[SPARK-16128][SQL] Allow setting length of characters to be truncated to, in Dataset.show function.

## What changes were proposed in this pull request?

Allowing truncate to a specific number of character is convenient at times, especially while operating from the REPL. Sometimes those last few characters make all the difference, and showing everything brings in whole lot of noise.

## How was this patch tested?
Existing tests. + 1 new test in DataFrameSuite.

For SparkR and pyspark, existing tests and manual testing.

Author: Prashant Sharma <prashsh1@in.ibm.com>
Author: Prashant Sharma <prashant@apache.org>

Closes #13839 from ScrapCodes/add_truncateTo_DF.show.

7 files changed, 97 insertions, 17 deletions

diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9f8cd0b4cb..b4dd1d05a5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -77,3 +77,4 @@ spark-warehouse/
 # For R session data
 .RData
 .RHistory
+.Rhistory
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
index f856979c2a..61d47a8c2d 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@ setMethod("isLocal",
 #' @param x A SparkDataFrame
 #' @param numRows The number of rows to print. Defaults to 20.
 #' @param truncate Whether truncate long strings. If true, strings more than 20 characters will be
-#' truncated and all cells will be aligned right
-#'
+#'    truncated. However, if set greater than zero, truncates strings longer than `truncate`
+#'    characters and all cells will be aligned right.
 #' @family SparkDataFrame functions
 #' @rdname showDF
 #' @name showDF
@@ -193,7 +193,12 @@ setMethod("isLocal",
 setMethod("showDF",
           signature(x = "SparkDataFrame"),
           function(x, numRows = 20, truncate = TRUE) {
-            s <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "showString", numToInt(numRows), truncate)
+            if (is.logical(truncate) && truncate) {
+              s <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "showString", numToInt(numRows), numToInt(20))
+            } else {
+              truncate2 <- as.numeric(truncate)
+              s <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "showString", numToInt(numRows), numToInt(truncate2))
+            }
             cat(s)
           })
 
diff --git a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
index 74def5ce42..7562fa95e3 100644
--- a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
+++ b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
@@ -1582,7 +1582,15 @@ test_that("showDF()", {
                     "|  30|   Andy|\n",
                     "|  19| Justin|\n",
                     "+----+-------+\n", sep = "")
+  expected2 <- paste("+---+----+\n",
+                     "|age|name|\n",
+                     "+---+----+\n",
+                     "|nul| Mic|\n",
+                     "| 30| And|\n",
+                     "| 19| Jus|\n",
+                     "+---+----+\n", sep = "")
   expect_output(showDF(df), expected)
+  expect_output(showDF(df, truncate = 3), expected2)
 })
 
 test_that("isLocal()", {
diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/dataframe.py b/python/pyspark/sql/dataframe.py
index acf9d08b23..a2443ed3d6 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/dataframe.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/dataframe.py
@@ -271,7 +271,9 @@ class DataFrame(object):
         """Prints the first ``n`` rows to the console.
 
         :param n: Number of rows to show.
-        :param truncate: Whether truncate long strings and align cells right.
+        :param truncate: If set to True, truncate strings longer than 20 chars by default.
+            If set to a number greater than one, truncates long strings to length ``truncate``
+            and align cells right.
 
         >>> df
         DataFrame[age: int, name: string]
@@ -282,8 +284,18 @@ class DataFrame(object):
         |  2|Alice|
         |  5|  Bob|
         +---+-----+
-        """
-        print(self._jdf.showString(n, truncate))
+        >>> df.show(truncate=3)
+        +---+----+
+        |age|name|
+        +---+----+
+        |  2| Ali|
+        |  5| Bob|
+        +---+----+
+        """
+        if isinstance(truncate, bool) and truncate:
+            print(self._jdf.showString(n, 20))
+        else:
+            print(self._jdf.showString(n, int(truncate)))
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return "DataFrame[%s]" % (", ".join("%s: %s" % c for c in self.dtypes))
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala
index 85d060639c..9997162f7c 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Dataset.scala
@@ -232,16 +232,18 @@ class Dataset[T] private[sql](
    * Compose the string representing rows for output
    *
    * @param _numRows Number of rows to show
-   * @param truncate Whether truncate long strings and align cells right
+   * @param truncate If set to more than 0, truncates strings to `truncate` characters and
+   *                   all cells will be aligned right.
    */
-  private[sql] def showString(_numRows: Int, truncate: Boolean = true): String = {
+  private[sql] def showString(_numRows: Int, truncate: Int = 20): String = {
     val numRows = _numRows.max(0)
     val takeResult = toDF().take(numRows + 1)
     val hasMoreData = takeResult.length > numRows
     val data = takeResult.take(numRows)
 
     // For array values, replace Seq and Array with square brackets
-    // For cells that are beyond 20 characters, replace it with the first 17 and "..."
+    // For cells that are beyond `truncate` characters, replace it with the
+    // first `truncate-3` and "..."
     val rows: Seq[Seq[String]] = schema.fieldNames.toSeq +: data.map { row =>
       row.toSeq.map { cell =>
         val str = cell match {
@@ -251,7 +253,13 @@ class Dataset[T] private[sql](
           case seq: Seq[_] => seq.mkString("[", ", ", "]")
           case _ => cell.toString
         }
-        if (truncate && str.length > 20) str.substring(0, 17) + "..." else str
+        if (truncate > 0 && str.length > truncate) {
+          // do not show ellipses for strings shorter than 4 characters.
+          if (truncate < 4) str.substring(0, truncate)
+          else str.substring(0, truncate - 3) + "..."
+        } else {
+          str
+        }
       }: Seq[String]
     }
 
@@ -273,7 +281,7 @@ class Dataset[T] private[sql](
 
     // column names
     rows.head.zipWithIndex.map { case (cell, i) =>
-      if (truncate) {
+      if (truncate > 0) {
         StringUtils.leftPad(cell, colWidths(i))
       } else {
         StringUtils.rightPad(cell, colWidths(i))
@@ -285,7 +293,7 @@ class Dataset[T] private[sql](
     // data
     rows.tail.map {
       _.zipWithIndex.map { case (cell, i) =>
-        if (truncate) {
+        if (truncate > 0) {
           StringUtils.leftPad(cell.toString, colWidths(i))
         } else {
           StringUtils.rightPad(cell.toString, colWidths(i))
@@ -523,7 +531,32 @@ class Dataset[T] private[sql](
    * @since 1.6.0
    */
   // scalastyle:off println
-  def show(numRows: Int, truncate: Boolean): Unit = println(showString(numRows, truncate))
+  def show(numRows: Int, truncate: Boolean): Unit = if (truncate) {
+    println(showString(numRows, truncate = 20))
+  } else {
+    println(showString(numRows, truncate = 0))
+  }
+  // scalastyle:on println
+
+  /**
+   * Displays the Dataset in a tabular form. For example:
+   * {{{
+   *   year  month AVG('Adj Close) MAX('Adj Close)
+   *   1980  12    0.503218        0.595103
+   *   1981  01    0.523289        0.570307
+   *   1982  02    0.436504        0.475256
+   *   1983  03    0.410516        0.442194
+   *   1984  04    0.450090        0.483521
+   * }}}
+ *
+   * @param numRows Number of rows to show
+   * @param truncate If set to more than 0, truncates strings to `truncate` characters and
+   *                    all cells will be aligned right.
+   * @group action
+   * @since 1.6.0
+   */
+  // scalastyle:off println
+  def show(numRows: Int, truncate: Int): Unit = println(showString(numRows, truncate))
   // scalastyle:on println
 
   /**
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala
index 1afee9f021..6a0a7df3f4 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala
@@ -723,7 +723,7 @@ class DataFrameSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     testData.select($"*").show(1000)
   }
 
-  test("showString: truncate = [true, false]") {
+  test("showString: truncate = [0, 20]") {
     val longString = Array.fill(21)("1").mkString
     val df = sparkContext.parallelize(Seq("1", longString)).toDF()
     val expectedAnswerForFalse = """+---------------------+
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ class DataFrameSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
                                    ||111111111111111111111|
                                    |+---------------------+
                                    |""".stripMargin
-    assert(df.showString(10, false) === expectedAnswerForFalse)
+    assert(df.showString(10, truncate = 0) === expectedAnswerForFalse)
     val expectedAnswerForTrue = """+--------------------+
                                   ||               value|
                                   |+--------------------+
@@ -741,7 +741,28 @@ class DataFrameSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
                                   ||11111111111111111...|
                                   |+--------------------+
                                   |""".stripMargin
-    assert(df.showString(10, true) === expectedAnswerForTrue)
+    assert(df.showString(10, truncate = 20) === expectedAnswerForTrue)
+  }
+
+  test("showString: truncate = [3, 17]") {
+    val longString = Array.fill(21)("1").mkString
+    val df = sparkContext.parallelize(Seq("1", longString)).toDF()
+    val expectedAnswerForFalse = """+-----+
+                                   ||value|
+                                   |+-----+
+                                   ||    1|
+                                   ||  111|
+                                   |+-----+
+                                   |""".stripMargin
+    assert(df.showString(10, truncate = 3) === expectedAnswerForFalse)
+    val expectedAnswerForTrue = """+-----------------+
+                                  ||            value|
+                                  |+-----------------+
+                                  ||                1|
+                                  ||11111111111111...|
+                                  |+-----------------+
+                                  |""".stripMargin
+    assert(df.showString(10, truncate = 17) === expectedAnswerForTrue)
   }
 
   test("showString(negative)") {
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala
index 43cbc03b7a..0b6f40872f 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DatasetSuite.scala
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ class DatasetSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
 
   private def checkShowString[T](ds: Dataset[T], expected: String): Unit = {
     val numRows = expected.split("\n").length - 4
-    val actual = ds.showString(numRows, truncate = true)
+    val actual = ds.showString(numRows, truncate = 20)
 
     if (expected != actual) {
       fail(