Convert String to type column Spark

Question

Code:

import org.apache.spark.sql.DataFrame
import org.apache.spark.sql.Column

def func(rawDF: DataFrame,primaryKey: Column, orderKey: Column): DataFrame = {

     //some process
    return newDf
} 

I am trying to create a new processed DF from existing raw DF with the function above.

Code:

var processedDF  = func(rawDF,"col1","col2")

Error:

<console>:73: error: type mismatch;
found   : String("col1")
required: org.apache.spark.sql.Column
   var processedDF  = func(rawDF,"col1","col2")
                                     ^

Any suggestions on how to change the type of the function parameter from String to org.apache.spark.sql.Column

Answer 1

Either

import org.apache.spark.sql.functions.col

func(rawDF, col("col1"), col("col2"))

or

func(rawDF, rawDF("col1"), rawDF("col2"))

or provide Column directly through $ (where spark is SparkSession object)

import spark.implicits.StringToColumn

func(rawDF, $"col1", $"col2")

or Symbol

import spark.implicits.symbolToColumn

func(rawDF, 'col1, 'col2)