tf.boolean_mask, mask_dimension must be specified? - filter

Question

When using tf.boolean_mask(), a Value Error is raised. It reads "Number of mask dimensions must be specified, even if some dimensions are None. E.g. shape=[None] is ok, but shape=None is not.
I suspect that something is going wrong when I create my boolean mask s, because when I just create a boolean mask by hand, all works fine. However, I've checked the shape and the dtype of s so far, and couldn't notice anything suspicious. Both seemed to be identical to the shape and type of the boolean mask I created by hand.
Please see a screenshot of the problem.
The following should allow you to reproduce the error on your machine. You need tensorflow, numpy and scipy.
with tf.Session() as sess:
# receive five embedded vectors
v0 = tf.constant([[3.0,1.0,2.,4.,2.]])
v1 = tf.constant([[4.0,0,1.0,4,1.]])
v2 = tf.constant([[1.0,1.0,0.0,4.,8.]])
v3 = tf.constant([[1.,4,2.,5.,2.]])
v4 = tf.constant([[3.,2.,3.,2.,5.]])
# concatenate the five embedded vectors into a matrix
VT = tf.concat([v0,v1,v2,v3,v4],axis=0)
# perform SVD on the concatenated matrix
s, u1, u2 = tf.svd(VT)
e = tf.square(s) # list of eigenvalues
v = u1 # eigenvectors as column vectors
# sample a set
s = tf.py_func(sample_dpp_bin,[e,v],tf.bool)
X = tf.boolean_mask(VT,s)
print(X.eval())
This is the code to generate s. s is a sample from a determinantal point process (for the mathematically interested).
Note that I'm using tf.py_func to wrap this python function:
import tensorflow as tf
import numpy as np
from scipy.linalg import orth
def sample_dpp_bin(e_val,e_vec):
# e_val = np.array of eigenvalues
# e_vec = array of eigenvectors (= column vectors)
eps = 0.01
# sample a set of eigenvectors
ind = (np.random.rand(len(e_val)) <= (e_val)/(1+e_val))
k = sum(ind)
if k == e_val.size:
return np.ones(e_val.size,dtype=bool) # check for full set
if k == 0:
return np.zeros(e_val.size,dtype=bool)
V = e_vec[:,np.array(ind)]
# sample a set of k items
sample = np.zeros(e_val.size,dtype=bool)
for l in range(k-1,-1,-1):
p = np.sum(V**2,axis=1)
p = np.cumsum(p / np.sum(p)) # item cumulative probabilities
i = int((np.random.rand() <= p).argmax()) # choose random item
sample[i] = True
j = (np.abs(V[i,:])>eps).argmax() # pick an eigenvector not orthogonal to e_i
Vj = V[:,j]
V = orth(V - (np.outer(Vj,(V[i,:]/Vj[i]))))
return sample
The output if I print s and tf.reshape(s) is
[False True True True True]
[5]
The output if I print VT and tf.reshape(VT) is
[[ 3. 1. 2. 4. 2.]
[ 4. 0. 1. 4. 1.]
[ 1. 1. 0. 4. 8.]
[ 1. 4. 2. 5. 2.]
[ 3. 2. 3. 2. 5.]]
[5 5]
Any help much appreciated.

Answer 1

Following example works for me.
import tensorflow as tf
import numpy as np
tensor = [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]]
mask = np.array([True, False, True])
t_m = tf.boolean_mask(tensor, mask)
sess = tf.Session()
print(sess.run(t_m))
Output:
[[1 2]
[5 6]]
Provide your runnable code snippet to reproduce the error. I think you might be doing something wrong in s.
Update:
s = tf.py_func(sample_dpp_bin,[e,v],tf.bool)
s_v = (s.eval())
X = tf.boolean_mask(VT,s_v)
print(X.eval())
mask should be a np array not TF tensor. You don't have to use tf.pyfunc.

Answer 2

The error message states that the shape of the mask is not defined. What do you get if you print tf.shape(s)? I'd bet the problem with your code is that the shape of s is completely unknown, and you could fix that with a simple call like s.set_shape((None)) (to simply specify that s is a 1-dimensional tensor). Consider this code snippet:
X = np.random.randint(0, 2, (100, 100, 3))
with tf.Session() as sess:
X_tf = tf.placeholder(tf.int8)
# X_tf.set_shape((None, None, None))
y = tf.greater(tf.reduce_max(X_tf, axis=(0, 1)), 0)
print(tf.shape(y))
z = tf.boolean_mask(X_tf, y, axis=2)
print(sess.run(z, feed_dict={X_tf: X}))
This prints a shape of Tensor("Shape_3:0", shape=(?,), dtype=int32) (i.e., even the dimensions of y are unknown) and returns the same error as you have. However, if you uncomment the set_shape line, then X_tf is known to be 3-dimensional and so s is 1-dimensional. The code then works. So, I think all you need to do is add a s.set_shape((None)) call after the py_func call.