[SPARK-20431][SQL] Specify a schema by using a DDL-formatted string

python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py

@@ -96,14 +96,17 @@ def schema(self, schema):
         By specifying the schema here, the underlying data source can skip the schema
         inference step, and thus speed up data loading.
 
-        :param schema: a :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` object
+        :param schema: a :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` object or a DDL-formatted string
         """
         from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
-        if not isinstance(schema, StructType):
-            raise TypeError("schema should be StructType")
         spark = SparkSession.builder.getOrCreate()
-        jschema = spark._jsparkSession.parseDataType(schema.json())
-        self._jreader = self._jreader.schema(jschema)
+        if isinstance(schema, StructType):
+            jschema = spark._jsparkSession.parseDataType(schema.json())
+            self._jreader = self._jreader.schema(jschema)
+        elif isinstance(schema, basestring):
+            self._jreader = self._jreader.schema(schema)
+        else:
+            raise TypeError("schema should be StructType")
         return self
 
     @since(1.5)
@@ -137,7 +140,8 @@ def load(self, path=None, format=None, schema=None, **options):
 
         :param path: optional string or a list of string for file-system backed data sources.
         :param format: optional string for format of the data source. Default to 'parquet'.
-        :param schema: optional :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` for the input schema.
+        :param schema: optional :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` for the input schema
+                       or a DDL-formatted string.
         :param options: all other string options
 
         >>> df = spark.read.load('python/test_support/sql/parquet_partitioned', opt1=True,
@@ -181,7 +185,8 @@ def json(self, path, schema=None, primitivesAsString=None, prefersDecimal=None,
 
         :param path: string represents path to the JSON dataset, or a list of paths,
                      or RDD of Strings storing JSON objects.
-        :param schema: an optional :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` for the input schema.
+        :param schema: an optional :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` for the input schema or
+                       a DDL-formatted string.
         :param primitivesAsString: infers all primitive values as a string type. If None is set,
                                    it uses the default value, ``false``.
         :param prefersDecimal: infers all floating-point values as a decimal type. If the values
@@ -324,7 +329,8 @@ def csv(self, path, schema=None, sep=None, encoding=None, quote=None, escape=Non
         ``inferSchema`` option or specify the schema explicitly using ``schema``.
 
         :param path: string, or list of strings, for input path(s).
-        :param schema: an optional :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` for the input schema.
+        :param schema: an optional :class:`pyspark.sql.types.StructType` for the input schema
+                       or a DDL-formatted string.
         :param sep: sets the single character as a separator for each field and value.
                     If None is set, it uses the default value, ``,``.
         :param encoding: decodes the CSV files by the given encoding type. If None is set,

sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala

@@ -67,6 +67,18 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sparkSession: SparkSession) extends Logging {
     this
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Specifies the schema by using the input DDL-formatted string. Some data sources (e.g. JSON) can
+   * infer the input schema automatically from data. By specifying the schema here, the underlying
+   * data source can skip the schema inference step, and thus speed up data loading.
+   *
+   * @since 2.3.0
+   */
+  def schema(schemaString: String): DataFrameReader = {
+    this.userSpecifiedSchema = Option(StructType.fromDDL(schemaString))
+    this
+  }
+
   /**
    * Adds an input option for the underlying data source.
    *

sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/DataFrameReaderWriterSuite.scala

@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ class DataFrameReaderWriterSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with Be
   import testImplicits._
 
   private val userSchema = new StructType().add("s", StringType)
+  private val userSchemaString = "s STRING"
   private val textSchema = new StructType().add("value", StringType)
   private val data = Seq("1", "2", "3")
   private val dir = Utils.createTempDir(namePrefix = "input").getCanonicalPath
@@ -678,4 +679,12 @@ class DataFrameReaderWriterSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with Be
       assert(e.contains("User specified schema not supported with `table`"))
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-20431: Specify a schema by using a DDL-formatted string") {
+    spark.createDataset(data).write.mode(SaveMode.Overwrite).text(dir)
+    testRead(spark.read.schema(userSchemaString).text(), Seq.empty, userSchema)
+    testRead(spark.read.schema(userSchemaString).text(dir), data, userSchema)
+    testRead(spark.read.schema(userSchemaString).text(dir, dir), data ++ data, userSchema)
+    testRead(spark.read.schema(userSchemaString).text(Seq(dir, dir): _*), data ++ data, userSchema)
+  }
 }