diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptions.java b/sql/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptions.java
index c32053580f016..83df3be747085 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptions.java
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptions.java
@@ -17,16 +17,61 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.sql.sources.v2;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 
 import org.apache.spark.annotation.InterfaceStability;
 
 /**
  * An immutable string-to-string map in which keys are case-insensitive. This is used to represent
  * data source options.
+ *
+ * Each data source implementation can define its own options and teach its users how to set them.
+ * Spark doesn't have any restrictions about what options a data source should or should not have.
+ * Instead Spark defines some standard options that data sources can optionally adopt. It's possible
+ * that some options are very common and many data sources use them. However different data
+ * sources may define the common options(key and meaning) differently, which is quite confusing to
+ * end users.
+ *
+ * The standard options defined by Spark:
+ * <table summary="standard data source options">
+ *   <tr>
+ *     <th><b>Option key</b></th>
+ *     <th><b>Option value</b></th>
+ *   </tr>
+ *   <tr>
+ *     <td>path</td>
+ *     <td>A path string of the data files/directories, like
+ *     <code>path1</code>, <code>/absolute/file2</code>, <code>path3/*</code>. The path can
+ *     either be relative or absolute, points to either file or directory, and can contain
+ *     wildcards. This option is commonly used by file-based data sources.</td>
+ *   </tr>
+ *   <tr>
+ *     <td>paths</td>
+ *     <td>A JSON array style paths string of the data files/directories, like
+ *     <code>["path1", "/absolute/file2"]</code>. The format of each path is same as the
+ *     <code>path</code> option, plus it should follow JSON string literal format, e.g. quotes
+ *     should be escaped, <code>pa\"th</code> means pa"th.
+ *     </td>
+ *   </tr>
+ *   <tr>
+ *     <td>table</td>
+ *     <td>A table name string representing the table name directly without any interpretation.
+ *     For example, <code>db.tbl</code> means a table called db.tbl, not a table called tbl
+ *     inside database db. <code>`t*b.l`</code> means a table called `t*b.l`, not t*b.l.</td>
+ *   </tr>
+ *   <tr>
+ *     <td>database</td>
+ *     <td>A database name string representing the database name directly without any
+ *     interpretation, which is very similar to the table name option.</td>
+ *   </tr>
+ * </table>
  */
 @InterfaceStability.Evolving
 public class DataSourceOptions {
@@ -97,4 +142,59 @@ public double getDouble(String key, double defaultValue) {
     return keyLowerCasedMap.containsKey(lcaseKey) ?
       Double.parseDouble(keyLowerCasedMap.get(lcaseKey)) : defaultValue;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * The option key for singular path.
+   */
+  public static final String PATH_KEY = "path";
+
+  /**
+   * The option key for multiple paths.
+   */
+  public static final String PATHS_KEY = "paths";
+
+  /**
+   * The option key for table name.
+   */
+  public static final String TABLE_KEY = "table";
+
+  /**
+   * The option key for database name.
+   */
+  public static final String DATABASE_KEY = "database";
+
+  /**
+   * Returns all the paths specified by both the singular path option and the multiple
+   * paths option.
+   */
+  public String[] paths() {
+    String[] singularPath =
+      get(PATH_KEY).map(s -> new String[]{s}).orElseGet(() -> new String[0]);
+    Optional<String> pathsStr = get(PATHS_KEY);
+    if (pathsStr.isPresent()) {
+      ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
+      try {
+        String[] paths = objectMapper.readValue(pathsStr.get(), String[].class);
+        return Stream.of(singularPath, paths).flatMap(Stream::of).toArray(String[]::new);
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        return singularPath;
+      }
+    } else {
+      return singularPath;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the value of the table name option.
+   */
+  public Optional<String> tableName() {
+    return get(TABLE_KEY);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the value of the database name option.
+   */
+  public Optional<String> databaseName() {
+    return get(DATABASE_KEY);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
index ae3ba1690f696..d640fdc530ce2 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import java.util.{Locale, Properties}
 
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
+
 import org.apache.spark.Partition
 import org.apache.spark.annotation.InterfaceStability
 import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaRDD
@@ -34,7 +36,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.jdbc._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.json.TextInputJsonDataSource
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.v2.DataSourceV2Relation
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.v2.DataSourceV2Utils
-import org.apache.spark.sql.sources.v2.{DataSourceV2, ReadSupport, ReadSupportWithSchema}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.sources.v2.{DataSourceOptions, DataSourceV2, ReadSupport, ReadSupportWithSchema}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types.{StringType, StructType}
 import org.apache.spark.unsafe.types.UTF8String
 
@@ -171,7 +173,8 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sparkSession: SparkSession) extends Logging {
    * @since 1.4.0
    */
   def load(path: String): DataFrame = {
-    option("path", path).load(Seq.empty: _*) // force invocation of `load(...varargs...)`
+    // force invocation of `load(...varargs...)`
+    option(DataSourceOptions.PATH_KEY, path).load(Seq.empty: _*)
   }
 
   /**
@@ -193,10 +196,13 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sparkSession: SparkSession) extends Logging {
       if (ds.isInstanceOf[ReadSupport] || ds.isInstanceOf[ReadSupportWithSchema]) {
         val sessionOptions = DataSourceV2Utils.extractSessionConfigs(
           ds = ds, conf = sparkSession.sessionState.conf)
+        val pathsOption = {
+          val objectMapper = new ObjectMapper()
+          DataSourceOptions.PATHS_KEY -> objectMapper.writeValueAsString(paths.toArray)
+        }
         Dataset.ofRows(sparkSession, DataSourceV2Relation.create(
-          ds, extraOptions.toMap ++ sessionOptions,
+          ds, extraOptions.toMap ++ sessionOptions + pathsOption,
           userSpecifiedSchema = userSpecifiedSchema))
-
       } else {
         loadV1Source(paths: _*)
       }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptionsSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptionsSuite.scala
index 31dfc55b23361..cfa69a86de1a7 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/v2/DataSourceOptionsSuite.scala
@@ -79,4 +79,29 @@ class DataSourceOptionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
       options.getDouble("foo", 0.1d)
     }
   }
+
+  test("standard options") {
+    val options = new DataSourceOptions(Map(
+      DataSourceOptions.PATH_KEY -> "abc",
+      DataSourceOptions.TABLE_KEY -> "tbl").asJava)
+
+    assert(options.paths().toSeq == Seq("abc"))
+    assert(options.tableName().get() == "tbl")
+    assert(!options.databaseName().isPresent)
+  }
+
+  test("standard options with both singular path and multi-paths") {
+    val options = new DataSourceOptions(Map(
+      DataSourceOptions.PATH_KEY -> "abc",
+      DataSourceOptions.PATHS_KEY -> """["c", "d"]""").asJava)
+
+    assert(options.paths().toSeq == Seq("abc", "c", "d"))
+  }
+
+  test("standard options with only multi-paths") {
+    val options = new DataSourceOptions(Map(
+      DataSourceOptions.PATHS_KEY -> """["c", "d\"e"]""").asJava)
+
+    assert(options.paths().toSeq == Seq("c", "d\"e"))
+  }
 }