diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/collectionOperations.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/collectionOperations.scala
index 58612f65c1a53..abd6c88d3d985 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/collectionOperations.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/collectionOperations.scala
@@ -67,37 +67,61 @@ trait BinaryArrayExpressionWithImplicitCast extends BinaryExpression
 
 
 /**
- * Given an array or map, returns its size. Returns -1 if null.
+ * Given an array or map, returns total number of elements in it.
  */
 @ExpressionDescription(
-  usage = "_FUNC_(expr) - Returns the size of an array or a map. Returns -1 if null.",
+  usage = """
+    _FUNC_(expr) - Returns the size of an array or a map.
+    The function returns -1 if its input is null and spark.sql.legacy.sizeOfNull is set to true.
+    If spark.sql.legacy.sizeOfNull is set to false, the function returns null for null input.
+    By default, the spark.sql.legacy.sizeOfNull parameter is set to true.
+  """,
   examples = """
     Examples:
       > SELECT _FUNC_(array('b', 'd', 'c', 'a'));
        4
+      > SELECT _FUNC_(map('a', 1, 'b', 2));
+       2
+      > SELECT _FUNC_(NULL);
+       -1
   """)
-case class Size(child: Expression) extends UnaryExpression with ExpectsInputTypes {
+case class Size(
+    child: Expression,
+    legacySizeOfNull: Boolean)
+  extends UnaryExpression with ExpectsInputTypes {
+
+  def this(child: Expression) =
+    this(
+      child,
+      legacySizeOfNull = SQLConf.get.getConf(SQLConf.LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL))
+
   override def dataType: DataType = IntegerType
   override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = Seq(TypeCollection(ArrayType, MapType))
-  override def nullable: Boolean = false
+  override def nullable: Boolean = if (legacySizeOfNull) false else super.nullable
 
   override def eval(input: InternalRow): Any = {
     val value = child.eval(input)
     if (value == null) {
-      -1
+      if (legacySizeOfNull) -1 else null
     } else child.dataType match {
       case _: ArrayType => value.asInstanceOf[ArrayData].numElements()
       case _: MapType => value.asInstanceOf[MapData].numElements()
+      case other => throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
+        s"The size function doesn't support the operand type ${other.getClass.getCanonicalName}")
     }
   }
 
   override def doGenCode(ctx: CodegenContext, ev: ExprCode): ExprCode = {
-    val childGen = child.genCode(ctx)
-    ev.copy(code = code"""
+    if (legacySizeOfNull) {
+      val childGen = child.genCode(ctx)
+      ev.copy(code = code"""
       boolean ${ev.isNull} = false;
       ${childGen.code}
       ${CodeGenerator.javaType(dataType)} ${ev.value} = ${childGen.isNull} ? -1 :
         (${childGen.value}).numElements();""", isNull = FalseLiteral)
+    } else {
+      defineCodeGen(ctx, ev, c => s"($c).numElements()")
+    }
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
index e768416f257c9..239c8266351ae 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
@@ -1324,6 +1324,12 @@ object SQLConf {
       "Other column values can be ignored during parsing even if they are malformed.")
     .booleanConf
     .createWithDefault(true)
+
+  val LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL = buildConf("spark.sql.legacy.sizeOfNull")
+    .doc("If it is set to true, size of null returns -1. This behavior was inherited from Hive. " +
+      "The size function returns null for null input if the flag is disabled.")
+    .booleanConf
+    .createWithDefault(true)
 }
 
 /**
@@ -1686,6 +1692,8 @@ class SQLConf extends Serializable with Logging {
 
   def csvColumnPruning: Boolean = getConf(SQLConf.CSV_PARSER_COLUMN_PRUNING)
 
+  def legacySizeOfNull: Boolean = getConf(SQLConf.LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL)
+
   /** ********************** SQLConf functionality methods ************ */
 
   /** Set Spark SQL configuration properties. */
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CollectionExpressionsSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CollectionExpressionsSuite.scala
index 5b8cf5128fe21..caea4fb25ff7e 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CollectionExpressionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CollectionExpressionsSuite.scala
@@ -24,25 +24,37 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
 
 class CollectionExpressionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
 
-  test("Array and Map Size") {
+  def testSize(legacySizeOfNull: Boolean, sizeOfNull: Any): Unit = {
     val a0 = Literal.create(Seq(1, 2, 3), ArrayType(IntegerType))
     val a1 = Literal.create(Seq[Integer](), ArrayType(IntegerType))
     val a2 = Literal.create(Seq(1, 2), ArrayType(IntegerType))
 
-    checkEvaluation(Size(a0), 3)
-    checkEvaluation(Size(a1), 0)
-    checkEvaluation(Size(a2), 2)
+    checkEvaluation(Size(a0, legacySizeOfNull), 3)
+    checkEvaluation(Size(a1, legacySizeOfNull), 0)
+    checkEvaluation(Size(a2, legacySizeOfNull), 2)
 
     val m0 = Literal.create(Map("a" -> "a", "b" -> "b"), MapType(StringType, StringType))
     val m1 = Literal.create(Map[String, String](), MapType(StringType, StringType))
     val m2 = Literal.create(Map("a" -> "a"), MapType(StringType, StringType))
 
-    checkEvaluation(Size(m0), 2)
-    checkEvaluation(Size(m1), 0)
-    checkEvaluation(Size(m2), 1)
+    checkEvaluation(Size(m0, legacySizeOfNull), 2)
+    checkEvaluation(Size(m1, legacySizeOfNull), 0)
+    checkEvaluation(Size(m2, legacySizeOfNull), 1)
+
+    checkEvaluation(
+      Size(Literal.create(null, MapType(StringType, StringType)), legacySizeOfNull),
+      expected = sizeOfNull)
+    checkEvaluation(
+      Size(Literal.create(null, ArrayType(StringType)), legacySizeOfNull),
+      expected = sizeOfNull)
+  }
+
+  test("Array and Map Size - legacy") {
+    testSize(legacySizeOfNull = true, sizeOfNull = -1)
+  }
 
-    checkEvaluation(Size(Literal.create(null, MapType(StringType, StringType))), -1)
-    checkEvaluation(Size(Literal.create(null, ArrayType(StringType))), -1)
+  test("Array and Map Size") {
+    testSize(legacySizeOfNull = false, sizeOfNull = null)
   }
 
   test("MapKeys/MapValues") {
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
index 40c40e7083d1c..ef99ce3ad69d9 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
@@ -3431,7 +3431,7 @@ object functions {
    * @group collection_funcs
    * @since 1.5.0
    */
-  def size(e: Column): Column = withExpr { Size(e.expr) }
+  def size(e: Column): Column = withExpr { new Size(e.expr) }
 
   /**
    * Sorts the input array for the given column in ascending order,
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameFunctionsSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameFunctionsSuite.scala
index 5d6a6c0832c96..b109898b5bfb3 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameFunctionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameFunctionsSuite.scala
@@ -487,26 +487,29 @@ class DataFrameFunctionsSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     }.getMessage().contains("only supports array input"))
   }
 
-  test("array size function") {
+  def testSizeOfArray(sizeOfNull: Any): Unit = {
     val df = Seq(
       (Seq[Int](1, 2), "x"),
       (Seq[Int](), "y"),
       (Seq[Int](1, 2, 3), "z"),
       (null, "empty")
     ).toDF("a", "b")
-    checkAnswer(
-      df.select(size($"a")),
-      Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(-1))
-    )
-    checkAnswer(
-      df.selectExpr("size(a)"),
-      Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(-1))
-    )
 
-    checkAnswer(
-      df.selectExpr("cardinality(a)"),
-      Seq(Row(2L), Row(0L), Row(3L), Row(-1L))
-    )
+    checkAnswer(df.select(size($"a")), Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(sizeOfNull)))
+    checkAnswer(df.selectExpr("size(a)"), Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(sizeOfNull)))
+    checkAnswer(df.selectExpr("cardinality(a)"), Seq(Row(2L), Row(0L), Row(3L), Row(sizeOfNull)))
+  }
+
+  test("array size function - legacy") {
+    withSQLConf(SQLConf.LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL.key -> "true") {
+      testSizeOfArray(sizeOfNull = -1)
+    }
+  }
+
+  test("array size function") {
+    withSQLConf(SQLConf.LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL.key -> "false") {
+      testSizeOfArray(sizeOfNull = null)
+    }
   }
 
   test("dataframe arrays_zip function") {
@@ -567,21 +570,28 @@ class DataFrameFunctionsSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     }
   }
 
-  test("map size function") {
+  def testSizeOfMap(sizeOfNull: Any): Unit = {
     val df = Seq(
       (Map[Int, Int](1 -> 1, 2 -> 2), "x"),
       (Map[Int, Int](), "y"),
       (Map[Int, Int](1 -> 1, 2 -> 2, 3 -> 3), "z"),
       (null, "empty")
     ).toDF("a", "b")
-    checkAnswer(
-      df.select(size($"a")),
-      Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(-1))
-    )
-    checkAnswer(
-      df.selectExpr("size(a)"),
-      Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(-1))
-    )
+
+    checkAnswer(df.select(size($"a")), Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(sizeOfNull)))
+    checkAnswer(df.selectExpr("size(a)"), Seq(Row(2), Row(0), Row(3), Row(sizeOfNull)))
+  }
+
+  test("map size function - legacy") {
+    withSQLConf(SQLConf.LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL.key -> "true") {
+      testSizeOfMap(sizeOfNull = -1: Int)
+    }
+  }
+
+  test("map size function") {
+    withSQLConf(SQLConf.LEGACY_SIZE_OF_NULL.key -> "false") {
+      testSizeOfMap(sizeOfNull = null)
+    }
   }
 
   test("map_keys/map_values function") {