BUG: unique() casts type `pd.Timestamp` to `numpy.datetime64`

[SebastianoX]

• I have checked that this issue has not already been reported.

• I have confirmed this bug exists on the latest version of pandas.

• (optional) I have confirmed this bug exists on the master branch of pandas.

---

Code Sample:

import pandas as pd


df = pd.DataFrame({"date": ["2019-02-10", "2019-02-10", "2019-02-11"]})
df["date"] = pd.to_datetime(df["date"])

print("Type before the for cycle:")
print(type(df["date"][0]))  # pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp

for day in df["date"].unique(): 
    print("Type in the loop:")
    print(type(day))  # here is a numpy.datetime64

which returns:

Type before the for cycle:
<class 'pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp'>
Type in the loop:
<class 'numpy.datetime64'>
Type in the loop:
<class 'numpy.datetime64'>

Problem description

The function unique() should not cast the data type.

Expected Output

types of df_target["date"].unique() should be the same as in set(df_target["date"].to_list()). E.g.

import pandas as pd


df = pd.DataFrame({"date": ["2019-02-10", "2019-02-10", "2019-02-11"]})
df["date"] = pd.to_datetime(df["date"])

print("Type before the for cycle:")
print(type(df["date"][0])) 

for day in set(df["date"].to_list()): 
    print("Type in the loop:")
    print(type(day))

Returning:

Type before the for cycle:
<class 'pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp'>
Type in the loop:
<class 'pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp'>
Type in the loop:
<class 'pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp'>

Output of pd.show_versions()

INSTALLED VERSIONS
------------------
commit           : None
python           : 3.7.7.final.0
python-bits      : 64
OS               : Darwin
OS-release       : 19.5.0
machine          : x86_64
processor        : i386
byteorder        : little
LC_ALL           : None
LANG             : en_GB.UTF-8
LOCALE           : en_GB.UTF-8

pandas           : 1.0.5
numpy            : 1.19.0
pytz             : 2020.1
dateutil         : 2.8.1
pip              : 20.1.1
setuptools       : 47.3.1
Cython           : None
pytest           : 5.4.1
hypothesis       : None
sphinx           : None
blosc            : None
feather          : None
xlsxwriter       : None
lxml.etree       : None
html5lib         : None
pymysql          : None
psycopg2         : None
jinja2           : 2.11.2
IPython          : 7.16.1
pandas_datareader: None
bs4              : None
bottleneck       : None
fastparquet      : None
gcsfs            : None
lxml.etree       : None
matplotlib       : 3.2.2
numexpr          : None
odfpy            : None
openpyxl         : None
pandas_gbq       : None
pyarrow          : None
pytables         : None
pytest           : 5.4.1
pyxlsb           : None
s3fs             : None
scipy            : 1.5.2
sqlalchemy       : None
tables           : None
tabulate         : None
xarray           : None
xlrd             : None
xlwt             : None
xlsxwriter       : None
numba            : None

[jreback]

there have been a number of discussions about this - pls look for duplicate issues before opening a new one

[SebastianoX]

Thanks for your answer @jreback .
Before posting I looked for duplicate issues / stackoverflow questions / google in general and I could not see any.
Please do link the discussions/issues here, so that I and other interested developers can find them.
If it is a duplicate feel free to close it.

[simonjayhawkins]

I'll close this since I think it is covered by #22824

Series.unique returns array, Series.drop_duplicates returns Series. Returning a plain np.ndarray is quite unusual for a Series method, and furthermore the differences between these closely-related methods are confusing from a user perspective, IMO

[jreback]

though having a dedicated issue for this might be ok (as that catch all unique issue brings up many topics)

we cannot change this to return a DatetimeArray till 2.0 in any event (nor can we deprecate anything)

[SebastianoX]

@simonjayhawkins for what I can understand #22824 is a different issue.

The problem of the current issue, is not that unique() returns an array. The problem is that the objects of type Timestamp in a colum are casted to objects of type np.datetime64 in the numpy array returned when unique() is invoked on this column.

[SebastianoX]

Let me add a clearer example:

import pandas as pd 
 
 
df = pd.DataFrame({"date": ["2019-02-10", "2019-02-11"]}) 
df["date"] = pd.to_datetime(df["date"]) 
 
print("Date Types in column date:") 
for day in df["date"]: 
    print(type(day))  # this is pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp 
 
print("Unique date Types in column date:") 
for day in df["date"].unique():  
    print(type(day))  # this is np.datetime64 

The code returns:

Date Types in column date:
<class 'pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp'>
<class 'pandas._libs.tslibs.timestamps.Timestamp'>

Unique date Types in column date:
<class 'numpy.datetime64'>
<class 'numpy.datetime64'>

[simonjayhawkins]

@simonjayhawkins for what I can understand #22824 is a different issue.

The problem of the current issue, is not that unique() returns an array. The problem is that the objects of type Timestamp in a colum are casted to objects of type np.datetime64 in the numpy array returned when unique() is invoked on this column.

OK but I don't think that's clear from the OP. Feel free to open a new issue.

[SebastianoX]

You do not think it is clear as in "I think it is covered by #22824"?
Anyway, new issue is on its way.