class_docstr: String methods for pandas-on-Spark Series
class_docstr_tok: ["String","methods","for","pandas-on-Spark","Series"]
docstr: Test if the start of each string element matches a pattern.
  
  Equivalent to :func:`str.startswith`.
  
  Parameters
  ----------
  pattern : str
      Character sequence. Regular expressions are not accepted.
  na : object, default None
      Object shown if element is not a string. NaN converted to None.
  
  Returns
  -------
  Series of bool or object
      pandas-on-Spark Series of booleans indicating whether the given pattern
      matches the start of each string element.
  
  Examples
  --------
  >>> s = ps.Series(['bat', 'Bear', 'cat', np.nan])
  >>> s
  0     bat
  1    Bear
  2     cat
  3    None
  dtype: object
  
  >>> s.str.startswith('b')
  0     True
  1    False
  2    False
  3     None
  dtype: object
  
  Specifying na to be False instead of None.
  
  >>> s.str.startswith('b', na=False)
  0     True
  1    False
  2    False
  3    False
  dtype: bool
code: def startswith(
      self, pattern: str, na: Optional[Any] = None
  ) -> "ps.Series":
      """
      Test if the start of each string element matches a pattern.
  
      Equivalent to :func:`str.startswith`.
  
      Parameters
      ----------
      pattern : str
          Character sequence. Regular expressions are not accepted.
      na : object, default None
          Object shown if element is not a string. NaN converted to None.
  
      Returns
      -------
      Series of bool or object
          pandas-on-Spark Series of booleans indicating whether the given pattern
          matches the start of each string element.
  
      Examples
      --------
      >>> s = ps.Series(['bat', 'Bear', 'cat', np.nan])
      >>> s
      0     bat
      1    Bear
      2     cat
      3    None
      dtype: object
  
      >>> s.str.startswith('b')
      0     True
      1    False
      2    False
      3     None
      dtype: object
  
      Specifying na to be False instead of None.
  
      >>> s.str.startswith('b', na=False)
      0     True
      1    False
      2    False
      3    False
      dtype: bool
      """
  
      def pandas_startswith(s) -> ps.Series[bool]:  # type: ignore[no-untyped-def]
          return s.str.startswith(pattern, na)
  
      return self._data.pandas_on_spark.transform_batch(
          pandas_startswith
      )
  
imports: from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Optional, Union, cast, no_type_check
  import numpy
  import pandas
  from pyspark.sql.types import StringType, BinaryType, ArrayType, LongType, MapType
  from pyspark.sql import functions
  from pyspark.sql.functions import pandas_udf
  import pyspark.pandas
label_desc: Use image node_id 7 for calling the StringMethods obj's underlying member method code with example usage: obj.startswith(pattern, na) and returns: self, s