Type-checking Pandas DataFrames

Question

I want to type-check Pandas DataFrames i.e. I want to specify which column labels a DataFrame must have and what kind of data type (dtype) is stored in them. A crude implementation (inspired by this question) would work like this:

from collections import namedtuple
Col = namedtuple('Col', 'label, type')

def dataframe_check(*specification):
    def check_accepts(f):
        assert len(specification) <= f.__code__.co_argcount
        def new_f(*args, **kwds):
            for (df, specs) in zip(args, specification):
                spec_columns = [spec.label for spec in specs]
                assert (df.columns == spec_columns).all(), \
                  'Columns dont match specs {}'.format(spec_columns)

                spec_dtypes = [spec.type for spec in specs]
                assert (df.dtypes == spec_dtypes).all(), \
                  'Dtypes dont match specs {}'.format(spec_dtypes)
            return f(*args, **kwds)
        new_f.__name__ = f.__name__
        return new_f
    return check_accepts

I don't mind the complexity of the checking function but it adds a lot of boilerplate code.

@dataframe_check([Col('a', int), Col('b', int)],    #  df1
                 [Col('a', int), Col('b', float)],) #  df2
def f(df1, df2):
    return df1 + df2

f(df, df)

Is there a more Pythonic way of type-checking DataFrames? Something that looks more like the new Python 3.6 static type-checking?

Is it possible to implement it in mypy?

Answer 1

Try pandera

A data validation library for scientists, engineers, and analysts seeking correctness.