What s the difference between filter and where in Spark SQL

Question

I have a file which contains employee data and I want to filter out the results using Spark SQL. So I've tried filter as well as where clause and I found they both works same.

example:
val items =  List(1, 2, 3)
 

using filter
employees.filter($"emp_id".isin(items:_*)).show
 

using where
employees.where($"emp_id".isin(items:_*)).show
 

Got the same result in both the cases.
Can anyone tell me why am I getting the same result using filter and where?

Answer 1

Both 'filter' and 'where' in Spark SQL gives same result. There is no difference between the two.

// The following are equivalent:
employee.filter($"age" > 15)
employee.where($"age" > 15)
employees.filter($"emp_id".isin(items:_*)).show
employees.where($"emp_id".isin(items:_*)).show

 
It's just filter is simply the standard Scala name for such a function, and where is for people who prefer SQL.