Bug: auto generate concat as Double when string minus an INTERVAL type
Status: Closed | Priority: Major | Resolution: Invalid
Created: 13/Dec/22 02:10
Affects Version/s: 3.2.0

h2. *Describe the bug*

Here is a sql.
{code:sql}
select '2022-02-01'- INTERVAL 1 year
{code}
spark generate cast('2022-02-01' as double) - INTERVAL 1 year automatically and type mismatch happened.
h2. *To Reproduce*

On Spark 3.0.1 using spark-shell
{code:java}
scala> spark.sql("select '2022-02-01'- interval 1 year").show
+------------------------------------------------------------------+            
|CAST(CAST(2022-02-01 AS TIMESTAMP) - INTERVAL '1 years' AS STRING)|
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                               2021-02-01 00:00:00|
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
{code}
On Spark 3.2.1 using spark-shell
{code:java}
scala> spark.sql("select '2022-02-01'- interval 1 year").show
org.apache.spark.sql.AnalysisException: cannot resolve '(CAST('2022-02-01' AS DOUBLE) - INTERVAL '1' YEAR)' due to data type mismatch: differing types in '(CAST('2022-02-01' AS DOUBLE) - INTERVAL '1' YEAR)' (double and interval year).; line 1 pos 7;
'Project [unresolvedalias((cast(2022-02-01 as double) - INTERVAL '1' YEAR), None)]
+- OneRowRelation

  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.package$AnalysisErrorAt.failAnalysis(package.scala:42)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.CheckAnalysis$$anonfun$$nestedInanonfun$checkAnalysis$1$2.applyOrElse(CheckAnalysis.scala:190)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.CheckAnalysis$$anonfun$$nestedInanonfun$checkAnalysis$1$2.applyOrElse(CheckAnalysis.scala:175)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.$anonfun$transformUpWithPruning$2(TreeNode.scala:535)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.CurrentOrigin$.withOrigin(TreeNode.scala:82)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.transformUpWithPruning(TreeNode.scala:535)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.$anonfun$transformUpWithPruning$1(TreeNode.scala:532)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.UnaryLike.mapChildren(TreeNode.scala:1128)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.UnaryLike.mapChildren$(TreeNode.scala:1127)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.UnaryExpression.mapChildren(Expression.scala:467)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.transformUpWithPruning(TreeNode.scala:532)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.$anonfun$transformExpressionsUpWithPruning$1(QueryPlan.scala:181)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.$anonfun$mapExpressions$1(QueryPlan.scala:193)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.CurrentOrigin$.withOrigin(TreeNode.scala:82)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.transformExpression$1(QueryPlan.scala:193)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.recursiveTransform$1(QueryPlan.scala:204)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.$anonfun$mapExpressions$3(QueryPlan.scala:209)
  at scala.collection.TraversableLike.$anonfun$map$1(TraversableLike.scala:286)
  at scala.collection.immutable.List.foreach(List.scala:431)
  at scala.collection.TraversableLike.map(TraversableLike.scala:286)
  at scala.collection.TraversableLike.map$(TraversableLike.scala:279)
  at scala.collection.immutable.List.map(List.scala:305)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.recursiveTransform$1(QueryPlan.scala:209)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.$anonfun$mapExpressions$4(QueryPlan.scala:214)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.mapProductIterator(TreeNode.scala:323)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.mapExpressions(QueryPlan.scala:214)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.transformExpressionsUpWithPruning(QueryPlan.scala:181)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.QueryPlan.transformExpressionsUp(QueryPlan.scala:161)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.CheckAnalysis.$anonfun$checkAnalysis$1(CheckAnalysis.scala:175)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.CheckAnalysis.$anonfun$checkAnalysis$1$adapted(CheckAnalysis.scala:94)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.foreachUp(TreeNode.scala:263)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.CheckAnalysis.checkAnalysis(CheckAnalysis.scala:94)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.CheckAnalysis.checkAnalysis$(CheckAnalysis.scala:91)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.Analyzer.checkAnalysis(Analyzer.scala:172)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.Analyzer.$anonfun$executeAndCheck$1(Analyzer.scala:195)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical.AnalysisHelper$.markInAnalyzer(AnalysisHelper.scala:330)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.Analyzer.executeAndCheck(Analyzer.scala:192)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.$anonfun$analyzed$1(QueryExecution.scala:88)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.QueryPlanningTracker.measurePhase(QueryPlanningTracker.scala:111)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.$anonfun$executePhase$1(QueryExecution.scala:196)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.withActive(SparkSession.scala:775)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.executePhase(QueryExecution.scala:196)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.analyzed$lzycompute(QueryExecution.scala:88)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.analyzed(QueryExecution.scala:86)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.assertAnalyzed(QueryExecution.scala:78)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset$.$anonfun$ofRows$2(Dataset.scala:98)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.withActive(SparkSession.scala:775)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset$.ofRows(Dataset.scala:96)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.$anonfun$sql$1(SparkSession.scala:618)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.withActive(SparkSession.scala:775)
  at org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession.sql(SparkSession.scala:613)
  ... 47 elided
{code}
This problem is related to SPARK-27790 which bring new interval type DayTimeIntervalType.

+org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.TypeCoercion.PromoteStrings#transform+
{code:scala}
    override def transform: PartialFunction[Expression, Expression] = {
      // Skip nodes who's children have not been resolved yet.
      case e if !e.childrenResolved => e

      case a @ BinaryArithmetic(left @ StringType(), right)
        if right.dataType != CalendarIntervalType =>
        a.makeCopy(Array(Cast(left, DoubleType), right))
      case a @ BinaryArithmetic(left, right @ StringType())
        if left.dataType != CalendarIntervalType =>
        a.makeCopy(Array(left, Cast(right, DoubleType)))
...
}
{code}
This code is the reason for the typecast to double. I wonder if this is a bug or by design?