[Storage] [STG 104] Added arrow support for List Blobs Response

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@
 
 ### Features Added
 - Added support for service version 2026-10-06.
+- Added support for parsing List Blobs responses in Apache Arrow format by passing
+`response_format="arrow"` keyword to `ContainerClient`'s `list_blobs` and `walk_blobs` APIs
+(`response_format` defaults to `"auto"`, and `"auto"` currently means `"xml"`).
+The use of `"response_format=arrow"` requires `nanoarrow` to be installed.
+This change also enables the new `end_before` keyword for range-based listing.
 - Added access tier information to the response of `BlobClient`'s `download_blob` API.
 The `blob_tier`, `blob_tier_inferred`, `blob_tier_change_time`, and `smart_access_tier`
 properties are now populated on the downloaded blob's `properties`.

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/api.md

@@ -1792,6 +1792,8 @@ namespace azure.storage.blob
                 name_starts_with: Optional[str] = None, 
                 include: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None, 
                 *, 
+                end_before: Optional[str] = ..., 
+                response_format: Literal[auto, xml, arrow] = ..., 
                 results_per_page: Optional[int] = ..., 
                 start_from: Optional[str] = ..., 
                 timeout: Optional[int] = ..., 
@@ -1883,6 +1885,8 @@ namespace azure.storage.blob
                 include: Optional[Union[List[str], str]] = None, 
                 delimiter: str = "/", 
                 *, 
+                end_before: Optional[str] = ..., 
+                response_format: Literal[auto, xml, arrow] = ..., 
                 start_from: Optional[str] = ..., 
                 timeout: Optional[int] = ..., 
                 **kwargs: Any
@@ -4438,6 +4442,8 @@ namespace azure.storage.blob.aio
                 name_starts_with: Optional[str] = None, 
                 include: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None, 
                 *, 
+                end_before: Optional[str] = ..., 
+                response_format: Literal[auto, xml, arrow] = ..., 
                 results_per_page: Optional[int] = ..., 
                 start_from: Optional[str] = ..., 
                 timeout: Optional[int] = ..., 
@@ -4529,6 +4535,8 @@ namespace azure.storage.blob.aio
                 include: Optional[Union[List[str], str]] = None, 
                 delimiter: str = "/", 
                 *, 
+                end_before: Optional[str] = ..., 
+                response_format: Literal[auto, xml, arrow] = ..., 
                 start_from: Optional[str] = ..., 
                 timeout: Optional[int] = ..., 
                 **kwargs: Any

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/api.metadata.yml

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-apiMdSha256: 38a660f5d55527fe389aaf9017736875f51f1f564acd4ea8aaaa547552b820b2
+apiMdSha256: f8f6db831d73daab6cbc18c90924b1c164055d92775d0accc82a1e3ae0a364ff
 parserVersion: 0.3.28
 pythonVersion: 3.13.14

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/assets.json

@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
   "AssetsRepo": "Azure/azure-sdk-assets",
   "AssetsRepoPrefixPath": "python",
   "TagPrefix": "python/storage/azure-storage-blob",
-  "Tag": "python/storage/azure-storage-blob_cd3cfd448d"
+  "Tag": "python/storage/azure-storage-blob_42c2d90038"
 }

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/azure/apiview-properties.json

@@ -130,8 +130,12 @@
         "azure.storage.blob.aio.operations.ContainerOperations.change_lease": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_flat_segment": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.aio.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_flat_segment": null,
+        "azure.storage.blob.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_flat_segment_apache_arrow": null,
+        "azure.storage.blob.aio.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_flat_segment_apache_arrow": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_hierarchy_segment": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.aio.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_hierarchy_segment": null,
+        "azure.storage.blob.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_hierarchy_segment_apache_arrow": null,
+        "azure.storage.blob.aio.operations.ContainerOperations.list_blob_hierarchy_segment_apache_arrow": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.operations.ContainerOperations.get_account_info": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.aio.operations.ContainerOperations.get_account_info": null,
         "azure.storage.blob.operations.BlobOperations.download": null,

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/azure/storage/blob/_container_client.py

@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 from ._generated.models import SignedIdentifier
 from ._lease import BlobLeaseClient
 from ._list_blobs_helper import (
+    ArrowBlobPropertiesPaged,
+    ArrowBlobPrefixPaged,
     BlobNamesPaged,
     BlobPrefix,
     BlobPropertiesPaged,
@@ -803,9 +805,20 @@ def list_blobs(
         :keyword int results_per_page:
             Controls the maximum number of Blobs that will be included in each page of results if using
             `ItemPaged.by_page()`.
+        :keyword response_format:
+            The format used to return and parse the List Blobs response.
+            Possible values are "auto", "xml", and "arrow".
+            Choose "auto" to let the SDK choose the best algorithm, currently "xml". The default value is "auto".
+
+            .. note::
+                The use of "arrow" requires `nanoarrow` to be installed.
+        :paramtype response_format: Literal["auto", "xml", "arrow"]
         :keyword str start_from:
             Specifies the full path (inclusive) to list paths from.
             Only one entity level is supported.
+        :keyword str end_before:
+            Specifies the relative path (exclusive) to end before list paths.
+            This may be used if response_format is set to "arrow".
         :keyword int timeout:
             Sets the server-side timeout for the operation in seconds. For more details see
             https://learn.microsoft.com/rest/api/storageservices/setting-timeouts-for-blob-service-operations.
@@ -834,15 +847,35 @@ def list_blobs(
 
         results_per_page = kwargs.pop("results_per_page", None)
         timeout = kwargs.pop("timeout", None)
+        response_format = kwargs.pop("response_format", "xml")
+        use_arrow = response_format == "arrow"
+        if use_arrow:
+            try:
+                import nanoarrow  # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel,unused-import
+            except ImportError as e:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "The use of Apache Arrow deserialization requires nanoarrow to be installed. "
+                    "Please install nanoarrow and try again."
+                ) from e
+
         command = functools.partial(
-            self._client.container.list_blob_flat_segment, include=include, timeout=timeout, **kwargs
+            (
+                self._client.container.list_blob_flat_segment_apache_arrow
+                if use_arrow
+                else self._client.container.list_blob_flat_segment
+            ),
+            include=include,
+            timeout=timeout,
+            **kwargs,
         )
         return ItemPaged(
             command,
             prefix=name_starts_with,
             results_per_page=results_per_page,
             container=self.container_name,
-            page_iterator_class=BlobPropertiesPaged,
+            page_iterator_class=ArrowBlobPropertiesPaged if use_arrow else BlobPropertiesPaged,
+            # pylint: disable-next=protected-access
+            **({"deserializer": self._client.container._deserialize} if use_arrow else {}),
         )
 
     @distributed_trace
@@ -922,8 +955,19 @@ def walk_blobs(
             element in the response body that acts as a placeholder for all blobs whose
             names begin with the same substring up to the appearance of the delimiter
             character. The delimiter may be a single character or a string.
+        :keyword response_format:
+            The format used to return and parse the List Blobs response.
+            Possible values are "auto", "xml", and "arrow".
+            Choose "auto" to let the SDK choose the best algorithm, currently "xml". The default value is "auto".
+
+            .. note::
+                The use of "arrow" requires `nanoarrow` to be installed.
+        :paramtype response_format: Literal["auto", "xml", "arrow"]
         :keyword str start_from:
             Specifies the full path (inclusive) to list paths from.
+        :keyword str end_before:
+            Specifies the relative path (exclusive) to end before list paths.
+            This may be used if response_format is set to "arrow".
         :keyword int timeout:
             Sets the server-side timeout for the operation in seconds. For more details see
             https://learn.microsoft.com/rest/api/storageservices/setting-timeouts-for-blob-service-operations.
@@ -943,6 +987,33 @@ def walk_blobs(
 
         results_per_page = kwargs.pop("results_per_page", None)
         timeout = kwargs.pop("timeout", None)
+        response_format = kwargs.pop("response_format", "xml")
+        use_arrow = response_format == "arrow"
+        if use_arrow:
+            try:
+                import nanoarrow  # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel,unused-import
+            except ImportError as e:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "The use of Apache Arrow deserialization requires nanoarrow to be installed. "
+                    "Please install nanoarrow and try again."
+                ) from e
+            command = functools.partial(
+                self._client.container.list_blob_hierarchy_segment_apache_arrow,
+                delimiter=delimiter,
+                include=include,
+                timeout=timeout,
+                **kwargs,
+            )
+            return ItemPaged(
+                command,
+                prefix=name_starts_with,
+                results_per_page=results_per_page,
+                container=self.container_name,
+                delimiter=delimiter,
+                deserializer=self._client.container._deserialize,  # pylint: disable=protected-access
+                page_iterator_class=ArrowBlobPrefixPaged,
+            )
+
         command = functools.partial(
             self._client.container.list_blob_hierarchy_segment,
             delimiter=delimiter,

sdk/storage/azure-storage-blob/azure/storage/blob/_container_client.pyi

@@ -202,7 +202,9 @@ class ContainerClient(StorageAccountHostsMixin, StorageEncryptionMixin):
         include: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
         *,
         results_per_page: Optional[int] = None,
+        response_format: Literal["auto", "xml", "arrow"] = "auto",
         start_from: Optional[str] = None,
+        end_before: Optional[str] = None,
         timeout: Optional[int] = None,
         **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> ItemPaged[BlobProperties]: ...
@@ -223,7 +225,9 @@ class ContainerClient(StorageAccountHostsMixin, StorageEncryptionMixin):
         include: Optional[Union[List[str], str]] = None,
         delimiter: str = "/",
         *,
+        response_format: Literal["auto", "xml", "arrow"] = "auto",
         start_from: Optional[str] = None,
+        end_before: Optional[str] = None,
         timeout: Optional[int] = None,
         **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> ItemPaged[Union[BlobProperties, BlobPrefix]]: ...