All posts by Tidbytez

How to replace multiple words within a string at once using python

Below is a quick code snippet example you can reuse to replace multiple words within a string using python.

s = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
print(s)
for r in (("brown", "red"), ("lazy", "quick")):
    s = s.replace(*r)
print(s)

PlayStation 1 not showing up as an option in “Consoles” Tab of GarlicOS

If you have populated your RG35XX PS folder with games yet GarlicOS has not presented PlayStation as a console option this is likely due to GarlicOS not having the functionality to read sub folders and that your games each have dedicated folders. For GarlicOS to see your games all your games must be directly in the console folder.

However typically PS games are in .bin format and are saved in folders because even single disk games will have at least two associated files i.e. the .bin files and the .cue file. For multi disk games, where there is a .bin file and a .cue file for each disk, and potentially a .m3u file to handle multi disk operation, the problem is exacerbated.

One solution would be to convert your PS games to the .chd format. Converting the PS “disks”, i.e. pairs of .cue and .bin files to the .chd format will result in a single file per disk which is also compressed taking up much less space.

To convert “disks” to .chd download the zip of the software “CHDMAN” below:

https://archive.org/details/chdman

Unzipping the file will create a folder CHDMAN.

In this folder open the batch file called “Cue or GDI to CHD” with a text editor and replace the line:

for /r %%i in (*.cue, *.gdi) do chdman createcd -i “%%i” -o “%%~ni.chd”

with:

for /r %%i in (*.cue, *.gdi, *.iso) do chdman createcd -i “%%i” -o “%%~ni.chd”

This update allows the batch file to work with ISO files too.

Now to convert “disks” simply drag and drop the .cue and .bin files into the CHDMAN folder and then double click the batch file “Cue or GDI to CHD” to run it.

This will produce a single .chd file you can then save to the PS folder of your GarlicOS games directory.

Comparing two tables for equality with Spark SQL

The best way of comparing two tables to determine if they are the exact same is to calculate the hash sum of each table and then compare the sum of hash. The benefit of the technique below are that no matter how many fields there are and no matter what data types the fields may be, you can use following query to do the comparison:

SELECT SUM(HASH(*)) FROM t1;
SELECT SUM(HASH(*)) FROM t2;

Of course if the schemas of the two tables are different this will by default produce different hash values.

How to insert a record with Spark SQL

INSERT INTO tables with VALUES option as achieved with other SQL variants is not supported in Spark SQL as of now. For single record inserts the below example provides two options:

--CREATE test table
CREATE TABLE TestSchema.InsertTest USING DELTA AS (SELECT 1 AS row_id, 'value1' AS field_1, 'value2' AS field_2)

--INSERT INTO test table
INSERT INTO TestSchema.InsertTest SELECT t.* FROM (SELECT 2, 'value3', 'value4') t;

--INSERT INTO test table while aliasing field names
INSERT INTO TestSchema.InsertTest SELECT t.* FROM (SELECT 3 AS row_id, 'value5' AS field_1, 'value6' AS field_2) t;

--Confirm insert
SELECT * FROM TestSchema.InsertTest

How to count nulls and hard-coded text that signifies null in a Pandas DataFrame

Use case: sometimes files are processed were nulls are represented with text like “NULL” meaning the field is not actually empty or null.

Below are some python functions and a test demonstrating functionality.

def getListOfMissingValues():
    """
    desc: List of common words used to represent null that are often found in files as text
    """
    lst = ['NaN', 'NAN', 'nan', 'null', 'NULL', 'nul', 'NUL', 'none', 'NONE', '', ' ', '	']
    return lst
	
def advanceMissingValues(df):
    """
    desc: Count nulls and hardcoded text that represents nulls
    param p1: DataFrame name
    return: DataFrame of field names and count values
    """
    lstMissingVals = getListOfMissingValues()
    col_list = getListOfFieldNames(df)
    output = pd.DataFrame(col_list)
    output.rename(columns = {0:'FieldName'}, inplace = True)
    output['Count'] = ''
    
    #For each field name count nulls and other null type values
    for col in col_list:
        nullCnt = df[col].isnull().sum(axis=0)
        #For each missing value perform count on column
        missValCnt = 0
        for missVal in lstMissingVals:
            missValCnt = missValCnt + len(df[(df[col]==missVal)])
 
        cntTotal = nullCnt + missValCnt
        output.loc[output['FieldName'] == col, 'Count'] = cntTotal

    return output

#Test Setup
lst = ['NaN', 'NAN', 'nan', 'null', 'NULL', 'nul', 'NUL', 'none', 'NONE', '', ' ', '	' ,None]
mdf = pd.DataFrame(lst)
mdf.rename(columns = {0:'NullTypes'}, inplace = True)
print(mdf)

#Run Test
chk = advanceMissingValues(mdf)
chk

Sample output:

How to convert Panda DataFrame headers to snake case

# Python code demonstrate 
# Make headers snake case
 
import pandas as pd
 
# initialise data of lists.
data = {'First Name':['Tom', 'nick', 'krish', 'jack'], 'Age of Person':[20, 21, 19, 18]}
 
# Create DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
 
# Print the output.
print(df)

# Make headers snake case
df.columns = [x.lower() for x in df.columns]
df.columns = df.columns.str.replace("[ ]", "_", regex=True)

# Print the output.
print(df)

How to drop a Spark Delta table and associated files using Spark SQL and cmd

#Step 1
#Find and replace schemaName
#Find and replace tableName

#Step 2 
#Find the table 
#Via Databricks run the Spark SQL query below
#default is schema, change as needed
DESC FORMATTED schemaName.tableName;

#Step 3
#From the table returned scroll down to "location" and copy the field value
#Find and replace locationFieldValue

#Step 5
#Via Databricks using Spark SQL drop the table
DROP TABLE tableName

#Step 6
#Find and replace locationFieldValue
#By the means you use to interact with Databricks File System (dbfs), e.g. cmd python virtual environment
#Run command below
dbfs rm -r "locationFieldValue"

How to dynamically pivot a SQL Server table using dynamic T-SQL

A dynamic pivot table means you do not need to define hard coded column names as a dynamic query will fetch the field values from a column and use them as the column names while pivoting the source table.

Sounds complicated?

It is!

Good thing there are some code examples below you can just steal and alter as you need.

The first example will just return as a SELECT, the second example will write the results to a global temp table called ##Result.

A use case for this might be a continuous requirement to pivot a table however the column name requirements keep changing as field values change.

Example 1: Return as SELECT

/*Mock Table*/
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.#Fruits', 'U') IS NOT NULL
	DROP TABLE #Fruits;

CREATE TABLE #Fruits (
	Fruit VARCHAR(255)
	,Quantity INT
	,DateOf DATETIME
	);

INSERT INTO #Fruits (
	Fruit
	,Quantity
	,DateOf
	)
VALUES 
('Apple', 10	,GETDATE())
,('Orange', 10	,GETDATE())
,('Banana', 10, GETDATE())
,('Apple', 11, DATEADD(DAY, - 1, GETDATE()))
,('Orange', 11, DATEADD(DAY, - 1, GETDATE()))
,('Banana', 11, DATEADD(DAY, - 1, GETDATE()))
,('Apple', 12, DATEADD(DAY, - 2, GETDATE()))
,('Orange', 12, DATEADD(DAY, - 2, GETDATE()))
,('Banana', 12, DATEADD(DAY, - 2, GETDATE()))
,('Apple', 13, DATEADD(DAY, - 3, GETDATE()))
,('Orange', 13, DATEADD(DAY, - 3, GETDATE()))
,('Banana', 13, DATEADD(DAY, - 3, GETDATE()));

/*Demo Mock table*/
SELECT *
FROM #Fruits;

/*Logic to dynamically pivot table*/
DECLARE @cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX)
	,@query AS NVARCHAR(MAX);

SELECT @cols = STUFF((
			SELECT DISTINCT QUOTENAME(f.[Fruit]) + ', '
			FROM #Fruits AS f
			FOR XML PATH('')
				,TYPE
			).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)'), 1, 1, '');

/*Add missing square bracket to start of string*/
SET @cols = '[' + @cols;
/*Remove last comma from string*/
SET @cols = SUBSTRING(@cols, 1, (LEN(@cols) - 1));
SET @query = 'SELECT [DateOf], ' + @cols + ' FROM 
             (
              SELECT *
			  FROM #Fruits
            ) x
            pivot 
            (
                min(Quantity)
                for [Fruit] in (' + @cols + ')
            ) p ORDER BY RIGHT([DateOf], 4) ASC
			,LEFT(RIGHT([DateOf], 7), 2) ASC
			,LEFT([DateOf], 2) ASC';

EXECUTE (@query);

DROP TABLE #Fruits;

Example 2: Write output to a table

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.##Result', 'U') IS NOT NULL
	DROP TABLE ##Result;
/*Mock Table*/
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.#Fruits', 'U') IS NOT NULL
	DROP TABLE #Fruits;

CREATE TABLE #Fruits (
	Fruit VARCHAR(255)
	,Quantity INT
	,DateOf DATETIME
	);

INSERT INTO #Fruits (
	Fruit
	,Quantity
	,DateOf
	)
VALUES 
('Apple', 10	,GETDATE())
,('Orange', 10	,GETDATE())
,('Banana', 10, GETDATE())
,('Apple', 11, DATEADD(DAY, - 1, GETDATE()))
,('Orange', 11, DATEADD(DAY, - 1, GETDATE()))
,('Banana', 11, DATEADD(DAY, - 1, GETDATE()))
,('Apple', 12, DATEADD(DAY, - 2, GETDATE()))
,('Orange', 12, DATEADD(DAY, - 2, GETDATE()))
,('Banana', 12, DATEADD(DAY, - 2, GETDATE()))
,('Apple', 13, DATEADD(DAY, - 3, GETDATE()))
,('Orange', 13, DATEADD(DAY, - 3, GETDATE()))
,('Banana', 13, DATEADD(DAY, - 3, GETDATE()));

/*Demo Mock table*/
SELECT *
FROM #Fruits;

/*Logic to dynamically pivot table*/
DECLARE @cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX)
	,@query AS NVARCHAR(MAX);

SELECT @cols = STUFF((
			SELECT DISTINCT QUOTENAME(f.[Fruit]) + ', '
			FROM #Fruits AS f
			FOR XML PATH('')
				,TYPE
			).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)'), 1, 1, '');

/*Add missing square bracket to start of string*/
SET @cols = '[' + @cols;
/*Remove last comma from string*/
SET @cols = SUBSTRING(@cols, 1, (LEN(@cols) - 1));
SET @query = 'SELECT [DateOf], ' + @cols + ' INTO ##Result FROM 
             (
              SELECT *
			  FROM #Fruits
            ) x
            pivot 
            (
                min(Quantity)
                for [Fruit] in (' + @cols + ')
            ) p ORDER BY RIGHT([DateOf], 4) ASC
			,LEFT(RIGHT([DateOf], 7), 2) ASC
			,LEFT([DateOf], 2) ASC';

EXECUTE (@query);

SELECT * FROM ##Result;

DROP TABLE ##Result;

DROP TABLE #Fruits;

How to create a Spark SQL table with a SELECT statement

The following is a code snippet that would create a table in a “sales” schema called customer.

If no reference to a schema is given the table will be created in the default Spark location.

CREATE TABLE sales.customer USING DELTA AS (SELECT 'John' AS fn, 'Smith' AS sn, 55 AS age)

How to run a PowerShell script

So you have a PowerShell script and you just want to run it without messing around with permissions, policies, signing it or any other crap. (Yes yes I know all those things are vital for system wide security but you’re in a hurry damn it!)

Right click PowerShell and run as administrator.


When the terminal is open run the following line:


Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned


When prompted type the letter A and press Enter (if applicable).


Run the below including “&” at start of line with reference to your script, i.e.


& “C:\YourTestDirectory\YourTestFile.ps1”