Spyder Console Throws "[SpyderKernelApp] ERROR | Exception in message handler" error

Question

I am new to Python and use Spyder as my IDE, and I mainly use it for data analysis. A few days ago I reinstalled Spyder for some reasons. Now when I want to directly enter pandas-related commands such as df.info() or df.describe() in the iPython console, I see the error message after the output (I do get the right output though). It shows:

[SpyderKernelApp] ERROR | Exception in message handler:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ipykernel/kernelbase.py", line 409, in dispatch_shell
    await result
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ipykernel/kernelbase.py", line 798, in inspect_request
    reply_content = self.do_inspect(
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ipykernel/ipkernel.py", line 555, in do_inspect
    bundle = self.shell.object_inspect_mime(
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py", line 1838, in object_inspect_mime
    return self.inspector._get_info(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/IPython/core/oinspect.py", line 738, in _get_info
    info_dict = self.info(obj, oname=oname, info=info, detail_level=detail_level)
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/IPython/core/oinspect.py", line 838, in info
    if info and info.parent and hasattr(info.parent, HOOK_NAME):
  File "/opt/homebrew/lib/python3.11/site-packages/pandas/core/generic.py", line 1466, in __nonzero__
    raise ValueError(
ValueError: The truth value of a DataFrame is ambiguous. Use a.empty, a.bool(), a.item(), a.any() or a.all().

Weirdly, this only shows up when I attempt to type the commands manually, and only when I use pandas-related commands. When I run the commands from scripts, or even simply use the up arrow key to select commands in the console, the error message won't show; It only shows when I manually type the commands.

I've looked the error up on the internet but found no discussion. How do I deal with this error?

I reinstalled Spyder, Python, iPython, ipykernel, spyder-kernels, but nothing seemed to help.

Answer 1

Same here. New-ish install of Spyder with the following setup details:

• Spyder 5.4.2 standalone
• Miniconda environment with Python 3.9.16, Pandas 1.5.3, and spyder-kernels 2.4.2
• Windows 11 22H2 (OS build 22621.1485)
• Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme with i7/3050Ti/32GB/1TB

Some observations:

• it also happens with Series methods, e.g., df["column"].min()
• the ValueError message says "truth of a DataFrame is ambiguous" vs the Series error I see more commonly; not sure if this could help with troubleshooting
• there's NO error when using different slicing methods

The 3rd point above does offer a workaround, if not a true solution (hence me posting as an answer versus comment). Specifically, df.loc[rows, columns].<method> works without issue. This would mean a DataFrame method like describe would be implemented as df.loc[:, :].describe().

Answer 2

A stopgap solution is provided on the Spyder GitHub page where the bug was reported:

conda activate <your_environment>
conda install ipython=8.7

Obviously downgrading isn't ideal for the long run, but it does resolve the issue until it is formally patched.