.alias('updates'),
'test.id = updates.id'
) \
.whenNotMatchedInsertAll()\
.whenMatchedUpdateAll()\
.execute()

df = spark.sql("select * from test")
display(df)

got the error below :

"Resolved attribute(s) id#33730,code#33731 missing from id#33631,code#33633,_metadata#33735 in operator !Project [id#33730, staticinvoke(class org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.util.CharVarcharCodegenUtils, StringType, readSidePadding, code#33731, 3, true, false, true) AS code#33732]. Attribute(s) with the same name appear in the operation: id,code. Please check if the right attribute(s) are used.;"

But if I change '.addColumn("code", "CHAR(3)")\' to '.addColumn("code", "VARCHAR(3)")\' when i create the delta table.

It will be OK.

Any idea about this?

[SachinNandanwar · Accepted solution]

I think it would be better to use STRING data types instead of CHAR

[SachinNandanwar · Accepted solution]

I think it would be better to use STRING data types instead of CHAR

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @Winnie2024 

Thanks to @SachinNandanwar 's suggestion. Based on my test, it is very helpful! 

PySpark doesn’t have a direct CHAR or VARCHAR type, you can use StringType() or "STRING" to represent the VARCHAR(15) and CHAR(3) data types.

Try

from delta.tables import DeltaTable
from pyspark.sql.types import StringType

# Create a Delta table with two columns
DeltaTable.createIfNotExists(spark) \
    .tableName("test") \
    .addColumn("id", StringType()) \
    .addColumn("code", StringType()) \
    .execute()

or

from delta.tables import *
from pyspark.sql.types import *

DeltaTable.createIfNotExists(spark) \
    .tableName("test") \
    .addColumn("id", "STRING") \
    .addColumn("code", "STRING") \
    .execute()

Based on my test, both of the above work for your later merge test code without any error.

Best Regards,
Jing
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