Adding top_k argument to text-classification pipeline. (#17606)

* Adding `top_k` and `sort` arguments to `text-classification` pipeline.

- Deprecate `return_all_scores` as `top_k` is more uniform with other
  pipelines, and a superset of what `return_all_scores` can do.
  BC is maintained though.
  `return_all_scores=True` -> `top_k=None`
  `return_all_scores=False` -> `top_k=1`

- Using `top_k` will imply sorting the results, but using no argument
  will keep the results unsorted for backward compatibility.

* Remove `sort`.

* Fixing the test.

* Remove bad doc.

src/transformers/pipelines/text_classification.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import warnings
 from typing import Dict
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -72,15 +73,26 @@ class TextClassificationPipeline(Pipeline):
             else MODEL_FOR_SEQUENCE_CLASSIFICATION_MAPPING
         )
 
-    def _sanitize_parameters(self, return_all_scores=None, function_to_apply=None, **tokenizer_kwargs):
+    def _sanitize_parameters(self, return_all_scores=None, function_to_apply=None, top_k="", **tokenizer_kwargs):
+        # Using "" as default argument because we're going to use `top_k=None` in user code to declare
+        # "No top_k"
         preprocess_params = tokenizer_kwargs
 
         postprocess_params = {}
         if hasattr(self.model.config, "return_all_scores") and return_all_scores is None:
             return_all_scores = self.model.config.return_all_scores
 
-        if return_all_scores is not None:
+        if isinstance(top_k, int) or top_k is None:
-            postprocess_params["return_all_scores"] = return_all_scores
+            postprocess_params["top_k"] = top_k
+            postprocess_params["_legacy"] = False
+        elif return_all_scores is not None:
+            warnings.warn(
+                "`return_all_scores` is now deprecated, use `top_k=1` if you want similar functionnality", UserWarning
+            )
+            if return_all_scores:
+                postprocess_params["top_k"] = None
+            else:
+                postprocess_params["top_k"] = 1
 
         if isinstance(function_to_apply, str):
             function_to_apply = ClassificationFunction[function_to_apply.upper()]
@@ -97,8 +109,8 @@ class TextClassificationPipeline(Pipeline):
             args (`str` or `List[str]` or `Dict[str]`, or `List[Dict[str]]`):
                 One or several texts to classify. In order to use text pairs for your classification, you can send a
                 dictionnary containing `{"text", "text_pair"}` keys, or a list of those.
-            return_all_scores (`bool`, *optional*, defaults to `False`):
+            top_k (`int`, *optional*, defaults to `1`):
-                Whether to return scores for all labels.
+                How many results to return.
             function_to_apply (`str`, *optional*, defaults to `"default"`):
                 The function to apply to the model outputs in order to retrieve the scores. Accepts four different
                 values:
@@ -121,10 +133,10 @@ class TextClassificationPipeline(Pipeline):
             - **label** (`str`) -- The label predicted.
             - **score** (`float`) -- The corresponding probability.
 
-            If `self.return_all_scores=True`, one such dictionary is returned per label.
+            If `top_k` is used, one such dictionary is returned per label.
         """
         result = super().__call__(*args, **kwargs)
-        if isinstance(args[0], str):
+        if isinstance(args[0], str) and isinstance(result, dict):
             # This pipeline is odd, and return a list when single item is run
             return [result]
         else:
@@ -150,7 +162,10 @@ class TextClassificationPipeline(Pipeline):
     def _forward(self, model_inputs):
         return self.model(**model_inputs)
 
-    def postprocess(self, model_outputs, function_to_apply=None, return_all_scores=False):
+    def postprocess(self, model_outputs, function_to_apply=None, top_k=1, _legacy=True):
+        # `_legacy` is used to determine if we're running the naked pipeline and in backward
+        # compatibility mode, or if running the pipeline with `pipeline(..., top_k=1)` we're running
+        # the more natural result containing the list.
         # Default value before `set_parameters`
         if function_to_apply is None:
             if self.model.config.problem_type == "multi_label_classification" or self.model.config.num_labels == 1:
@@ -174,7 +189,14 @@ class TextClassificationPipeline(Pipeline):
         else:
             raise ValueError(f"Unrecognized `function_to_apply` argument: {function_to_apply}")
 
-        if return_all_scores:
+        if top_k == 1 and _legacy:
-            return [{"label": self.model.config.id2label[i], "score": score.item()} for i, score in enumerate(scores)]
-        else:
             return {"label": self.model.config.id2label[scores.argmax().item()], "score": scores.max().item()}
+
+        dict_scores = [
+            {"label": self.model.config.id2label[i], "score": score.item()} for i, score in enumerate(scores)
+        ]
+        if not _legacy:
+            dict_scores.sort(key=lambda x: x["score"], reverse=True)
+            if top_k is not None:
+                dict_scores = dict_scores[:top_k]
+        return dict_scores

tests/pipelines/test_pipelines_text_classification.py

@@ -39,6 +39,27 @@ class TextClassificationPipelineTests(unittest.TestCase, metaclass=PipelineTestC
         outputs = text_classifier("This is great !")
         self.assertEqual(nested_simplify(outputs), [{"label": "LABEL_0", "score": 0.504}])
 
+        outputs = text_classifier("This is great !", top_k=2)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            nested_simplify(outputs), [{"label": "LABEL_0", "score": 0.504}, {"label": "LABEL_1", "score": 0.496}]
+        )
+
+        outputs = text_classifier(["This is great !", "This is bad"], top_k=2)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            nested_simplify(outputs),
+            [
+                [{"label": "LABEL_0", "score": 0.504}, {"label": "LABEL_1", "score": 0.496}],
+                [{"label": "LABEL_0", "score": 0.504}, {"label": "LABEL_1", "score": 0.496}],
+            ],
+        )
+
+        outputs = text_classifier("This is great !", top_k=1)
+        self.assertEqual(nested_simplify(outputs), [{"label": "LABEL_0", "score": 0.504}])
+
+        # Legacy behavior
+        outputs = text_classifier("This is great !", return_all_scores=False)
+        self.assertEqual(nested_simplify(outputs), [{"label": "LABEL_0", "score": 0.504}])
+
     @require_torch
     def test_accepts_torch_device(self):
         import torch
@@ -108,6 +129,15 @@ class TextClassificationPipelineTests(unittest.TestCase, metaclass=PipelineTestC
         self.assertTrue(outputs[0]["label"] in model.config.id2label.values())
         self.assertTrue(outputs[1]["label"] in model.config.id2label.values())
 
+        # Forcing to get all results with `top_k=None`
+        # This is NOT the legacy format
+        outputs = text_classifier(valid_inputs, top_k=None)
+        N = len(model.config.id2label.values())
+        self.assertEqual(
+            nested_simplify(outputs),
+            [[{"label": ANY(str), "score": ANY(float)}] * N, [{"label": ANY(str), "score": ANY(float)}] * N],
+        )
+
         valid_inputs = {"text": "HuggingFace is in ", "text_pair": "Paris is in France"}
         outputs = text_classifier(valid_inputs)
         self.assertEqual(