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fix ^ evaluates as bitwise XOR instead of exponentiation - #22314

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kosiew merged 4 commits into
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xiedeyantu:cifang
May 22, 2026
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kosiew merged 4 commits into
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xiedeyantu:cifang

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Which issue does this PR close?

Rationale for this change

In PostgreSQL, the ^ operator represents exponentiation, but DataFusion was interpreting it as bitwise XOR. This caused PostgreSQL-dialect queries such as SELECT 2 ^ 3; to return 1 instead of 8.

This change aligns DataFusion's PostgreSQL SQL semantics with PostgreSQL for this operator while preserving existing non-PostgreSQL behavior.

What changes are included in this PR?

  • Added PostgreSQL-specific handling for BinaryOperator::PGExp during SQL expression lowering.
  • Lowered PostgreSQL ^ expressions to the built-in power(left, right) scalar function instead of treating them as bitwise XOR.
  • Kept existing generic-dialect ^ behavior unchanged.
  • Kept PostgreSQL bitwise XOR behavior unchanged via #.
  • Added a sqllogictest regression covering SELECT 2 ^ 3; under the PostgreSQL parser dialect.

Are these changes tested?

Yes.

Added a regression test in scalar.slt to verify that PostgreSQL-dialect ^ is evaluated as exponentiation.

Validated with:

cargo test -p datafusion-sqllogictest --test sqllogictests scalar

Are there any user-facing changes?

Yes.

For the PostgreSQL SQL parser dialect, ^ now behaves as exponentiation instead of bitwise XOR, matching PostgreSQL semantics. Generic-dialect behavior is unchanged, and PostgreSQL bitwise XOR remains available through #.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added sql SQL Planner sqllogictest SQL Logic Tests (.slt) labels May 17, 2026
@Dandandan Dandandan added the api change Changes the API exposed to users of the crate label May 18, 2026
Comment thread datafusion/sql/src/expr/mod.rs Resolved
@github-actions github-actions Bot added the auto detected api change Auto detected API change label May 18, 2026
@github-actions github-actions Bot removed the auto detected api change Auto detected API change label May 18, 2026
@xiedeyantu
xiedeyantu requested a review from Dandandan May 19, 2026 00:51

@kosiew kosiew left a comment

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Looks 👍 to me

@kosiew
kosiew added this pull request to the merge queue May 22, 2026
Merged via the queue into apache:main with commit 971cf99 May 22, 2026
38 checks passed
adriangb pushed a commit to pydantic/datafusion that referenced this pull request Oct 14, 2026
## Which issue does this PR close?

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- None; documentation fix. Follows up apache#22314.

## Rationale for this change

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in the issue then this section is not needed.
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user-visible
behavior, rather than the implementation.

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The operators page documents `#` as bitwise xor, "interchangeable with
`^`". On `main`, `SELECT 5 # 3;` fails with the default dialect
(`ParserError("No infix parser for token Sharp ...")`); `#` is only xor
in the PostgreSQL and Redshift dialects. The page describes the default
dialect, where `^` is xor.

## What changes are included in this PR?

<!--
There is no need to duplicate the description in the issue here, but it
is sometimes worth providing a summary of the individual changes in this
PR.
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The xor section and its index entry now document `^` instead of `#`,
with the current column name (`BIT_XOR`) in the example output. Per
review, the page sticks to the default dialect rather than listing
per-dialect exceptions.

## What is the testing strategy for this PR?

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We typically require tests for all PRs in order to:
1. Prevent the code from being accidentally broken by subsequent changes
2. Serve as another way to document the expected behavior of the code

Briefly describe how this PR is tested, and point to the specific tests
you added. For example: 'This new feature is covered by the
`sqllogictest` cases added in `foo.slt`'.

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is already covered by existing tests, please mention it.

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changed code is exercised.
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Ran the new example against `datafusion-cli` built from `main`;
`./ci/scripts/doc_prettier_check.sh` passes. Docs only, no test.

## Are there any user-facing changes?

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If there are user-facing changes then we may require documentation to be
updated before approving the PR.

If there are any breaking changes to public APIs, please add the `api
change` label.
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Documentation only.

Generated with Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5). It came from running the
documented SQL examples against `main`, not from an issue.
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api change Changes the API exposed to users of the crate sql SQL Planner sqllogictest SQL Logic Tests (.slt) v55.0.0

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PostgreSQL compatibility: ^ evaluates as bitwise XOR instead of exponentiation

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