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LightningDataModule

A datamodule is a shareable, reusable class that encapsulates all the steps needed to process data:


A datamodule encapsulates the five steps involved in data processing in PyTorch:

  1. Download / tokenize / process.

  2. Clean and (maybe) save to disk.

  3. Load inside Dataset.

  4. Apply transforms (rotate, tokenize, etc…).

  5. Wrap inside a DataLoader.


This class can then be shared and used anywhere:

from pl_bolts.datamodules import CIFAR10DataModule, ImagenetDataModule

model = LitClassifier()
trainer = Trainer()

imagenet = ImagenetDataModule()
trainer.fit(model, imagenet)

cifar10 = CIFAR10DataModule()
trainer.fit(model, cifar10)

Why do I need a DataModule?

In normal PyTorch code, the data cleaning/preparation is usually scattered across many files. This makes sharing and reusing the exact splits and transforms across projects impossible.

Datamodules are for you if you ever asked the questions:

  • what splits did you use?

  • what transforms did you use?

  • what normalization did you use?

  • how did you prepare/tokenize the data?

What is a DataModule

A DataModule is simply a collection of a train_dataloader, val_dataloader(s), test_dataloader(s) along with the matching transforms and data processing/downloads steps required.

Here’s a simple PyTorch example:

# regular PyTorch
test_data = MNIST(PATH, train=False, download=True)
train_data = MNIST(PATH, train=True, download=True)
train_data, val_data = random_split(train_data, [55000, 5000])

train_loader = DataLoader(train_data, batch_size=32)
val_loader = DataLoader(val_data, batch_size=32)
test_loader = DataLoader(test_data, batch_size=32)

The equivalent DataModule just organizes the same exact code, but makes it reusable across projects.

class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):

    def __init__(self, data_dir: str = PATH, batch_size):
        super().__init__()
        self.batch_size = batch_size

    def setup(self, stage=None):
        self.mnist_test = MNIST(self.data_dir, train=False)
        mnist_full = MNIST(self.data_dir, train=True)
        self.mnist_train, self.mnist_val = random_split(mnist_full, [55000, 5000])

    def train_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_train, batch_size=self.batch_size)

    def val_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_val, batch_size=self.batch_size)

    def test_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_test, batch_size=self.batch_size)

But now, as the complexity of your processing grows (transforms, multiple-GPU training), you can let Lightning handle those details for you while making this dataset reusable so you can share with colleagues or use in different projects.

mnist = MNISTDataModule(PATH)
model = LitClassifier()

trainer = Trainer()
trainer.fit(model, mnist)

Here’s a more realistic, complex DataModule that shows how much more reusable the datamodule is.

import pytorch_lightning as pl
from torch.utils.data import random_split, DataLoader

# Note - you must have torchvision installed for this example
from torchvision.datasets import MNIST
from torchvision import transforms


class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):

    def __init__(self, data_dir: str = './'):
        super().__init__()
        self.data_dir = data_dir
        self.transform = transforms.Compose([
            transforms.ToTensor(),
            transforms.Normalize((0.1307,), (0.3081,))
        ])

        # self.dims is returned when you call dm.size()
        # Setting default dims here because we know them.
        # Could optionally be assigned dynamically in dm.setup()
        self.dims = (1, 28, 28)

    def prepare_data(self):
        # download
        MNIST(self.data_dir, train=True, download=True)
        MNIST(self.data_dir, train=False, download=True)

    def setup(self, stage=None):

        # Assign train/val datasets for use in dataloaders
        if stage == 'fit' or stage is None:
            mnist_full = MNIST(self.data_dir, train=True, transform=self.transform)
            self.mnist_train, self.mnist_val = random_split(mnist_full, [55000, 5000])

            # Optionally...
            # self.dims = tuple(self.mnist_train[0][0].shape)

        # Assign test dataset for use in dataloader(s)
        if stage == 'test' or stage is None:
            self.mnist_test = MNIST(self.data_dir, train=False, transform=self.transform)

            # Optionally...
            # self.dims = tuple(self.mnist_test[0][0].shape)

    def train_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_train, batch_size=32)

    def val_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_val, batch_size=32)

    def test_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_test, batch_size=32)

Note

setup expects a string arg stage. It is used to separate setup logic for trainer.fit and trainer.test.

LightningDataModule API

To define a DataModule define 5 methods:

  • prepare_data (how to download(), tokenize, etc…)

  • setup (how to split, etc…)

  • train_dataloader

  • val_dataloader(s)

  • test_dataloader(s)

prepare_data

Use this method to do things that might write to disk or that need to be done only from a single GPU in distributed settings.

  • download

  • tokenize

  • etc…

class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):
    def prepare_data(self):
        # download
        MNIST(os.getcwd(), train=True, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
        MNIST(os.getcwd(), train=False, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())

Warning

prepare_data is called from a single GPU. Do not use it to assign state (self.x = y).

setup

There are also data operations you might want to perform on every GPU. Use setup to do things like:

  • count number of classes

  • build vocabulary

  • perform train/val/test splits

  • apply transforms (defined explicitly in your datamodule or assigned in init)

  • etc…

import pytorch_lightning as pl


class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):

    def setup(self, stage: Optional[str] = None):

        # Assign Train/val split(s) for use in Dataloaders
        if stage == 'fit' or stage is None:
            mnist_full = MNIST(
                self.data_dir,
                train=True,
                download=True,
                transform=self.transform
            )
            self.mnist_train, self.mnist_val = random_split(mnist_full, [55000, 5000])
            self.dims = self.mnist_train[0][0].shape

        # Assign Test split(s) for use in Dataloaders
        if stage == 'test' or stage is None:
            self.mnist_test = MNIST(
                self.data_dir,
                train=False,
                download=True,
                transform=self.transform
            )
            self.dims = getattr(self, 'dims', self.mnist_test[0][0].shape)

Warning

setup is called from every GPU. Setting state here is okay.

train_dataloader

Use this method to generate the train dataloader. Usually you just wrap the dataset you defined in setup.

import pytorch_lightning as pl


class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):
    def train_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_train, batch_size=64)

val_dataloader

Use this method to generate the val dataloader. Usually you just wrap the dataset you defined in setup.

import pytorch_lightning as pl


class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):
    def val_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_val, batch_size=64)

test_dataloader

Use this method to generate the test dataloader. Usually you just wrap the dataset you defined in setup.

import pytorch_lightning as pl


class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):
    def test_dataloader(self):
        return DataLoader(self.mnist_test, batch_size=64)

transfer_batch_to_device

Override to define how you want to move an arbitrary batch to a device

import pytorch_lightning as pl


class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):
    def transfer_batch_to_device(self, batch, device):
        x = batch['x']
        x = CustomDataWrapper(x)
        batch['x'].to(device)
        return batch

Note

To decouple your data from transforms you can parametrize them via __init__.

class MNISTDataModule(pl.LightningDataModule):
    def __init__(self, train_transforms, val_transforms, test_transforms):
        super().__init__()
        self.train_transforms = train_transforms
        self.val_transforms = val_transforms
        self.test_transforms = test_transforms

Using a DataModule

The recommended way to use a DataModule is simply:

dm = MNISTDataModule()
model = Model()
trainer.fit(model, dm)

trainer.test(datamodule=dm)

If you need information from the dataset to build your model, then run prepare_data and setup manually (Lightning still ensures the method runs on the correct devices)

dm = MNISTDataModule()
dm.prepare_data()
dm.setup('fit')

model = Model(num_classes=dm.num_classes, width=dm.width, vocab=dm.vocab)
trainer.fit(model, dm)

dm.setup('test')
trainer.test(datamodule=dm)

Datamodules without Lightning

You can of course use DataModules in plain PyTorch code as well.

# download, etc...
dm = MNISTDataModule()
dm.prepare_data()

# splits/transforms
dm.setup('fit')

# use data
for batch in dm.train_dataloader():
    ...
for batch in dm.val_dataloader():
    ...

# lazy load test data
dm.setup('test')
for batch in dm.test_dataloader():
    ...

But overall, DataModules encourage reproducibility by allowing all details of a dataset to be specified in a unified structure.

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