augur curate format-dates: mask empty fields

CHANGES.md

@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## __NEXT__
 
+### Major changes
+
+* curate format-dates: Raises an error if provided date field does not exist in records. [#1509][] (@joverlee521)
+
 ### Features
 
 * Added a new sub-command `augur curate apply-geolocation-rules` to apply user curated geolocation rules to the geolocation fields in a metadata file. Previously, this was available as a script within the nextstrain/ingest repo. [#1491][] (@victorlin)
@@ -15,13 +19,15 @@
 
 * filter: Improve speed of checking duplicates in metadata, especially for large files. [#1466][] (@victorlin)
 * curate: Stop adding double quotes to the metadata TSV output when field values have internal quotes. [#1493][] (@joverlee521)
+* curate format-dates: Mask empty date values as `XXXX-XX-XX` to represent unknown dates. [#1509][] (@joverlee521)
 
 [#1466]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1466
 [#1490]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1490
 [#1491]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1491
 [#1493]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1493
 [#1495]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1495
 [#1501]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1501
+[#1509]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1509
 
 ## 24.4.0 (15 May 2024)
 

augur/curate/format_dates.py

@@ -117,6 +117,10 @@ def format_date(date_string, expected_formats):
 
 
     >>> expected_formats = ['%Y', '%Y-%m', '%Y-%m-%d', '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ', '%m-%d']
+    >>> format_date("", expected_formats)
+    'XXXX-XX-XX'
+    >>> format_date("  ", expected_formats)
+    'XXXX-XX-XX'
     >>> format_date("01-01", expected_formats)
     'XXXX-XX-XX'
     >>> format_date("2020", expected_formats)
@@ -133,6 +137,10 @@ def format_date(date_string, expected_formats):
     '2020-01-15'
     """
 
+    date_string = date_string.strip()
+    if date_string == '':
+        return 'XXXX-XX-XX'
+
     for date_format in expected_formats:
         try:
             parsed_date = datetime.strptime(date_string, date_format)
@@ -180,8 +188,8 @@ def run(args, records):
         for field in args.date_fields:
             date_string = record.get(field)
 
-            if not date_string:
-                continue
+            if date_string is None:
+                raise AugurError(f"Expected date field {field!r} not found in record {record_id!r}.")
 
             formatted_date_string = format_date(date_string, args.expected_date_formats)
             if formatted_date_string is None:

tests/functional/curate/cram/format-dates/date-field-not-found-error.t

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Setup
+
+  $ export AUGUR="${AUGUR:-$TESTDIR/../../../../../bin/augur}"
+
+Providing a date field that does not exist in the record should result in an error.
+
+  $ echo '{"record": 1, "date": "2024-01-01"}' \
+  >   | ${AUGUR} curate format-dates \
+  >     --date-fields "bad-date-field"
+  ERROR: Expected date field 'bad-date-field' not found in record 0.
+  [2]

tests/functional/curate/cram/format-dates/empty-date-field.t

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+Setup
+
+  $ export AUGUR="${AUGUR:-$TESTDIR/../../../../../bin/augur}"
+
+Test empty date value, which should be returned as a fully masked date.
+
+  $ echo '{"record": 1, "date": ""}' \
+  >   | ${AUGUR} curate format-dates \
+  >     --date-fields "date"
+  {"record": 1, "date": "XXXX-XX-XX"}
+
+Test whitespace only date value, which should be returned as a fully masked date.
+
+  $ echo '{"record": 1, "date": "  "}' \
+  >   | ${AUGUR} curate format-dates \
+  >     --date-fields "date"
+  {"record": 1, "date": "XXXX-XX-XX"}