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SQL File Tests

CometSqlFileTestSuite is a test suite that automatically discovers .sql test files and runs each query through both Spark and Comet, comparing results. This provides a lightweight way to add expression and operator test coverage without writing Scala test code.

Running the tests

Run all SQL file tests:

./mvnw test -Dsuites="org.apache.comet.CometSqlFileTestSuite" -Dtest=none

Run a single test file by adding the file name (without .sql extension) after the suite name:

./mvnw test -Dsuites="org.apache.comet.CometSqlFileTestSuite create_named_struct" -Dtest=none

This uses ScalaTest's substring matching, so the argument must match part of the test name. Test names follow the pattern sql-file: expressions/<category>/<file>.sql [<config>].

Test file location

SQL test files live under:

spark/src/test/resources/sql-tests/expressions/

Files are organized into category subdirectories:

expressions/
  aggregate/     -- avg, sum, count, min_max, ...
  array/         -- array_contains, array_append, get_array_item, ...
  bitwise/
  cast/
  conditional/   -- case_when, coalesce, if_expr, ...
  datetime/      -- date_add, date_diff, unix_timestamp, ...
  decimal/
  hash/
  map/           -- get_map_value, map_keys, map_values, ...
  math/          -- abs, ceil, floor, round, sqrt, ...
  misc/          -- width_bucket, scalar_subquery, ...
  string/        -- concat, like, substring, lower, upper, ...
  struct/        -- create_named_struct, get_struct_field, ...

The test suite recursively discovers all .sql files in these directories. Each file becomes one or more ScalaTest test cases.

File format

A test file consists of SQL comments, directives, statements, and queries separated by blank lines. Here is a minimal example:

statement
CREATE TABLE test_abs(v double) USING parquet

statement
INSERT INTO test_abs VALUES (1.5), (-2.5), (0.0), (NULL)

query
SELECT abs(v) FROM test_abs

Directives

Directives are SQL comments at the top of the file that configure how the test runs.

Config

Sets a Spark SQL config for all queries in the file.

-- Config: spark.sql.ansi.enabled=true

ConfigMatrix

Runs the entire file once per combination of values. Multiple ConfigMatrix lines produce a cross product of all combinations.

-- ConfigMatrix: spark.sql.optimizer.inSetConversionThreshold=100,0

This generates two test cases:

sql-file: expressions/conditional/in_set.sql [spark.sql.optimizer.inSetConversionThreshold=100]
sql-file: expressions/conditional/in_set.sql [spark.sql.optimizer.inSetConversionThreshold=0]

Only add a ConfigMatrix directive when there is a real reason to run the test under multiple configurations. Do not add ConfigMatrix directives speculatively.

MinSparkVersion

Skips the file when running on a Spark version older than the specified version.

-- MinSparkVersion: 3.5

Statements

A statement block executes DDL or DML and does not check results. Use this for CREATE TABLE and INSERT commands. Table names are automatically extracted for cleanup after the test.

statement
CREATE TABLE my_table(x int, y double) USING parquet

statement
INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (1, 2.0), (3, 4.0), (NULL, NULL)

Queries

A query block executes a SELECT and compares results between Spark and Comet. The query mode controls how results are validated.

query (default mode)

Checks that the query runs natively on Comet (not falling back to Spark) and that results match Spark exactly.

query
SELECT abs(v) FROM test_abs

query spark_answer_only

Only checks that Comet results match Spark. Does not assert that the query runs natively. Use this for expressions that Comet may not fully support yet but should still produce correct results.

query spark_answer_only
SELECT some_expression(v) FROM test_table

query tolerance=<value>

Checks results with a numeric tolerance. Useful for floating-point functions where small differences are acceptable.

query tolerance=0.0001
SELECT cos(v) FROM test_trig

query expect_fallback(<reason>)

Asserts that the query falls back to Spark and verifies the fallback reason contains the given string.

query expect_fallback(unsupported expression)
SELECT unsupported_func(v) FROM test_table

query ignore(<reason>)

Skips the query entirely. Use this for queries that hit known bugs. The reason should be a link to the tracking GitHub issue.

-- Comet bug: space(-1) causes native crash
query ignore(https://github.com/apache/datafusion-comet/issues/3326)
SELECT space(n) FROM test_space WHERE n < 0

query expect_error(<pattern>)

Asserts that both Spark and Comet throw an exception containing the given pattern. Use this for ANSI mode tests where invalid operations should throw errors.

-- Config: spark.sql.ansi.enabled=true

-- integer overflow should throw in ANSI mode
query expect_error(ARITHMETIC_OVERFLOW)
SELECT 2147483647 + 1

-- division by zero should throw in ANSI mode
query expect_error(DIVIDE_BY_ZERO)
SELECT 1 / 0

-- array out of bounds should throw in ANSI mode
query expect_error(INVALID_ARRAY_INDEX)
SELECT array(1, 2, 3)[10]

Adding a new test

  1. Create a .sql file under the appropriate subdirectory in spark/src/test/resources/sql-tests/expressions/. Create a new subdirectory if no existing category fits.

  2. Add the Apache license header as a SQL comment.

  3. Add a ConfigMatrix directive only if the test needs to run under multiple configurations (e.g., testing behavior that varies with a specific Spark config). Do not add ConfigMatrix directives speculatively.

  4. Create tables and insert test data using statement blocks. Include edge cases such as NULL, boundary values, and negative numbers.

  5. Add query blocks for each expression or behavior to test. Use the default query mode when you expect Comet to run the expression natively. Use query spark_answer_only when native execution is not yet expected.

  6. Run the tests to verify:

    ./mvnw test -Dsuites="org.apache.comet.CometSqlFileTestSuite" -Dtest=none

Tips for writing thorough tests

Cover all combinations of literal and column arguments

Comet often uses different code paths for literal values versus column references. Tests should exercise both. For a function with multiple arguments, test every useful combination.

For a single-argument function, test both a column reference and a literal:

-- column argument (reads from Parquet, goes through columnar evaluation)
query
SELECT ascii(s) FROM test_ascii

-- literal arguments
query
SELECT ascii('A'), ascii(''), ascii(NULL)

For a multi-argument function like concat_ws(sep, str1, str2, ...), test with the separator as a column versus a literal, and similarly for the other arguments:

-- all columns
query
SELECT concat_ws(sep, a, b) FROM test_table

-- literal separator, column values
query
SELECT concat_ws(',', a, b) FROM test_table

-- all literals
query
SELECT concat_ws(',', 'hello', 'world')

Note on constant folding: Normally Spark constant-folds all-literal expressions during planning, so Comet would never see them. However, CometSqlFileTestSuite automatically disables constant folding (by excluding ConstantFolding from the optimizer rules), so all-literal queries are evaluated by Comet's native engine. This means you can use the default query mode for all-literal cases and they will be tested natively just like column-based queries.

Cover edge cases

Include edge-case values in your test data. The exact cases depend on the function, but common ones include:

  • NULL values -- every test should include NULLs
  • Empty strings -- for string functions
  • Zero, negative, and very large numbers -- for numeric functions
  • Boundary values -- INT_MIN, INT_MAX, NaN, Infinity, -Infinity for numeric types
  • Special characters and multibyte UTF-8 -- for string functions (e.g. 'é', '中文', '\t')
  • Empty arrays/maps -- for collection functions
  • Single-element and multi-element collections -- for aggregate and collection functions

One file per expression

Keep each .sql file focused on a single expression or a small group of closely related expressions. This makes failures easy to locate and keeps files readable.

Use comments to label sections

Add SQL comments before query blocks to describe what aspect of the expression is being tested. This helps reviewers and future maintainers understand the intent:

-- literal separator with NULL values
query
SELECT concat_ws(',', NULL, 'b', 'c')

-- empty separator
query
SELECT concat_ws('', a, b, c) FROM test_table

Using agentic coding tools

Writing thorough SQL test files is a task well suited to agentic coding tools such as Claude Code. You can point the tool at an existing test file as an example, describe the expression you want to test, and ask it to generate a complete .sql file covering all argument combinations and edge cases. This is significantly faster than writing the combinatorial test cases by hand and helps ensure nothing is missed.

For example:

Read the test file spark/src/test/resources/sql-tests/expressions/string/ascii.sql
and the documentation in docs/source/contributor-guide/sql-file-tests.md.
Then write a similar test file for the `reverse` function, covering column arguments,
literal arguments, NULLs, empty strings, and multibyte characters.

Capturing per-query output

Set the system property comet.sqlFileTest.verboseOutput to a file path to have the suite append a markdown-formatted record of every query it runs, including the SQL, mode, source file and line, and Spark's actual result or error. This is useful for documenting Spark behavior across versions or for cross-checking results against another engine.

rm -f /tmp/sql-file-tests.md
ARGS="-ea -Xmx4g -Xss4m -XX:+IgnoreUnrecognizedVMOptions \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.lang.reflect=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.net=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent.atomic=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/jdk.internal.ref=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/sun.nio.ch=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/sun.nio.cs=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/sun.security.action=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens=java.base/sun.util.calendar=ALL-UNNAMED \
  -Djdk.reflect.useDirectMethodHandle=false \
  -Dcomet.sqlFileTest.verboseOutput=/tmp/sql-file-tests.md"

./mvnw test -Dsuites="org.apache.comet.CometSqlFileTestSuite encode" \
  -Dtest=none -DargLine="$ARGS"

The JDK 17 --add-opens flags are copied from the pom's default extraJavaTestArgs. Overriding argLine replaces that default entirely, so all the module-opens entries must be reproduced alongside the new property.

Skipped files (e.g. those gated by MinSparkVersion) do not appear in the output. Queries marked ignore(...) are not executed, so they are also absent.

Handling test failures

When a query fails due to a known Comet bug:

  1. File a GitHub issue describing the problem.
  2. Change the query mode to ignore(...) with a link to the issue.
  3. Optionally add a SQL comment above the query explaining the problem.
-- GetArrayItem returns incorrect results with dynamic index
query ignore(https://github.com/apache/datafusion-comet/issues/3332)
SELECT arr[idx] FROM test_get_array_item

When the bug is fixed, remove the ignore(...) and restore the original query mode.

Architecture

The test infrastructure consists of two Scala files:

  • SqlFileTestParser (spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/SqlFileTestParser.scala) -- Parses .sql files into a SqlTestFile data structure containing directives, statements, and queries.

  • CometSqlFileTestSuite (spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometSqlFileTestSuite.scala) -- Discovers test files at suite initialization time, generates ScalaTest test cases for each file and config combination, and executes them using CometTestBase assertion methods.

Tables created in test files are automatically cleaned up after each test.