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User-defined aggregate functions (UDAFs)

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Applies to: check marked yes Databricks Runtime

User-defined aggregate functions (UDAFs) are user-programmable routines that act on multiple rows at once and return a single aggregated value as a result. This documentation lists the classes that are required for creating and registering UDAFs. It also contains examples that demonstrate how to define and register UDAFs in Scala and invoke them in Spark SQL.

Aggregator

Syntax Aggregator[-IN, BUF, OUT]

A base class for user-defined aggregations, which can be used in Dataset operations to take all of the elements of a group and reduce them to a single value.

  • IN: The input type for the aggregation.

  • BUF: The type of the intermediate value of the reduction.

  • OUT: The type of the final output result.

  • bufferEncoder: Encoder[BUF]

    The Encoder for the intermediate value type.

  • finish(reduction: BUF): OUT

    Transform the output of the reduction.

  • merge(b1: BUF, b2: BUF): BUF

    Merge two intermediate values.

  • outputEncoder: Encoder[OUT]

    The Encoder for the final output value type.

  • reduce(b: BUF, a: IN): BUF

    Aggregate input value a into current intermediate value. For performance, the function may modify b and return it instead of constructing new object for b.

  • zero: BUF

    The initial value of the intermediate result for this aggregation.

Examples

Type-safe user-defined aggregate functions

User-defined aggregations for strongly typed Datasets revolve around the Aggregator abstract class. For example, a type-safe user-defined average can look like:

Scala

import org.apache.spark.sql.{Encoder, Encoders, SparkSession}
import org.apache.spark.sql.expressions.Aggregator

case class Employee(name: String, salary: Long)
case class Average(var sum: Long, var count: Long)

object MyAverage extends Aggregator[Employee, Average, Double] {
  // A zero value for this aggregation. Should satisfy the property that any b + zero = b
  def zero: Average = Average(0L, 0L)
  // Combine two values to produce a new value. For performance, the function may modify `buffer`
  // and return it instead of constructing a new object
  def reduce(buffer: Average, employee: Employee): Average = {
    buffer.sum += employee.salary
    buffer.count += 1
    buffer
  }
  // Merge two intermediate values
  def merge(b1: Average, b2: Average): Average = {
    b1.sum += b2.sum
    b1.count += b2.count
    b1
  }
  // Transform the output of the reduction
  def finish(reduction: Average): Double = reduction.sum.toDouble / reduction.count
  // The Encoder for the intermediate value type
  val bufferEncoder: Encoder[Average] = Encoders.product
  // The Encoder for the final output value type
  val outputEncoder: Encoder[Double] = Encoders.scalaDouble
}

Java

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset;
import org.apache.spark.sql.Encoder;
import org.apache.spark.sql.Encoders;
import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession;
import org.apache.spark.sql.TypedColumn;
import org.apache.spark.sql.expressions.Aggregator;

public static class Employee implements Serializable {
    private String name;
    private long salary;

    // Constructors, getters, setters...
}

public static class Average implements Serializable  {
  private long sum;
  private long count;

  // Constructors, getters, setters...
}

public static class MyAverage extends Aggregator<Employee, Average, Double> {
  // A zero value for this aggregation. Should satisfy the property that any b + zero = b
  public Average zero() {
    return new Average(0L, 0L);
  }
  // Combine two values to produce a new value. For performance, the function may modify `buffer`
  // and return it instead of constructing a new object
  public Average reduce(Average buffer, Employee employee) {
    long newSum = buffer.getSum() + employee.getSalary();
    long newCount = buffer.getCount() + 1;
    buffer.setSum(newSum);
    buffer.setCount(newCount);
    return buffer;
  }
  // Merge two intermediate values
  public Average merge(Average b1, Average b2) {
    long mergedSum = b1.getSum() + b2.getSum();
    long mergedCount = b1.getCount() + b2.getCount();
    b1.setSum(mergedSum);
    b1.setCount(mergedCount);
    return b1;
  }
  // Transform the output of the reduction
  public Double finish(Average reduction) {
    return ((double) reduction.getSum()) / reduction.getCount();
  }
  // The Encoder for the intermediate value type
  public Encoder<Average> bufferEncoder() {
    return Encoders.bean(Average.class);
  }
  // The Encoder for the final output value type
  public Encoder<Double> outputEncoder() {
    return Encoders.DOUBLE();
  }
}

Encoder<Employee> employeeEncoder = Encoders.bean(Employee.class);
String path = "examples/src/main/resources/employees.json";
Dataset<Employee> ds = spark.read().format("json").load(path).as(employeeEncoder);
ds.show();
// +-------+------+
// |   name|salary|
// +-------+------+
// |Michael|  3000|
// |   Andy|  4500|
// | Justin|  3500|
// |  Berta|  4000|
// +-------+------+

MyAverage myAverage = new MyAverage();
// Convert the function to a `TypedColumn` and give it a name
TypedColumn<Employee, Double> averageSalary = myAverage.toColumn().name("average_salary");
Dataset<Double> result = ds.select(averageSalary);
result.show();
// +--------------+
// |average_salary|
// +--------------+
// |        3750.0|
// +--------------+

Untyped user-defined aggregate functions

Typed aggregations, as described above, may also be registered as untyped aggregating UDFs for use with DataFrames. For example, a user-defined average for untyped DataFrames can look like:

Scala

import org.apache.spark.sql.{Encoder, Encoders, SparkSession}
import org.apache.spark.sql.expressions.Aggregator
import org.apache.spark.sql.functions

case class Average(var sum: Long, var count: Long)

object MyAverage extends Aggregator[Long, Average, Double] {
  // A zero value for this aggregation. Should satisfy the property that any b + zero = b
  def zero: Average = Average(0L, 0L)
  // Combine two values to produce a new value. For performance, the function may modify `buffer`
  // and return it instead of constructing a new object
  def reduce(buffer: Average, data: Long): Average = {
    buffer.sum += data
    buffer.count += 1
    buffer
  }
  // Merge two intermediate values
  def merge(b1: Average, b2: Average): Average = {
    b1.sum += b2.sum
    b1.count += b2.count
    b1
  }
  // Transform the output of the reduction
  def finish(reduction: Average): Double = reduction.sum.toDouble / reduction.count
  // The Encoder for the intermediate value type
  val bufferEncoder: Encoder[Average] = Encoders.product
  // The Encoder for the final output value type
  val outputEncoder: Encoder[Double] = Encoders.scalaDouble
}

// Register the function to access it
spark.udf.register("myAverage", functions.udaf(MyAverage))

val df = spark.read.format("json").load("examples/src/main/resources/employees.json")
df.createOrReplaceTempView("employees")
df.show()
// +-------+------+
// |   name|salary|
// +-------+------+
// |Michael|  3000|
// |   Andy|  4500|
// | Justin|  3500|
// |  Berta|  4000|
// +-------+------+

val result = spark.sql("SELECT myAverage(salary) as average_salary FROM employees")
result.show()
// +--------------+
// |average_salary|
// +--------------+
// |        3750.0|
// +--------------+

Java

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset;
import org.apache.spark.sql.Encoder;
import org.apache.spark.sql.Encoders;
import org.apache.spark.sql.Row;
import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession;
import org.apache.spark.sql.expressions.Aggregator;
import org.apache.spark.sql.functions;

public static class Average implements Serializable  {
    private long sum;
    private long count;

    // Constructors, getters, setters...

}

public static class MyAverage extends Aggregator<Long, Average, Double> {
  // A zero value for this aggregation. Should satisfy the property that any b + zero = b
  public Average zero() {
    return new Average(0L, 0L);
  }
  // Combine two values to produce a new value. For performance, the function may modify `buffer`
  // and return it instead of constructing a new object
  public Average reduce(Average buffer, Long data) {
    long newSum = buffer.getSum() + data;
    long newCount = buffer.getCount() + 1;
    buffer.setSum(newSum);
    buffer.setCount(newCount);
    return buffer;
  }
  // Merge two intermediate values
  public Average merge(Average b1, Average b2) {
    long mergedSum = b1.getSum() + b2.getSum();
    long mergedCount = b1.getCount() + b2.getCount();
    b1.setSum(mergedSum);
    b1.setCount(mergedCount);
    return b1;
  }
  // Transform the output of the reduction
  public Double finish(Average reduction) {
    return ((double) reduction.getSum()) / reduction.getCount();
  }
  // The Encoder for the intermediate value type
  public Encoder<Average> bufferEncoder() {
    return Encoders.bean(Average.class);
  }
  // The Encoder for the final output value type
  public Encoder<Double> outputEncoder() {
    return Encoders.DOUBLE();
  }
}

// Register the function to access it
spark.udf().register("myAverage", functions.udaf(new MyAverage(), Encoders.LONG()));

Dataset<Row> df = spark.read().format("json").load("examples/src/main/resources/employees.json");
df.createOrReplaceTempView("employees");
df.show();
// +-------+------+
// |   name|salary|
// +-------+------+
// |Michael|  3000|
// |   Andy|  4500|
// | Justin|  3500|
// |  Berta|  4000|
// +-------+------+

Dataset<Row> result = spark.sql("SELECT myAverage(salary) as average_salary FROM employees");
result.show();
// +--------------+
// |average_salary|
// +--------------+
// |        3750.0|
// +--------------+

SQL

-- Compile and place UDAF MyAverage in a JAR file called `MyAverage.jar` in /tmp.
CREATE FUNCTION myAverage AS 'MyAverage' USING JAR '/tmp/MyAverage.jar';

SHOW USER FUNCTIONS;
+------------------+
|          function|
+------------------+
| default.myAverage|
+------------------+

CREATE TEMPORARY VIEW employees
USING org.apache.spark.sql.json
OPTIONS (
    path "examples/src/main/resources/employees.json"
);

SELECT * FROM employees;
+-------+------+
|   name|salary|
+-------+------+
|Michael|  3000|
|   Andy|  4500|
| Justin|  3500|
|  Berta|  4000|
+-------+------+

SELECT myAverage(salary) as average_salary FROM employees;
+--------------+
|average_salary|
+--------------+
|        3750.0|
+--------------+