Cast to string type instead

R/pkg/inst/tests/test_sparkSQL.R

@@ -758,11 +758,11 @@ test_that("describe() on a DataFrame", {
   df <- jsonFile(sqlCtx, jsonPath)
   stats <- describe(df, "age")
   expect_true(collect(stats)[1, "summary"] == "count")
-  expect_true(collect(stats)[2, "age"] == 24.5)
-  expect_true(collect(stats)[3, "age"] == 5.5)
+  expect_true(collect(stats)[2, "age"] == "24.5")
+  expect_true(collect(stats)[3, "age"] == "5.5")
   stats <- describe(df)
   expect_true(collect(stats)[4, "name"] == "Andy")
-  expect_true(collect(stats)[5, "age"] == 30.0)
+  expect_true(collect(stats)[5, "age"] == "30.0")
 })
 
 unlink(parquetPath)

python/pyspark/sql/dataframe.py

@@ -599,11 +599,11 @@ def describe(self, *cols):
         +-------+---+
         |summary|age|
         +-------+---+
-        |  count|2.0|
+        |  count|  2|
         |   mean|3.5|
         | stddev|1.5|
-        |    min|2.0|
-        |    max|5.0|
+        |    min|  2|
+        |    max|  5|
         +-------+---+
         """
         jdf = self._jdf.describe(self._jseq(cols))

sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrame.scala

@@ -1063,7 +1063,7 @@ class DataFrame private[sql](
 
     val ret: Seq[Row] = if (outputCols.nonEmpty) {
       val aggExprs = statistics.flatMap { case (_, colToAgg) =>
-        outputCols.map(c => Column(Cast(colToAgg(Column(c).expr), DoubleType)).as(c))
+        outputCols.map(c => Column(Cast(colToAgg(Column(c).expr), StringType)).as(c))
       }
 
       val row = agg(aggExprs.head, aggExprs.tail: _*).head().toSeq
@@ -1077,9 +1077,9 @@ class DataFrame private[sql](
       statistics.map { case (name, _) => Row(name) }
     }
 
-    // The first column is string type, and the rest are double type.
+    // All columns are string type
     val schema = StructType(
-      StructField("summary", StringType) :: outputCols.map(StructField(_, DoubleType))).toAttributes
+      StructField("summary", StringType) :: outputCols.map(StructField(_, StringType))).toAttributes
     LocalRelation(schema, ret)
   }
 

sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala

@@ -370,14 +370,14 @@ class DataFrameSuite extends QueryTest {
       ("Amy",   24, 180)).toDF("name", "age", "height")
 
     val describeResult = Seq(
-      Row("count",   4,               4),
-      Row("mean",    33.0,            178.0),
-      Row("stddev",  16.583123951777, 10.0),
-      Row("min",     16,              164),
-      Row("max",     60,              192))
+      Row("count",   "4",               "4"),
+      Row("mean",    "33.0",            "178.0"),
+      Row("stddev",  "16.583123951777", "10.0"),
+      Row("min",     "16",              "164"),
+      Row("max",     "60",              "192"))
 
     val emptyDescribeResult = Seq(
-      Row("count",   0,    0),
+      Row("count",   "0",  "0"),
       Row("mean",    null, null),
       Row("stddev",  null, null),
       Row("min",     null, null),
@@ -388,10 +388,10 @@ class DataFrameSuite extends QueryTest {
     val describeTwoCols = describeTestData.describe("age", "height")
     assert(getSchemaAsSeq(describeTwoCols) === Seq("summary", "age", "height"))
     checkAnswer(describeTwoCols, describeResult)
-    // All aggregate value should have been cast to double, including `count`
+    // All aggregate value should have been cast to string
     describeTwoCols.collect().foreach { row =>
-      assert(row.get(1).isInstanceOf[Double], "expected double but found " + row.get(1).getClass)
-      assert(row.get(2).isInstanceOf[Double], "expected double but found " + row.get(2).getClass)
+      assert(row.get(1).isInstanceOf[String], "expected string but found " + row.get(1).getClass)
+      assert(row.get(2).isInstanceOf[String], "expected string but found " + row.get(2).getClass)
     }
 
     val describeAllCols = describeTestData.describe()