modin.pandas.read_snowflake

snowflake.snowpark.modin.pandas.read_snowflake(name_or_query: Union[str, Iterable[str]], index_col: Optional[Union[str, list[str]]] = None, columns: Optional[list[str]] = None) DataFrame[source]

Read a Snowflake table or SQL Query to a Snowpark pandas DataFrame.

Parameters:

See also

  • to_snowflake

Notes

Transformations applied to the returned Snowpark pandas Dataframe do not affect the underlying Snowflake table (or object). Use - snowflake.snowpark.modin.pandas.to_snowpark to write the Snowpark pandas DataFrame back to a Snowpark table.

This API supports table names, SELECT queries (including those that use CTEs), CTEs with anonymous stored procedures and CALL queries, and is read only. To interact with Snowflake objects, e.g., listing tables, deleting tables or appending columns use the Snowflake Python Connector, or Snowpark’s Session object which can be retrieved via pd.session.

Snowpark pandas provides the same consistency and isolation guarantees for read_snowflake as if local files were read. Depending on the type of source, pd.read_snowflake will do one of the following at the time of calling pd.read_snowflake:

  • For a table referenced by name_or_query the base table is snapshotted and the snapshot is used to back the resulting DataFrame.

  • For SELECT queries of the form SELECT * FROM {table_name} the base table is snapshotted as though it were referenced directly from pd.read_snowflake, and the snapshot will be used to back the resulting DataFrame as above.

  • In the following cases, a temporary table is created and snapshotted, and the snapshot of the temporary table is used to back the resulting DataFrame.

    • For VIEWs, SECURE VIEWs, and TEMPORARY VIEWs, a temporary table is created as a materialized copy of the view at the time of calling pd.read_snowflake whether pd.read_snowflake is called as pd.read_snowflake(“SELECT * FROM {view_name}”) or pd.read_snowflake(view_name).

    • For more complex SELECT queries, including those with ORDER BY’s or CTEs, the query is evaluated, and a temporary table is created with the result at the time of calling pd.read_snowflake.

    • For CTEs with anonymous stored procedures and CALL queries, the procedure is evaluated at the time of calling pd.read_snowflake, and a temporary table is created with the result.

Any changes to the base table(s) or view(s) of the queries (whether the query is a SELECT query or a CTE with an anonymous stored procedure) that happen after calling pd.read_snowflake will not be reflected in the DataFrame object returned by pd.read_snowflake.

Examples

Let’s create a Snowflake table using SQL first for demonstrating the behavior of index_col and columns:

>>> session = pd.session
>>> table_name = "RESULT"
>>> create_result = session.sql(f"CREATE TEMP TABLE {table_name} (A int, B int, C int)").collect()
>>> insert_result = session.sql(f"INSERT INTO {table_name} VALUES(1, 2, 3)").collect()
>>> session.table(table_name).show()
-------------------
|"A"  |"B"  |"C"  |
-------------------
|1    |2    |3    |
-------------------
Copy
  • When index_col and columns are both not specified, a Snowpark pandas DataFrame will have a default index from 0 to n-1, where n is the number of rows in the table, and have all columns in the Snowflake table as data columns.

    >>> import snowflake.snowpark.modin.pandas as pd
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name)   
       A  B  C
    0  1  2  3
    
    Copy
  • When index_col is specified and columns is not specified, index_col will be used as index columns in Snowpark pandas DataFrame and rest of columns in the Snowflake table will be data columns. Note that duplication is allowed and duplicate pandas labels are maintained.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, index_col="A")   
       B  C
    A
    1  2  3
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, index_col=["A", "B"])   
         C
    A B
    1 2  3
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, index_col=["A", "A", "B"])  
           C
    A A B
    1 1 2  3
    
    Copy
  • When index_col is not specified and columns is specified, a Snowpark pandas DataFrame will have a default index from 0 to n-1 and columns as data columns.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, columns=["A"])  
       A
    0  1
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, columns=["A", "B"])  
       A  B
    0  1  2
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, columns=["A", "A", "B"])  
       A  A  B
    0  1  1  2
    
    Copy
  • When index_col and columns are specified, index_col will be used as index columns and columns will be used as data columns. index_col doesn’t need to be a part of columns.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, index_col=["A"], columns=["B", "C"])  
       B  C
    A
    1  2  3
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(table_name, index_col=["A", "B"], columns=["A", "B"])  
         A  B
    A B
    1 2  1  2
    
    Copy

Examples of pd.read_snowflake using SQL queries:

>>> session = pd.session
>>> table_name = "RESULT"
>>> create_result = session.sql(f"CREATE OR REPLACE TEMP TABLE {table_name} (A int, B int, C int)").collect()
>>> insert_result = session.sql(f"INSERT INTO {table_name} VALUES(1, 2, 3),(-1, -2, -3)").collect()
>>> session.table(table_name).show()
-------------------
|"A"  |"B"  |"C"  |
-------------------
|1    |2    |3    |
|-1   |-2   |-3   |
-------------------
Copy
  • When index_col is not specified, a Snowpark pandas DataFrame will have a default index from 0 to n-1, where n is the number of rows in the table.

    >>> import snowflake.snowpark.modin.pandas as pd
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"SELECT * FROM {table_name}")   
       A  B  C
    0  1  2  3
    1 -1 -2 -3
    
    Copy
  • When index_col is specified, it will be used as index columns in Snowpark pandas DataFrame and rest of columns in the Snowflake table will be data columns. Note that duplication is allowed and duplicate pandas labels are maintained.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"SELECT * FROM {table_name}", index_col="A")   
        B  C
    A
     1  2  3
    -1 -2 -3
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"SELECT * FROM {table_name}", index_col=["A", "B"])   
           C
    A  B
     1  2  3
    -1 -2 -3
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"SELECT * FROM {table_name}", index_col=["A", "A", "B"])  
              C
    A  A  B
     1  1  2  3
    -1 -1 -2 -3
    
    Copy
  • More complex queries can also be passed in.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"SELECT * FROM {table_name} WHERE A > 0")  
       A  B  C
    0  1  2  3
    
    Copy
  • SQL comments can also be included, and will be ignored.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"-- SQL Comment 1\nSELECT * FROM {table_name} WHERE A > 0")
       A  B  C
    0  1  2  3
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f'''-- SQL Comment 1
    ... -- SQL Comment 2
    ... SELECT * FROM {table_name} WHERE A > 0
    ... -- SQL Comment 3''')
       A  B  C
    0  1  2  3
    
    Copy
  • Note that in the next example, sort_values is called to impose an ordering on the DataFrame.

    >>> # Compute all Fibonacci numbers less than 100.
    ... pd.read_snowflake(f'''WITH RECURSIVE current_f (current_val, previous_val) AS
    ... (
    ...   SELECT 0, 1
    ...   UNION ALL
    ...   SELECT current_val + previous_val, current_val FROM current_f
    ...   WHERE current_val + previous_val < 100
    ... )
    ... SELECT current_val FROM current_f''').sort_values("CURRENT_VAL").reset_index(drop=True)
        CURRENT_VAL
    0             0
    1             1
    2             1
    3             2
    4             3
    5             5
    6             8
    7            13
    8            21
    9            34
    10           55
    11           89
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f'''WITH T1 AS (SELECT SQUARE(A) AS A2, SQUARE(B) AS B2, SQUARE(C) AS C2 FROM {table_name}),
    ... T2 AS (SELECT SQUARE(A2) AS A4, SQUARE(B2) AS B4, SQUARE(C2) AS C4 FROM T1),
    ... T3 AS (SELECT * FROM T1 UNION ALL SELECT * FROM T2)
    ... SELECT * FROM T3''')  
        A2    B2    C2
    0  1.0   4.0   9.0
    1  1.0   4.0   9.0
    2  1.0  16.0  81.0
    3  1.0  16.0  81.0
    
    Copy
  • Anonymous Stored Procedures (using CTEs) may also be used (although special care must be taken with respect to indentation of the code block, since the entire string encapsulated by the $$ will be passed directly to a Python interpreter. In the example below, the lines within the function are indented, but not the import statement or function definition). The output schema must be specified when defining an anonymous stored procedure.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake('''WITH filter_rows AS PROCEDURE (table_name VARCHAR, column_to_filter VARCHAR, value NUMBER)
    ... RETURNS TABLE(A NUMBER, B NUMBER, C NUMBER)
    ... LANGUAGE PYTHON
    ... RUNTIME_VERSION = '3.8'
    ... PACKAGES = ('snowflake-snowpark-python')
    ... HANDLER = 'filter_rows'
    ... AS $$from snowflake.snowpark.functions import col
    ... def filter_rows(session, table_name, column_to_filter, value):
    ...   df = session.table(table_name)
    ...   return df.filter(col(column_to_filter) == value)$$
    ... ''' + f"CALL filter_rows('{table_name}', 'A', 1)")
       A  B  C
    0  1  2  3
    
    Copy
  • An example using an anonymous stored procedure defined in Scala.

    >>> pd.read_snowflake('''
    ... WITH filter_rows AS PROCEDURE (table_name VARCHAR, column_to_filter VARCHAR, value NUMBER)
    ... Returns TABLE(A NUMBER, B NUMBER, C NUMBER)
    ... LANGUAGE SCALA
    ... RUNTIME_VERSION = '2.12'
    ... PACKAGES = ('com.snowflake:snowpark:latest')
    ... HANDLER = 'Filter.filterRows'
    ... AS $$
    ... import com.snowflake.snowpark.functions._
    ... import com.snowflake.snowpark._
    ...
    ... object Filter {
    ...   def filterRows(session: Session, tableName: String, column_to_filter: String, value: Int): DataFrame = {
    ...       val table = session.table(tableName)
    ...       val filteredRows = table.filter(col(column_to_filter) === value)
    ...       return filteredRows
    ...   }
    ... }
    ... $$
    ... ''' + f"CALL filter_rows('{table_name}', 'A', -1)")
       A  B  C
    0 -1 -2 -3
    
    Copy
  • An example using a stored procedure defined via SQL using Snowpark’s Session object.

    >>> from snowflake.snowpark.functions import sproc
    >>> from snowflake.snowpark.types import IntegerType, StructField, StructType, StringType
    >>> from snowflake.snowpark.functions import col
    >>> _ = session.sql("create or replace temp stage mystage").collect()
    >>> session.add_packages('snowflake-snowpark-python')
    >>> @sproc(return_type=StructType([StructField("A", IntegerType()), StructField("B", IntegerType()), StructField("C", IntegerType()), StructField("D", IntegerType())]), input_types=[StringType(), StringType(), IntegerType()], is_permanent=True, name="multiply_col_by_value", stage_location="mystage")
    ... def select_sp(session_, tableName, col_to_multiply, value):
    ...     df = session_.table(table_name)
    ...     return df.select('*', (col(col_to_multiply)*value).as_("D"))
    
    Copy
    >>> pd.read_snowflake(f"CALL multiply_col_by_value('{table_name}', 'A', 2)")
       A  B  C  D
    0  1  2  3  2
    1 -1 -2 -3 -2
    
    Copy
    >>> session.sql("DROP PROCEDURE multiply_col_by_value(VARCHAR, VARCHAR, NUMBER)").collect()
    [Row(status='MULTIPLY_COL_BY_VALUE successfully dropped.')]
    
    Copy

Note

The names/labels used for the parameters of the Snowpark pandas IO functions such as index_col, columns are normalized Snowflake Identifiers (The Snowflake stored and resolved Identifiers). The Normalized Snowflake Identifiers are also used as default pandas label after constructing a Snowpark pandas DataFrame out of the Snowflake table or Snowpark DataFrame. Following are the rules about how Normalized Snowflake Identifiers are generated:

  • When the column identifier in Snowflake/Snowpark DataFrame is an unquoted object identifier, it is stored and resolved as uppercase characters (e.g. id is stored and resolved as ID), the valid input is an uppercase string. For example, for the column identifier A or a, the stored and resolved identifier is A, and the valid input for the parameters can only be A, and the corresponding pandas label in Snowpark pandas DataFrame is A. a and "A" are both invalid.

  • When the column identifier in Snowflake/Snowpark DataFrame is a quoted object identifier, the case of the identifier is preserved when storing and resolving the identifier (e.g. “id” is stored and resolved as id), the valid input is case-sensitive string. For example, for the column identifier "a", the valid input for the parameter can only be a, and the corresponding pandas label in Snowpark pandas DataFrame is a. "a" is invalid. For the column identifier "A", the valid input for the parameter can only be A, and the corresponding pandas label in Snowpark pandas DataFrame is A, and``”A”`` is invalid.

See Snowflake Identifier Requirements for more details about Snowflake Identifiers.

To see what are the Normalized Snowflake Identifiers for columns of a Snowpark DataFrame, you can call dataframe.show() to see all column names, which is the Normalized identifier.

To see what are the Normalized Snowflake Identifiers for columns of a Snowflake table, you can call SQL query SELECT * FROM TABLE or DESCRIBE TABLE to see the column names.