Padding strategy (left and right) rather than boolean flag

transformers/tests/tokenization_tests_commons.py

@@ -343,21 +343,33 @@ class CommonTestCases:
             padding_size = 10
             padding_idx = tokenizer.pad_token_id
 
-            # Check that it correctly pads when a maximum length is specified along with the padding flag set to True
+            # RIGHT PADDING - Check that it correctly pads when a maximum length is specified along with the padding flag set to True
             encoded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence)
             sequence_length = len(encoded_sequence)
-            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence, max_length=sequence_length + padding_size, pad_to_max_length=True)
+            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence, max_length=sequence_length + padding_size, padding_strategy='right')
             padded_sequence_length = len(padded_sequence)
             assert sequence_length + padding_size == padded_sequence_length
             assert encoded_sequence + [padding_idx] * padding_size == padded_sequence
 
-            # Check that nothing is done when a maximum length is not specified
+            # LEFT PADDING - Check that it correctly pads when a maximum length is specified along with the padding flag set to True
             encoded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence)
             sequence_length = len(encoded_sequence)
-            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence, pad_to_max_length=True)
+            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence, max_length=sequence_length + padding_size, padding_strategy='left')
             padded_sequence_length = len(padded_sequence)
-            assert sequence_length == padded_sequence_length
-            assert encoded_sequence == padded_sequence
+            assert sequence_length + padding_size == padded_sequence_length
+            assert [padding_idx] * padding_size + encoded_sequence == padded_sequence
+
+            # RIGHT & LEFT PADDING - Check that nothing is done when a maximum length is not specified
+            encoded_sequence = tokenizer.encode(sequence)
+            sequence_length = len(encoded_sequence)
+            padded_sequence_right = tokenizer.encode(sequence, padding_strategy='right')
+            padded_sequence_right_length = len(padded_sequence_right)
+            padded_sequence_left = tokenizer.encode(sequence, padding_strategy='left')
+            padded_sequence_left_length = len(padded_sequence_left)
+            assert sequence_length == padded_sequence_right_length
+            assert encoded_sequence == padded_sequence_right
+            assert sequence_length == padded_sequence_left_length
+            assert encoded_sequence == padded_sequence_left
 
         def test_encode_plus_with_padding(self):
             tokenizer = self.get_tokenizer()
@@ -374,7 +386,8 @@ class CommonTestCases:
             special_tokens_mask = encoded_sequence['special_tokens_mask']
             sequence_length = len(input_ids)
 
-            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode_plus(sequence, max_length=sequence_length + padding_size, pad_to_max_length=True, return_special_tokens_mask=True)
+            # Test right padding
+            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode_plus(sequence, max_length=sequence_length + padding_size, padding_strategy='right', return_special_tokens_mask=True)
             padded_input_ids = padded_sequence['input_ids']
             padded_token_type_ids = padded_sequence['token_type_ids']
             padded_attention_mask = padded_sequence['attention_mask']
@@ -385,4 +398,18 @@ class CommonTestCases:
             assert input_ids + [padding_idx] * padding_size == padded_input_ids
             assert token_type_ids + [token_type_padding_idx] * padding_size == padded_token_type_ids
             assert attention_mask + [0] * padding_size == padded_attention_mask 
-            assert special_tokens_mask + [1] * padding_size == padded_special_tokens_mask 
+            assert special_tokens_mask + [1] * padding_size == padded_special_tokens_mask 
\ No newline at end of file
+
+            # Test left padding
+            padded_sequence = tokenizer.encode_plus(sequence, max_length=sequence_length + padding_size, padding_strategy='left', return_special_tokens_mask=True)
+            padded_input_ids = padded_sequence['input_ids']
+            padded_token_type_ids = padded_sequence['token_type_ids']
+            padded_attention_mask = padded_sequence['attention_mask']
+            padded_special_tokens_mask = padded_sequence['special_tokens_mask']
+            padded_sequence_length = len(padded_input_ids)
+
+            assert sequence_length + padding_size == padded_sequence_length
+            assert [padding_idx] * padding_size + input_ids == padded_input_ids
+            assert [token_type_padding_idx] * padding_size + token_type_ids == padded_token_type_ids
+            assert [0] * padding_size + attention_mask == padded_attention_mask 
+            assert [1] * padding_size + special_tokens_mask == padded_special_tokens_mask 
\ No newline at end of file

transformers/tokenization_utils.py

@@ -702,7 +702,7 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                max_length=None,
                stride=0,
                truncation_strategy='longest_first',
-               pad_to_max_length=False,
+               padding_strategy=None,
                return_tensors=None,
                **kwargs):
         """
@@ -729,8 +729,12 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                 - 'only_first': Only truncate the first sequence
                 - 'only_second': Only truncate the second sequence
                 - 'do_not_truncate': Does not truncate (raise an error if the input sequence is longer than max_length)
-            pad_to_max_length: if set to `True`, the returned sequences will be padded according to the model's 
+            padding_strategy: if set to a strategy, the returned sequences will be padded according to the model's 
                 padding index, up to their max length. If no max length is specified, no padding is done.
+                The strategies are handled by the following strings:
+                - 'left': pads on the left of the sequences
+                - 'right': pads on the right of the sequences   
+                Defaults to None: no padding.
             return_tensors: (optional) can be set to 'tf' or 'pt' to return respectively TensorFlow tf.constant
                 or PyTorch torch.Tensor instead of a list of python integers.
             **kwargs: passed to the `self.tokenize()` method
@@ -741,7 +745,7 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                                           add_special_tokens=add_special_tokens,
                                           stride=stride,
                                           truncation_strategy=truncation_strategy,
-                                          pad_to_max_length=pad_to_max_length,
+                                          padding_strategy=padding_strategy,
                                           return_tensors=return_tensors,
                                           **kwargs)
 
@@ -754,7 +758,7 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                     max_length=None,
                     stride=0,
                     truncation_strategy='longest_first',
-                    pad_to_max_length=False,
+                    padding_strategy=None,
                     return_tensors=None,
                     return_token_type_ids=True,
                     return_attention_mask=True,
@@ -784,8 +788,12 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                 - 'only_first': Only truncate the first sequence
                 - 'only_second': Only truncate the second sequence
                 - 'do_not_truncate': Does not truncate (raise an error if the input sequence is longer than max_length)
-            pad_to_max_length: if set to `True`, the returned sequences will be padded according to the model's 
+            padding_strategy: if set to a strategy, the returned sequences will be padded according to the model's 
                 padding index, up to their max length. If no max length is specified, no padding is done.
+                The strategies are handled by the following strings:
+                - 'left': pads on the left of the sequences
+                - 'right': pads on the right of the sequences   
+                Defaults to None: no padding.
             return_tensors: (optional) can be set to 'tf' or 'pt' to return respectively TensorFlow tf.constant
                 or PyTorch torch.Tensor instead of a list of python integers.
             return_token_type_ids: (optional) Set to False to avoid returning token_type_ids (default True).
@@ -833,7 +841,7 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
         return self.prepare_for_model(first_ids,
                                       pair_ids=second_ids,
                                       max_length=max_length,
-                                      pad_to_max_length=pad_to_max_length,
+                                      padding_strategy=padding_strategy,
                                       add_special_tokens=add_special_tokens,
                                       stride=stride,
                                       truncation_strategy=truncation_strategy,
@@ -845,7 +853,7 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
 
     def prepare_for_model(self, ids, pair_ids=None, max_length=None, add_special_tokens=True, stride=0,
                           truncation_strategy='longest_first',
-                          pad_to_max_length=False,
+                          padding_strategy=None,
                           return_tensors=None,
                           return_token_type_ids=True,
                           return_attention_mask=True,
@@ -873,8 +881,12 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                 - 'only_first': Only truncate the first sequence
                 - 'only_second': Only truncate the second sequence
                 - 'do_not_truncate': Does not truncate (raise an error if the input sequence is longer than max_length)
-            pad_to_max_length: if set to `True`, the returned sequences will be padded according to the model's 
+            padding_strategy: if set to a strategy, the returned sequences will be padded according to the model's 
                 padding index, up to their max length. If no max length is specified, no padding is done.
+                The strategies are handled by the following strings:
+                - 'left': pads on the left of the sequences
+                - 'right': pads on the right of the sequences            
+                Defaults to None: no padding.
             return_tensors: (optional) can be set to 'tf' or 'pt' to return respectively TensorFlow tf.constant
                 or PyTorch torch.Tensor instead of a list of python integers.
             return_token_type_ids: (optional) Set to False to avoid returning token_type_ids (default True).
@@ -943,16 +955,30 @@ class PreTrainedTokenizer(object):
                            "for this model ({} > {}). Running this sequence through the model will result in "
                            "indexing errors".format(len(ids), self.max_len))
                            
-        if pad_to_max_length and max_length and len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"]) < max_length:
+        if padding_strategy is not None and max_length and len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"]) < max_length:
             difference = max_length - len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"])
-            if return_attention_mask:
-                encoded_inputs["attention_mask"] = [1] * len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"]) + [0] * difference
-            if return_token_type_ids:
-                encoded_inputs["token_type_ids"] += [self.pad_token_type_id] * difference
-            if return_special_tokens_mask:
-                encoded_inputs["special_tokens_mask"] += [1] * difference
-
-            encoded_inputs["input_ids"] += [self.pad_token_id] * difference
+
+            if padding_strategy == 'right':
+                if return_attention_mask:
+                    encoded_inputs["attention_mask"] = [1] * len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"]) + [0] * difference
+                if return_token_type_ids:
+                    encoded_inputs["token_type_ids"] = encoded_inputs["token_type_ids"] + [self.pad_token_type_id] * difference
+                if return_special_tokens_mask:
+                    encoded_inputs["special_tokens_mask"] = encoded_inputs["special_tokens_mask"] + [1] * difference
+                encoded_inputs["input_ids"] = encoded_inputs["input_ids"] + [self.pad_token_id] * difference
+
+            elif padding_strategy == 'left':
+                if return_attention_mask:
+                    encoded_inputs["attention_mask"] =  [0] * difference + [1] * len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"])
+                if return_token_type_ids:
+                    encoded_inputs["token_type_ids"] = [self.pad_token_type_id] * difference + encoded_inputs["token_type_ids"]
+                if return_special_tokens_mask:
+                    encoded_inputs["special_tokens_mask"] = [1] * difference + encoded_inputs["special_tokens_mask"]
+                encoded_inputs["input_ids"] = [self.pad_token_id] * difference + encoded_inputs["input_ids"]
+
+            else:
+                raise ValueError("Invalid padding strategy:" + str(padding_strategy))
+            
         elif return_attention_mask:
             encoded_inputs["attention_mask"] = [1] * len(encoded_inputs["input_ids"])