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Associate Prediction Results with Input Records

When making predictions on a large dataset, you can exclude attributes that aren't needed for prediction. After the predictions have been made, you can associate some of the excluded attributes with those predictions or with other input data in your report. By using batch transform to perform these data processing steps, you can often eliminate additional preprocessing or postprocessing. You can use input files in JSON and CSV format only.

Workflow for Associating Inferences with Input Records

The following diagram shows the workflow for associating inferences with input records.

To associate inferences with input data, there are three main steps:

Use Data Processing in Batch Transform Jobs

When creating a batch transform job with CreateTransformJob to process data:

If you use an algorithm with the DataProcessing structure, it must support your chosen format for both input and output files. For example, with the TransformOutput field of the CreateTransformJob API, you must set both the ContentType and Accept parameters to one of the following values: text/csv, application/json, or application/jsonlines. The syntax for specifying columns in a CSV file and specifying attributes in a JSON file are different. Using the wrong syntax causes an error. For more information, see Batch Transform Examples. For more information about input and output file formats for built-in algorithms, see Use Amazon SageMaker built-in algorithms or pretrained models.

The record delimiters for the input and output must also be consistent with your chosen file input. The SplitType parameter indicates how to split the records in the input dataset. The AssembleWith parameter indicates how to reassemble the records for the output. If you set input and output formats to text/csv, you must also set the SplitType and AssembleWith parameters to line. If you set the input and output formats to application/jsonlines, you can set both SplitType and AssembleWith to line.

For CSV files, you cannot use embedded newline characters. For JSON files, the attribute name SageMakerOutput is reserved for output. The JSON input file can't have an attribute with this name. If it does, the data in the input file might be overwritten.

Supported JSONPath Operators

To filter and join the input data and inference, use a JSONPath subexpression. SageMaker supports only a subset of the defined JSONPath operators. The following table lists the supported JSONPath operators. For CSV data, each row is taken as a JSON array, so only index based JSONPaths can be applied, e.g. $[0], $[1:]. CSV data should also follow RFC format.

When using the bracket-notation to specify multiple child elements of a given field, additional nesting of children within brackets is not supported. For example, $.field1.['child1','child2'] is supported while $.field1.['child1','child2.grandchild'] is not.

For more information about JSONPath operators, see JsonPath on GitHub.

Batch Transform Examples

The following examples show some common ways to join input data with prediction results.

Example: Output Only Inferences

By default, the DataProcessing parameter doesn't join inference results with input. It outputs only the inference results.

If you want to explicitly specify to not join results with input, use the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK and specify the following settings in a transformer call.

sm_transformer = sagemaker.transformer.Transformer(…)
sm_transformer.transform(…, input_filter="$", join_source= "None", output_filter="$")

To output inferences using the Amazon SDK for Python, add the following code to your CreateTransformJob request. The following code mimics the default behavior.

{
    "DataProcessing": {
        "InputFilter": "$",
        "JoinSource": "None",
        "OutputFilter": "$"
    }
}

Example: Output Inferences Joined with Input Data

If you're using the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK to combine the input data with the inferences in the output file, specify the assemble_with and accept parameters when initializing the transformer object. When you use the transform call, specify Input for the join_source parameter, and specify the split_type and content_type parameters as well. The split_type parameter must have the same value as assemble_with, and the content_type parameter must have the same value as accept. For more information about the parameters and their accepted values, see the Transformer page in the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK.

sm_transformer = sagemaker.transformer.Transformer(…, assemble_with="Line", accept="text/csv")
sm_transformer.transform(…, join_source="Input", split_type="Line", content_type="text/csv")

If you're using the Amazon SDK for Python (Boto 3), join all input data with the inference by adding the following code to your CreateTransformJob request. The values for Accept and ContentType must match, and the values for AssembleWith and SplitType must also match.

{
    "DataProcessing": {
        "JoinSource": "Input"
    },
    "TransformOutput": {
        "Accept": "text/csv",
        "AssembleWith": "Line"
    },
    "TransformInput": {
        "ContentType": "text/csv",
        "SplitType": "Line"
    }
}

For JSON or JSON Lines input files, the results are in the SageMakerOutput key in the input JSON file. For example, if the input is a JSON file that contains the key-value pair {"key":1}, the data transform result might be {"label":1}.

SageMaker stores both in the input file in the SageMakerInput key.

{
    "key":1,
    "SageMakerOutput":{"label":1}
}

For a CSV file, for example, if the record is [1,2,3], and the label result is [1], then the output file would contain [1,2,3,1].

Example: Output Inferences Joined with Input Data and Exclude the ID Column from the Input (CSV)

If you are using the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK to join your input data with the inference output while excluding an ID column from the transformer input, specify the same parameters from the preceding example as well as a JSONPath subexpression for the input_filter in your transformer call. For example, if your input data includes five columns and the first one is the ID column, use the following transform request to select all columns except the ID column as features. The transformer still outputs all of the input columns joined with the inferences. For more information about the parameters and their accepted values, see the Transformer page in the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK.

sm_transformer = sagemaker.transformer.Transformer(…, assemble_with="Line", accept="text/csv")
sm_transformer.transform(…, split_type="Line", content_type="text/csv", input_filter="$[1:]", join_source="Input")

If you are using the Amazon SDK for Python (Boto 3), add the following code to your CreateTransformJob request.

{
    "DataProcessing": {
        "InputFilter": "$[1:]",
        "JoinSource": "Input"
    },
    "TransformOutput": {
        "Accept": "text/csv",
        "AssembleWith": "Line"
    },
    "TransformInput": {
        "ContentType": "text/csv",
        "SplitType": "Line"
    }
}

To specify columns in SageMaker, use the index of the array elements. The first column is index 0, the second column is index 1, and the sixth column is index 5.

To exclude the first column from the input, set InputFilter to "$[1:]". The colon (:) tells SageMaker to include all of the elements between two values, inclusive. For example, $[1:4] specifies the second through fifth columns.

If you omit the number after the colon, for example, [5:], the subset includes all columns from the 6th column through the last column. If you omit the number before the colon, for example, [:5], the subset includes all columns from the first column (index 0) through the sixth column.

Example: Output Inferences Joined with an ID Column and Exclude the ID Column from the Input (CSV)

If you are using the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK, you can specify the output to join only specific input columns (such as the ID column) with the inferences by specifying the output_filter in the transformer call. The output_filter uses a JSONPath subexpression to specify which columns to return as output after joining the input data with the inference results. The following request shows how you can make predictions while excluding an ID column and then join the ID column with the inferences. Note that in the following example, the last column (-1) of the output contains the inferences. If you are using JSON files, SageMaker stores the inference results in the attribute SageMakerOutput. For more information about the parameters and their accepted values, see the Transformer page in the Amazon SageMaker Python SDK.

sm_transformer = sagemaker.transformer.Transformer(…, assemble_with="Line", accept="text/csv")
sm_transformer.transform(…, split_type="Line", content_type="text/csv", input_filter="$[1:]", join_source="Input", output_filter="$[0,-1]")

If you are using the Amazon SDK for Python (Boto 3), join only the ID column with the inferences by adding the following code to your CreateTransformJob request.

{
    "DataProcessing": {
        "InputFilter": "$[1:]",
        "JoinSource": "Input",
        "OutputFilter": "$[0,-1]"
    },
    "TransformOutput": {
        "Accept": "text/csv",
        "AssembleWith": "Line"
    },
    "TransformInput": {
        "ContentType": "text/csv",
        "SplitType": "Line"
    }
}