diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
index 9f37e2b125f41..2cc9370346515 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
@@ -207,13 +207,15 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sparkSession: SparkSession) extends Logging {
       val provider = cls.getConstructor().newInstance().asInstanceOf[TableProvider]
       val sessionOptions = DataSourceV2Utils.extractSessionConfigs(
         source = provider, conf = sparkSession.sessionState.conf)
-      val pathsOption = {
+      val pathsOption = if (paths.isEmpty) {
+        None
+      } else {
         val objectMapper = new ObjectMapper()
-        "path" -> objectMapper.writeValueAsString(paths.toArray)
+        Some("paths" -> objectMapper.writeValueAsString(paths.toArray))
       }
-      // TODO: remove this option.
-      val checkFilesExistsOption = "check_files_exist" -> "true"
-      val finalOptions = sessionOptions ++ extraOptions.toMap + pathsOption + checkFilesExistsOption
+      // TODO SPARK-27113: remove this option.
+      val checkFilesExistsOpt = "check_files_exist" -> "true"
+      val finalOptions = sessionOptions ++ extraOptions.toMap ++ pathsOption + checkFilesExistsOpt
       val dsOptions = new CaseInsensitiveStringMap(finalOptions.asJava)
       val table = userSpecifiedSchema match {
         case Some(schema) => provider.getTable(dsOptions, schema)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala
index d438f76d67679..e58225e0f58ae 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameWriter.scala
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ final class DataFrameWriter[T] private[sql](ds: Dataset[T]) {
       val provider = cls.getConstructor().newInstance().asInstanceOf[TableProvider]
       val sessionOptions = DataSourceV2Utils.extractSessionConfigs(
         provider, session.sessionState.conf)
-      // TODO: remove this option.
+      // TODO SPARK-27113: remove this option.
       val checkFilesExistsOption = "check_files_exist" -> "false"
       val options = sessionOptions ++ extraOptions + checkFilesExistsOption
       val dsOptions = new CaseInsensitiveStringMap(options.asJava)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/v2/FileDataSourceV2.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/v2/FileDataSourceV2.scala
index 8c0973299e903..0545bcf207293 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/v2/FileDataSourceV2.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/v2/FileDataSourceV2.scala
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
  */
 package org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.v2
 
-import java.io.IOException
-
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession
@@ -43,14 +41,9 @@ trait FileDataSourceV2 extends TableProvider with DataSourceRegister {
 
   protected def getPaths(map: CaseInsensitiveStringMap): Seq[String] = {
     val objectMapper = new ObjectMapper()
-    Option(map.get("path")).map { pathStr =>
-      try {
-        val paths = objectMapper.readValue(pathStr, classOf[Array[String]])
-        paths.toSeq
-      } catch {
-        case _: IOException => Seq(pathStr)
-      }
-    }.getOrElse {
+    Option(map.get("paths")).map { pathStr =>
+      objectMapper.readValue(pathStr, classOf[Array[String]]).toSeq
+    }.orElse(Option(map.get("path")).map(Seq(_))).getOrElse {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("'path' must be given when reading files.")
     }
   }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/sources/StreamingDataSourceV2Suite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/sources/StreamingDataSourceV2Suite.scala
index a98053e34b887..1fd962fd06ff1 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/sources/StreamingDataSourceV2Suite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/sources/StreamingDataSourceV2Suite.scala
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ class StreamingDataSourceV2Suite extends StreamTest {
           eventually(timeout(streamingTimeout)) {
             // Write options should not be set.
             assert(!LastWriteOptions.options.containsKey(readOptionName))
-            assert(LastReadOptions.options.get(readOptionName) == "true")
+            assert(LastReadOptions.options.getBoolean(readOptionName, false))
           }
         }
       }
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ class StreamingDataSourceV2Suite extends StreamTest {
           eventually(timeout(streamingTimeout)) {
             // Read options should not be set.
             assert(!LastReadOptions.options.containsKey(writeOptionName))
-            assert(LastWriteOptions.options.get(writeOptionName) == "true")
+            assert(LastWriteOptions.options.getBoolean(writeOptionName, false))
           }
         }
       }