class_docstr: The class for binary operations of pandas-on-Spark objects with spark type: StringType.
class_docstr_tok: ["The","class","for","binary","operations","of","pandas-on-Spark","objects","with","spark","type",":","StringType","."]
code: def astype(
      self, index_ops: IndexOpsLike, dtype: Union[str, type, Dtype]
  ) -> IndexOpsLike:
      dtype, spark_type = pandas_on_spark_type(dtype)
  
      if isinstance(dtype, CategoricalDtype):
          return _as_categorical_type(index_ops, dtype, spark_type)
  
      if isinstance(spark_type, BooleanType):
          if isinstance(dtype, extension_dtypes):
              scol = index_ops.spark.column.cast(spark_type)
          else:
              scol = F.when(
                  index_ops.spark.column.isNull(), F.lit(False)
              ).otherwise(F.length(index_ops.spark.column) > 0)
          return index_ops._with_new_scol(
              scol,
              field=index_ops._internal.data_fields[0].copy(
                  dtype=dtype, spark_type=spark_type
              ),
          )
      elif isinstance(spark_type, StringType):
          null_str = (
              str(pd.NA)
              if isinstance(self, StringExtensionOps)
              else str(None)
          )
          return _as_string_type(index_ops, dtype, null_str=null_str)
      else:
          return _as_other_type(index_ops, dtype, spark_type)
  
imports: from typing import Any, Union, cast
  import pandas
  from pandas.api.types import CategoricalDtype
  from pyspark.sql import functions
  from pyspark.sql.types import IntegralType, StringType
  from pyspark.sql.utils import pyspark_column_op
  from pyspark.pandas._typing import Dtype, IndexOpsLike, SeriesOrIndex
  from pyspark.pandas.base import column_op, IndexOpsMixin
  from pyspark.pandas.data_type_ops.base import DataTypeOps, _as_categorical_type, _as_other_type, _as_string_type, _sanitize_list_like
  from pyspark.pandas.typedef import extension_dtypes, pandas_on_spark_type
  from pyspark.sql.types import BooleanType
label_desc: Use image node_id 10 for calling the StringOps obj's underlying member method code with example usage: obj.astype(index_ops, dtype) and returns: _as_categorical_type, index_ops, _as_string_type, _as_other_type