Thanks @Mahan Hosseinzadeh! I had a similar issue and your solution worked for me. I was trying to read from a hive table using the hive context. This was the error I got, in case it's useful for someone else. scala> val outputHiveTableSchema = hiveContext.read.table("table_name").schema java.util.NoSuchElementException: next on empty iterator at scala.collection.Iterator$anon$2.next(Iterator.scala:39) at scala.collection.Iterator$anon$2.next(Iterator.scala:37) at scala.collection.IndexedSeqLike$Elements.next(IndexedSeqLike.scala:64) at scala.collection.IterableLike$class.head(IterableLike.scala:91) at scala.collection.mutable.ArrayOps$ofRef.scala$collection$IndexedSeqOptimized$super$head(ArrayOps.scala:108) at scala.collection.IndexedSeqOptimized$class.head(IndexedSeqOptimized.scala:120) at scala.collection.mutable.ArrayOps$ofRef.head(ArrayOps.scala:108) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.orc.OrcRelation$anonfun$2.apply(OrcRelation.scala:186) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.orc.OrcRelation$anonfun$2.apply(OrcRelation.scala:185) at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:120) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.orc.OrcRelation.<init>(OrcRelation.scala:184) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog$anonfun$19.apply(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:567) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog$anonfun$19.apply(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:565) at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:120) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog.org$apache$spark$sql$hive$HiveMetastoreCatalog$convertToOrcRelation(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:565) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog$OrcConversions$anonfun$apply$2.applyOrElse(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:647) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog$OrcConversions$anonfun$apply$2.applyOrElse(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:643) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode$anonfun$transformUp$1.apply(TreeNode.scala:335) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode$anonfun$transformUp$1.apply(TreeNode.scala:335) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.CurrentOrigin$.withOrigin(TreeNode.scala:69) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.trees.TreeNode.transformUp(TreeNode.scala:334) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog$OrcConversions$.apply(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:643) at org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveMetastoreCatalog$OrcConversions$.apply(HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala:637) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules.RuleExecutor$anonfun$execute$1$anonfun$apply$1.apply(RuleExecutor.scala:83) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules.RuleExecutor$anonfun$execute$1$anonfun$apply$1.apply(RuleExecutor.scala:80) at scala.collection.LinearSeqOptimized$class.foldLeft(LinearSeqOptimized.scala:111) at scala.collection.immutable.List.foldLeft(List.scala:84) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules.RuleExecutor$anonfun$execute$1.apply(RuleExecutor.scala:80) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules.RuleExecutor$anonfun$execute$1.apply(RuleExecutor.scala:72) at scala.collection.immutable.List.foreach(List.scala:318) at org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules.RuleExecutor.execute(RuleExecutor.scala:72) at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.analyzed$lzycompute(QueryExecution.scala:36) at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.analyzed(QueryExecution.scala:36) at org.apache.spark.sql.execution.QueryExecution.assertAnalyzed(QueryExecution.scala:34) at org.apache.spark.sql.DataFrame.<init>(DataFrame.scala:133) at org.apache.spark.sql.DataFrame$.apply(DataFrame.scala:52) at org.apache.spark.sql.DataFrameReader.table(DataFrameReader.scala:337) at $iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:29) at $iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:34) at $iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:36) at $iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:38) at $iwC$iwC$iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:40) at $iwC$iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:42) at $iwC$iwC.<init>(<console>:44) at $iwC.<init>(<console>:46) at <init>(<console>:48) at .<init>(<console>:52) at .<clinit>(<console>) at .<init>(<console>:7) at .<clinit>(<console>) at $print(<console>) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkIMain$ReadEvalPrint.call(SparkIMain.scala:1065) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkIMain$Request.loadAndRun(SparkIMain.scala:1346) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkIMain.loadAndRunReq$1(SparkIMain.scala:840) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkIMain.interpret(SparkIMain.scala:871) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkIMain.interpret(SparkIMain.scala:819) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.reallyInterpret$1(SparkILoop.scala:857) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.interpretStartingWith(SparkILoop.scala:902) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.command(SparkILoop.scala:814) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.processLine$1(SparkILoop.scala:657) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.innerLoop$1(SparkILoop.scala:665) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.org$apache$spark$repl$SparkILoop$loop(SparkILoop.scala:670) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop$anonfun$org$apache$spark$repl$SparkILoop$process$1.apply$mcZ$sp(SparkILoop.scala:997) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop$anonfun$org$apache$spark$repl$SparkILoop$process$1.apply(SparkILoop.scala:945) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop$anonfun$org$apache$spark$repl$SparkILoop$process$1.apply(SparkILoop.scala:945) at scala.tools.nsc.util.ScalaClassLoader$.savingContextLoader(ScalaClassLoader.scala:135) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.org$apache$spark$repl$SparkILoop$process(SparkILoop.scala:945) at org.apache.spark.repl.SparkILoop.process(SparkILoop.scala:1059) at org.apache.spark.repl.Main$.main(Main.scala:31) at org.apache.spark.repl.Main.main(Main.scala) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at ... 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