Introduce TypeSignature::Comparable and update NullIf signature (#13356)

* simplify signature for nullif

Signed-off-by: Jay Zhan <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

* add possible types

Signed-off-by: Jay Zhan <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

* typo

Signed-off-by: jayzhan211 <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

* numeric string

Signed-off-by: jayzhan211 <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

* add doc for signature

Signed-off-by: Jay Zhan <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

* add doc for signature

Signed-off-by: Jay Zhan <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

---------

Signed-off-by: Jay Zhan <jayzhan211@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: jayzhan211 <jayzhan211@gmail.com>

Author: jayzhan211

datafusion/expr-common/src/signature.rs

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 //! Signature module contains foundational types that are used to represent signatures, types,
 //! and return types of functions in DataFusion.
 
-use crate::type_coercion::aggregates::{NUMERICS, STRINGS};
+use crate::type_coercion::aggregates::NUMERICS;
 use arrow::datatypes::DataType;
 use datafusion_common::types::{LogicalTypeRef, NativeType};
 use itertools::Itertools;
@@ -113,6 +113,15 @@ pub enum TypeSignature {
     /// arguments like `vec![DataType::Int32]` or `vec![DataType::Float32]`
     /// since i32 and f32 can be casted to f64
     Coercible(Vec<LogicalTypeRef>),
+    /// The arguments will be coerced to a single type based on the comparison rules.
+    /// For example, i32 and i64 has coerced type Int64.
+    ///
+    /// Note:
+    /// - If compares with numeric and string, numeric is preferred for numeric string cases. For example, nullif('2', 1) has coerced types Int64.
+    /// - If the result is Null, it will be coerced to String (Utf8View).
+    ///
+    /// See `comparison_coercion_numeric` for more details.
+    Comparable(usize),
     /// Fixed number of arguments of arbitrary types, number should be larger than 0
     Any(usize),
     /// Matches exactly one of a list of [`TypeSignature`]s. Coercion is attempted to match
@@ -138,6 +147,13 @@ pub enum TypeSignature {
     NullAry,
 }
 
+impl TypeSignature {
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn is_one_of(&self) -> bool {
+        matches!(self, TypeSignature::OneOf(_))
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Hash)]
 pub enum ArrayFunctionSignature {
     /// Specialized Signature for ArrayAppend and similar functions
@@ -210,6 +226,9 @@ impl TypeSignature {
             TypeSignature::Numeric(num) => {
                 vec![format!("Numeric({num})")]
             }
+            TypeSignature::Comparable(num) => {
+                vec![format!("Comparable({num})")]
+            }
             TypeSignature::Coercible(types) => {
                 vec![Self::join_types(types, ", ")]
             }
@@ -284,13 +303,13 @@ impl TypeSignature {
                 .cloned()
                 .map(|numeric_type| vec![numeric_type; *arg_count])
                 .collect(),
-            TypeSignature::String(arg_count) => STRINGS
-                .iter()
-                .cloned()
-                .map(|string_type| vec![string_type; *arg_count])
-                .collect(),
+            TypeSignature::String(arg_count) => get_data_types(&NativeType::String)
+                .into_iter()
+                .map(|dt| vec![dt; *arg_count])
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>(),
             // TODO: Implement for other types
             TypeSignature::Any(_)
+            | TypeSignature::Comparable(_)
             | TypeSignature::NullAry
             | TypeSignature::VariadicAny
             | TypeSignature::ArraySignature(_)
@@ -412,6 +431,14 @@ impl Signature {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Used for function that expects comparable data types, it will try to coerced all the types into single final one.
+    pub fn comparable(arg_count: usize, volatility: Volatility) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            type_signature: TypeSignature::Comparable(arg_count),
+            volatility,
+        }
+    }
+
     pub fn nullary(volatility: Volatility) -> Self {
         Signature {
             type_signature: TypeSignature::NullAry,

datafusion/expr-common/src/type_coercion/binary.rs

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ use arrow::datatypes::{
     DataType, Field, FieldRef, Fields, TimeUnit, DECIMAL128_MAX_PRECISION,
     DECIMAL128_MAX_SCALE, DECIMAL256_MAX_PRECISION, DECIMAL256_MAX_SCALE,
 };
+use datafusion_common::types::NativeType;
 use datafusion_common::{
     exec_datafusion_err, exec_err, internal_err, plan_datafusion_err, plan_err, Result,
 };
@@ -641,6 +642,21 @@ pub fn comparison_coercion(lhs_type: &DataType, rhs_type: &DataType) -> Option<D
         .or_else(|| struct_coercion(lhs_type, rhs_type))
 }
 
+// Similar to comparison_coercion but prefer numeric if compares with numeric and string
+pub fn comparison_coercion_numeric(
+    lhs_type: &DataType,
+    rhs_type: &DataType,
+) -> Option<DataType> {
+    if lhs_type == rhs_type {
+        // same type => equality is possible
+        return Some(lhs_type.clone());
+    }
+    binary_numeric_coercion(lhs_type, rhs_type)
+        .or_else(|| string_coercion(lhs_type, rhs_type))
+        .or_else(|| null_coercion(lhs_type, rhs_type))
+        .or_else(|| string_numeric_coercion_as_numeric(lhs_type, rhs_type))
+}
+
 /// Coerce `lhs_type` and `rhs_type` to a common type for the purposes of a comparison operation
 /// where one is numeric and one is `Utf8`/`LargeUtf8`.
 fn string_numeric_coercion(lhs_type: &DataType, rhs_type: &DataType) -> Option<DataType> {
@@ -654,6 +670,24 @@ fn string_numeric_coercion(lhs_type: &DataType, rhs_type: &DataType) -> Option<D
     }
 }
 
+/// Coerce `lhs_type` and `rhs_type` to a common type for the purposes of a comparison operation
+/// where one is numeric and one is `Utf8`/`LargeUtf8`.
+fn string_numeric_coercion_as_numeric(
+    lhs_type: &DataType,
+    rhs_type: &DataType,
+) -> Option<DataType> {
+    let lhs_logical_type = NativeType::from(lhs_type);
+    let rhs_logical_type = NativeType::from(rhs_type);
+    if lhs_logical_type.is_numeric() && rhs_logical_type == NativeType::String {
+        return Some(lhs_type.to_owned());
+    }
+    if rhs_logical_type.is_numeric() && lhs_logical_type == NativeType::String {
+        return Some(rhs_type.to_owned());
+    }
+
+    None
+}
+
 /// Coerce `lhs_type` and `rhs_type` to a common type for the purposes of a comparison operation
 /// where one is temporal and one is `Utf8View`/`Utf8`/`LargeUtf8`.
 ///

datafusion/expr/src/type_coercion/functions.rs

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ use datafusion_common::{
 };
 use datafusion_expr_common::{
     signature::{ArrayFunctionSignature, FIXED_SIZE_LIST_WILDCARD, TIMEZONE_WILDCARD},
-    type_coercion::binary::string_coercion,
+    type_coercion::binary::{comparison_coercion_numeric, string_coercion},
 };
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
@@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ fn is_well_supported_signature(type_signature: &TypeSignature) -> bool {
             | TypeSignature::Coercible(_)
             | TypeSignature::Any(_)
             | TypeSignature::NullAry
+            | TypeSignature::Comparable(_)
     )
 }
 
@@ -194,13 +195,18 @@ fn try_coerce_types(
 
     // Well-supported signature that returns exact valid types.
     if !valid_types.is_empty() && is_well_supported_signature(type_signature) {
-        // exact valid types
-        assert_eq!(valid_types.len(), 1);
+        // There may be many valid types if valid signature is OneOf
+        // Otherwise, there should be only one valid type
+        if !type_signature.is_one_of() {
+            assert_eq!(valid_types.len(), 1);
+        }
+
         let valid_types = valid_types.swap_remove(0);
         if let Some(t) = maybe_data_types_without_coercion(&valid_types, current_types) {
             return Ok(t);
         }
     } else {
+        // TODO: Deprecate this branch after all signatures are well-supported (aka coercion has happened already)
         // Try and coerce the argument types to match the signature, returning the
         // coerced types from the first matching signature.
         for valid_types in valid_types {
@@ -515,6 +521,23 @@ fn get_valid_types(
 
             vec![vec![valid_type; *number]]
         }
+        TypeSignature::Comparable(num) => {
+            function_length_check(current_types.len(), *num)?;
+            let mut target_type = current_types[0].to_owned();
+            for data_type in current_types.iter().skip(1) {
+                if let Some(dt) = comparison_coercion_numeric(&target_type, data_type) {
+                    target_type = dt;
+                } else {
+                    return plan_err!("{target_type} and {data_type} is not comparable");
+                }
+            }
+            // Convert null to String type.
+            if target_type.is_null() {
+                vec![vec![DataType::Utf8View; *num]]
+            } else {
+                vec![vec![target_type; *num]]
+            }
+        }
         TypeSignature::Coercible(target_types) => {
             function_length_check(current_types.len(), target_types.len())?;
 

datafusion/functions/src/core/nullif.rs

@@ -32,26 +32,6 @@ pub struct NullIfFunc {
     signature: Signature,
 }
 
-/// Currently supported types by the nullif function.
-/// The order of these types correspond to the order on which coercion applies
-/// This should thus be from least informative to most informative
-static SUPPORTED_NULLIF_TYPES: &[DataType] = &[
-    DataType::Boolean,
-    DataType::UInt8,
-    DataType::UInt16,
-    DataType::UInt32,
-    DataType::UInt64,
-    DataType::Int8,
-    DataType::Int16,
-    DataType::Int32,
-    DataType::Int64,
-    DataType::Float32,
-    DataType::Float64,
-    DataType::Utf8View,
-    DataType::Utf8,
-    DataType::LargeUtf8,
-];
-
 impl Default for NullIfFunc {
     fn default() -> Self {
         Self::new()
@@ -61,11 +41,20 @@ impl Default for NullIfFunc {
 impl NullIfFunc {
     pub fn new() -> Self {
         Self {
-            signature: Signature::uniform(
-                2,
-                SUPPORTED_NULLIF_TYPES.to_vec(),
-                Volatility::Immutable,
-            ),
+            // Documentation mentioned in Postgres,
+            // The result has the same type as the first argument — but there is a subtlety.
+            // What is actually returned is the first argument of the implied = operator,
+            // and in some cases that will have been promoted to match the second argument's type.
+            // For example, NULLIF(1, 2.2) yields numeric, because there is no integer = numeric operator, only numeric = numeric
+            //
+            // We don't strictly follow Postgres or DuckDB for **simplicity**.
+            // In this function, we will coerce arguments to the same data type for comparison need. Unlike DuckDB
+            // we don't return the **original** first argument type but return the final coerced type.
+            //
+            // In Postgres, nullif('2', 2) returns Null but nullif('2::varchar', 2) returns error.
+            // While in DuckDB both query returns Null. We follow DuckDB in this case since I think they are equivalent thing and should
+            // have the same result as well.
+            signature: Signature::comparable(2, Volatility::Immutable),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -83,14 +72,7 @@ impl ScalarUDFImpl for NullIfFunc {
     }
 
     fn return_type(&self, arg_types: &[DataType]) -> Result<DataType> {
-        // NULLIF has two args and they might get coerced, get a preview of this
-        let coerced_types = datafusion_expr::type_coercion::functions::data_types(
-            arg_types,
-            &self.signature,
-        );
-        coerced_types
-            .map(|typs| typs[0].clone())
-            .map_err(|e| e.context("Failed to coerce arguments for NULLIF"))
+        Ok(arg_types[0].to_owned())
     }
 
     fn invoke(&self, args: &[ColumnarValue]) -> Result<ColumnarValue> {

datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/nullif.slt

@@ -97,11 +97,54 @@ SELECT NULLIF(1, 3);
 ----
 1
 
-query I
+query T
 SELECT NULLIF(NULL, NULL);
 ----
 NULL
 
+query R
+select nullif(1, 1.2);
+----
+1
+
+query R
+select nullif(1.0, 2);
+----
+1
+
+query error DataFusion error: Arrow error: Cast error: Cannot cast string 'a' to value of Int64 type
+select nullif(2, 'a');
+
+query T
+select nullif('2', '3');
+----
+2
+
+query I
+select nullif(2, '1');
+----
+2
+
+query I
+select nullif('2', 2);
+----
+NULL
+
+query I
+select nullif('1', 2);
+----
+1
+
+statement ok
+create table t(a varchar, b int) as values ('1', 2), ('2', 2), ('3', 2);
+
+query I
+select nullif(a, b) from t;
+----
+1
+NULL
+3
+
 query T
 SELECT NULLIF(arrow_cast('a', 'Utf8View'), 'a');
 ----
@@ -130,4 +173,4 @@ NULL
 query T
 SELECT NULLIF(arrow_cast('a', 'Utf8View'), null);
 ----
-a
+a