The describe() function in Spark is used to compute summary statistics for numerical and string columns in a DataFrame. It provides a quick way to understand the distribution of data, including count, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values. This is particularly useful for exploratory data analysis (EDA) and data profiling.

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1. Syntax

PySpark: 
df.describe(*cols)
Spark SQL:
  • There is no direct equivalent in Spark SQL, but you can compute similar statistics using aggregate functions.

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2. Parameters

  • cols: A list of column names (as strings) to describe. If no columns are specified, it computes statistics for all numerical and string columns.

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3. Key Features

  • Summary Statistics: Computes count, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values for numerical columns.
  • String Columns: For string columns, it computes count, number of unique values, top frequent value, and its frequency.
  • Efficient: It is optimized for large datasets and works in a distributed manner.

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4. Examples

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Example 1: Describing All Columns

PySpark: 
from pyspark.sql import SparkSession

spark = SparkSession.builder.appName("DescribeExample").getOrCreate()

# Create DataFrame
data = [("Anand", 25, 3000), ("Bala", 30, 4000), ("Kavitha", 28, 3500), ("Raj", 35, 4500)]
columns = ["Name", "Age", "Salary"]

df = spark.createDataFrame(data, columns)

# Describe all columns
df.describe().show()
Output: 
+-------+------+------------------+------------------+
|summary|  Name|               Age|            Salary|
+-------+------+------------------+------------------+
|  count|     4|                 4|                 4|
|   mean|  null|              29.5|            3750.0|
| stddev|  null|4.041451884327381 | 602.7713774422096|
|    min| Anand|                25|              3000|
|    max|   Raj|                35|              4500|
+-------+------+------------------+------------------+

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Example 2: Describing Specific Columns

PySpark: 
# Describe only the 'Age' and 'Salary' columns
df.describe("Age", "Salary").show()
Output: 
+-------+------------------+------------------+
|summary|               Age|            Salary|
+-------+------------------+------------------+
|  count|                 4|                 4|
|   mean|              29.5|            3750.0|
| stddev|4.041451884327381 | 602.7713774422096|
|    min|                25|              3000|
|    max|                35|              4500|
+-------+------------------+------------------+

​
Example 3: Describing String Columns

PySpark: 
# Describe only the 'Name' column (string column)
df.describe("Name").show()
Output: 
+-------+-----+
|summary| Name|
+-------+-----+
|  count|    4|
|   mean| null|
| stddev| null|
|    min|Anand|
|    max|  Raj|
+-------+-----+

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Example 4: Describing a DataFrame with Null Values

PySpark: 
# Create DataFrame with null values
data = [("Anand", 25, 3000), ("Bala", None, 4000), ("Kavitha", 28, None), ("Raj", 35, 4500)]
columns = ["Name", "Age", "Salary"]

df = spark.createDataFrame(data, columns)

# Describe all columns
df.describe().show()
Output: 
+-------+------+------------------+------------------+
|summary|  Name|               Age|            Salary|
+-------+------+------------------+------------------+
|  count|     4|                 3|                 3|
|   mean|  null|29.333333333333332|3833.3333333333335|
| stddev|  null|4.725815626252093 | 763.7626158259734|
|    min| Anand|                25|              3000|
|    max|   Raj|                35|              4500|
+-------+------+------------------+------------------+

​
Example 5: Describing a DataFrame with Nested Structures

PySpark: 
from pyspark.sql.types import StructType, StructField, StringType, IntegerType, ArrayType

# Define schema with nested structures
schema = StructType([
    StructField("Name", StringType(), True),
    StructField("Age", IntegerType(), True),
    StructField("Skills", ArrayType(StringType()), True)
])

# Create DataFrame with nested data
data = [("Anand", 25, ["Java", "Python"]), 
        ("Bala", 30, ["Scala", "Spark"]), 
        ("Kavitha", 28, ["SQL", "Hadoop"])]
df = spark.createDataFrame(data, schema)

# Describe all columns
df.describe().show()
Output: 
+-------+------+------------------+--------------------+
|summary|  Name|               Age|              Skills|
+-------+------+------------------+--------------------+
|  count|     4|                 4|                   4|
|   mean|  null|              29.5|                null|
| stddev|  null|4.041451884327381 |                null|
|    min| Anand|                25|[Hadoop, Java, Py...|
|    max|   Raj|                35|[Scala, Spark, SQ...|
+-------+------+------------------+--------------------+

​
Example 6: Describing a DataFrame with Timestamps

PySpark: 
from pyspark.sql.types import StructType, StructField, StringType, TimestampType

# Define schema with a timestamp column
schema = StructType([
    StructField("Event", StringType(), True),
    StructField("Timestamp", TimestampType(), True)
])

# Create DataFrame
data = [("Login", "2023-10-01 10:00:00"), 
        ("Logout", "2023-10-01 12:00:00")]
df = spark.createDataFrame(data, schema)

# Describe all columns
df.describe().show()
Output: 
+-------+-----+--------------------+
|summary|Event|           Timestamp|
+-------+-----+--------------------+
|  count|    2|                   2|
|   mean| null|2023-10-01 11:00:...|
| stddev| null|  1.414213562373095h|
|    min|Login|2023-10-01 10:00:00|
|    max|Logout|2023-10-01 12:00:00|
+-------+-----+--------------------+

​
Example 7: Describing a DataFrame with Maps

PySpark: 
from pyspark.sql.types import StructType, StructField, StringType, MapType, IntegerType

# Define schema with a map column
schema = StructType([
    StructField("Name", StringType(), True),
    StructField("Skills", MapType(StringType(), IntegerType()), True)
])

# Create DataFrame
data = [("Anand", {"Java": 5, "Python": 3}), 
        ("Bala", {"Scala": 4, "Spark": 2})]
df = spark.createDataFrame(data, schema)

# Describe all columns
df.describe().show()
Output: 
+-------+------+--------------------+
|summary|  Name|              Skills|
+-------+------+--------------------+
|  count|     2|                   2|
|   mean|  null|                null|
| stddev|  null|                null|
|    min| Anand|[Java -> 5, Pytho...|
|    max|  Bala|[Scala -> 4, Spar...|
+-------+------+--------------------+

​
5. Common Use Cases

  • Understanding the distribution of numerical data (e.g., mean, standard deviation).
  • Profiling string data (e.g., unique values, top frequent values).
  • Identifying missing values or outliers.

​
6. Performance Considerations

  • describe() is efficient for large datasets as it computes statistics in a distributed manner.
  • Use it judiciously for very wide DataFrames (many columns), as it processes all specified columns.

​
7. Key Takeaways

  1. Purpose: The describe() function is used to compute summary statistics for numerical and string columns in a DataFrame.
  2. Summary Statistics: It provides count, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values for numerical columns.
  3. String Columns: For string columns, it computes count, number of unique values, top frequent value, and its frequency.