sqlite-utils/sqlite_utils
feiiiiii5 8e5dfdd409
analyze_column(): handle null values in the common-value analysis
Three ways a column containing nulls produced a wrong answer, all from
nulls not being accounted for.

1. The "single distinct value" shortcut. count(distinct col) skips
   nulls in SQL, so a column holding nulls plus one other value reports
   num_distinct == 1 and took the shortcut, which reports that one value
   with a count of total_rows:

       insert [{'c': None}, {'c': None}, {'c': 'a'}, {'c': 'a'}]
       analyze_column('c').most_common   # was [(None, 4)]
       select c, count(*) group by c     # is [(None, 2), ('a', 2)]

   The shortcut now requires that the column has no nulls, so those
   columns fall through to the group by like any other.

2. The tie-break sort compared the values directly, so a null and a
   string with the same count raised TypeError:

       analyze_column('c', common_limit=5)
       # TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'NoneType' and 'str'

   sort_key() keeps nulls out of the comparison and sorts them last,
   which keeps the existing ordering of non-null ties - the test for
   'Terryterryterry' ahead of 'Kumar' at equal counts still passes.

3. truncate() turned a null into the string 'None', so a null was
   indistinguishable from a column really holding 'None'. That is the
   path analyze-tables takes, since it passes value_truncate=80.

num_distinct itself is unchanged: it still follows SQL and reports 0 for
an all-null column, which test_analyze_table_column_all_nulls pins. But
num_distinct can therefore be lower than len(most_common) when a column
holds nulls alongside all-distinct values - {'c': None, 'a', 'b'} gives
num_distinct 2 and three most_common entries. Whether null should count
as a distinct value is a question about what the number means, so I have
left it alone rather than change an output the tests already pin.

Tests: 6 new cases in tests/test_analyze.py, all failing on 6bc1d33.
Suite 1506 passed, 16 skipped. mypy, pyright, flake8, ty, black and
cog --check clean.
2026-09-28 18:55:53 +08:00
..
__init__.py Support ANY column types for strict tables 2026-08-12 16:44:01 -07:00
__main__.py Support 'python -m sqlite_utils', closes #368 2022-01-08 18:33:22 -08:00
cli.py Support ANY column types for strict tables 2026-08-12 16:44:01 -07:00
create_table_parser.py Preserve composite UNIQUE constraints in transforms 2026-08-12 18:46:18 -07:00
db.py analyze_column(): handle null values in the common-value analysis 2026-09-28 18:55:53 +08:00
hookspecs.py Fixes for Ruff>=0.16.0 (#814) 2026-07-25 14:53:12 -07:00
migrations.py Fixes for Ruff>=0.16.0 (#814) 2026-07-25 14:53:12 -07:00
plugins.py Fixes for Ruff>=0.16.0 (#814) 2026-07-25 14:53:12 -07:00
py.typed py.typed file so mypy picks up the types, closes #331 2021-11-14 15:21:04 -08:00
recipes.py Fixes for Ruff>=0.16.0 (#814) 2026-07-25 14:53:12 -07:00
utils.py Fix resource leaks caused by buffered readers 2026-09-22 11:35:41 -07:00