docs/source/python/integration/python_r.rst

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Integrating PyArrow with R
==========================

Arrow supports exchanging data within the same process through the
:ref:`c-data-interface`.

This can be used to exchange data between Python and R functions and
methods so that the two languages can interact without any cost of
marshaling and unmarshaling data.

.. note::

    The article takes for granted that you have a ``Python`` environment
    with ``pyarrow`` correctly installed and an ``R`` environment with
    ``arrow`` library correctly installed.
    See `Python Install Instructions <https://arrow.apache.org/docs/python/install.html>`_
    and `R Install instructions <https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/#installation>`_
    for further details.

Invoking R functions from Python
--------------------------------

Suppose we have a simple R function receiving an Arrow Array to
add ``3`` to all its elements:

.. code-block:: R

    library(arrow)

    addthree <- function(arr) {
        return(arr + 3L)
    }

We could save such a function in a ``addthree.R`` file so that we can
make it available for reuse.

Once the ``addthree.R`` file is created we can invoke any of its functions
from Python using the
`rpy2 <https://rpy2.github.io/doc/latest/html/index.html>`_ library which
enables a R runtime within the Python interpreter.

``rpy2`` can be installed using ``pip`` like most Python libraries

.. code-block:: bash

    $ pip install rpy2

The most basic thing we can do with our ``addthree`` function is to
invoke it from Python with a number and see how it will return the result.

To do so we can create an ``addthree.py`` file which uses ``rpy2`` to
import the ``addthree`` function from ``addthree.R`` file and invoke it:

.. code-block:: python

    import rpy2.robjects as robjects

    # Load the addthree.R file
    r_source = robjects.r["source"]
    r_source("addthree.R")

    # Get a reference to the addthree function
    addthree = robjects.r["addthree"]

    # Invoke the function
    r = addthree(3)

    # Access the returned value
    value = r[0]
    print(value)

Running the ``addthree.py`` file will show how our Python code is able
to access the ``R`` function and print the expected result:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ python addthree.py
    6

If instead of passing around basic data types we want to pass around
Arrow Arrays, we can do so relying on the
`rpy2-arrow <https://rpy2.github.io/rpy2-arrow/version/main/html/index.html>`_
module which implements ``rpy2`` support for Arrow types.

``rpy2-arrow`` can be installed through ``pip``:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ pip install rpy2-arrow

``rpy2-arrow`` implements converters from PyArrow objects to R Arrow objects,
this is done without incurring any data copy cost as it relies on the
C Data interface.

To pass to the ``addthree`` function a PyArrow array, our ``addthree.py`` file needs to be modified
to enable ``rpy2-arrow`` converters and then pass the PyArrow array:

.. code-block:: python

    import rpy2.robjects as robjects
    from rpy2_arrow.pyarrow_rarrow import (rarrow_to_py_array,
                                           converter as arrowconverter)
    from rpy2.robjects.conversion import localconverter

    r_source = robjects.r["source"]
    r_source("addthree.R")

    addthree = robjects.r["addthree"]

    import pyarrow

    array = pyarrow.array((1, 2, 3))

    # Enable rpy2-arrow converter so that R can receive the array.
    with localconverter(arrowconverter):
        r_result = addthree(array)

    # The result of the R function will be an R Environment
    # we can convert the Environment back to a pyarrow Array
    # using the rarrow_to_py_array function
    py_result = rarrow_to_py_array(r_result)
    print("RESULT", type(py_result), py_result)

Running the newly modified ``addthree.py`` should now properly execute
the R function and print the resulting PyArrow Array:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ python addthree.py
    RESULT <class 'pyarrow.lib.Int64Array'> [
      4,
      5,
      6
    ]

For additional information you can refer to
`rpy2 Documentation <https://rpy2.github.io/doc/latest/html/index.html>`_
and `rpy2-arrow Documentation <https://rpy2.github.io/rpy2-arrow/version/main/html/index.html>`_

Invoking Python functions from R
--------------------------------

Exposing Python functions to R can be done through the ``reticulate``
library. For example if we want to invoke :func:`pyarrow.compute.add` from
R on an Array created in R we can do so importing ``pyarrow`` in R
through ``reticulate``.

A basic ``addthree.R`` script that invokes ``add`` to add ``3`` to
an R array would look like:

.. code-block:: R

    # Load arrow and reticulate libraries
    library(arrow)
    library(reticulate)

    # Create a new array in R
    a <- Array$create(c(1, 2, 3))

    # Make pyarrow.compute available to R
    pc <- import("pyarrow.compute")

    # Invoke pyarrow.compute.add with the array and 3
    # This will add 3 to all elements of the array and return a new Array
    result <- pc$add(a, 3)

    # Print the result to confirm it's what we expect
    print(result)

Invoking the ``addthree.R`` script will print the outcome of adding
``3`` to all the elements of the original ``Array$create(c(1, 2, 3))`` array:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ R --silent -f addthree.R
    Array
    <double>
    [
      4,
      5,
      6
    ]

For additional information you can refer to
`Reticulate Documentation <https://rstudio.github.io/reticulate/>`_
and to the `R Arrow documentation <https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/articles/python.html#using>`_

R to Python communication using the C Data Interface
----------------------------------------------------

Both solutions described above use the Arrow C Data
interface under the hood.

In case we want to extend the previous ``addthree`` example to switch
from using ``rpy2-arrow`` to using the plain C Data interface we can
do so by introducing some modifications to our codebase.

To enable importing the Arrow Array from the C Data interface we have to
wrap our ``addthree`` function in a function that does the extra work
necessary to import an Arrow Array in R from the C Data interface.

That work will be done by the ``addthree_cdata`` function which invokes the
``addthree`` function once the Array is imported.

Our ``addthree.R`` will thus have both the ``addthree_cdata`` and the
``addthree`` functions:

.. code-block:: R

    library(arrow)

    addthree_cdata <- function(array_ptr_s, schema_ptr_s) {
        a <- Array$import_from_c(array_ptr, schema_ptr)

        return(addthree(a))
    }

    addthree <- function(arr) {
        return(arr + 3L)
    }

We can now provide to R the array and its schema from Python through the
``array_ptr_s`` and ``schema_ptr_s`` arguments so that R can build back
an ``Array`` from them and then invoke ``addthree`` with the array.

Invoking ``addthree_cdata`` from Python involves building the Array we
want to pass to ``R``, exporting it to the C Data interface and then
passing the exported references to the ``R`` function.

Our ``addthree.py`` will thus become:

.. code-block:: python

    # Get a reference to the addthree_cdata R function
    import rpy2.robjects as robjects
    r_source = robjects.r["source"]
    r_source("addthree.R")
    addthree_cdata = robjects.r["addthree_cdata"]

    # Create the pyarrow array we want to pass to R
    import pyarrow
    array = pyarrow.array((1, 2, 3))

    # Import the pyarrow module that provides access to the C Data interface
    from pyarrow.cffi import ffi as arrow_c

    # Allocate structures where we will export the Array data
    # and the Array schema. They will be released when we exit the with block.
    with arrow_c.new("struct ArrowArray*") as c_array, \
         arrow_c.new("struct ArrowSchema*") as c_schema:
        # Get the references to the C Data structures.
        c_array_ptr = int(arrow_c.cast("uintptr_t", c_array))
        c_schema_ptr = int(arrow_c.cast("uintptr_t", c_schema))

        # Export the Array and its schema to the C Data structures.
        array._export_to_c(c_array_ptr)
        array.type._export_to_c(c_schema_ptr)

        # Invoke the R addthree_cdata function passing the references
        # to the array and schema C Data structures.
        # Those references are passed as strings as R doesn't have
        # native support for 64bit integers, so the integers are
        # converted to their string representation for R to convert it back.
        r_result_array = addthree_cdata(str(c_array_ptr), str(c_schema_ptr))

        # r_result will be an Environment variable that contains the
        # arrow Array built from R as the return value of addthree.
        # To make it available as a Python pyarrow array we need to export
        # it as a C Data structure invoking the Array$export_to_c R method
        r_result_array["export_to_c"](str(c_array_ptr), str(c_schema_ptr))

        # Once the returned array is exported to a C Data infrastructure
        # we can import it back into pyarrow using Array._import_from_c
        py_array = pyarrow.Array._import_from_c(c_array_ptr, c_schema_ptr)

    print("RESULT", py_array)

Running the newly changed ``addthree.py`` will now print the Array resulting
from adding ``3`` to all the elements of the original
``pyarrow.array((1, 2, 3))`` array:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ python addthree.py
    R[write to console]: Attaching package: ‘arrow’
    RESULT [
      4,
      5,
      6
    ]