BUG: this fixes pandas-dev#11188

Author: jgehrcke

pandas/io/pytables.py

@@ -1456,6 +1456,11 @@ def __init__(self, store, s, func, where, nrows, start=None, stop=None,
                 stop = nrows
             stop = min(nrows, stop)
 
+            # Piggy-back normalized `nrows` (considering start and stop) onto
+            # PyTables tables object so that the GenericIndexCol constructor
+            # knows how large the index should be.
+            self.s.table._nrows_to_read = stop - start
+
         self.nrows = nrows
         self.start = start
         self.stop = stop
@@ -1816,7 +1821,16 @@ def is_indexed(self):
     def convert(self, values, nan_rep, encoding, errors):
         """ set the values from this selection: take = take ownership """
 
-        self.values = Int64Index(np.arange(self.table.nrows))
+        if hasattr(self.table, '_nrows_to_read'):
+            # The `_nrows_to_read` property is set on the table object by the
+            # code path invoked by the top-level `read_hdf()`, and calculated
+            # based on the start` and `stop` integer values. These values allow
+            # for a sub-selection and likewise the index size needs to be
+            # adjusted to the size of this sub-selection.
+            self.values = Int64Index(np.arange(self.table._nrows_to_read))
+        else:
+            self.values = Int64Index(np.arange(self.table.nrows))
+
         return self
 
     def get_attr(self):

pandas/tests/io/test_pytables.py

@@ -5231,33 +5231,22 @@ def _compare(self, df, samples):
 
     def test_read_complete(self):
         path, objname, samples = self._create_simple_hdf5_file_with_pytables()
-
-        df = pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname)
-        self._compare(df, samples)
+        self._compare(pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname), samples)
 
     def test_read_with_start(self):
         path, objname, samples = self._create_simple_hdf5_file_with_pytables()
-
-        # Currently this fails as of
-        # https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11188
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match='Shape of passed values is'):
-            df = pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname, start=1)
-            self._compare(df, samples[1:])
+        # This is a regression test for pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11188
+        self._compare(pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname, start=1), samples[1:])
 
     def test_read_with_stop(self):
         path, objname, samples = self._create_simple_hdf5_file_with_pytables()
-
-        # Currently this fails as of
-        # https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11188
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match='Shape of passed values is'):
-            df = pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname, stop=1)
-            self._compare(df, samples[0:1])
+        # This is a regression test for pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11188
+        self._compare(pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname, stop=1), samples[0:1])
 
     def test_read_with_startstop(self):
         path, objname, samples = self._create_simple_hdf5_file_with_pytables()
-
-        # Currently this fails as of
-        # https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11188
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match='Shape of passed values is'):
-            df = pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname, start=1, stop=2)
-            self._compare(df, samples[1:2])
+        # This is a regression test for pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11188
+        self._compare(
+            pd.read_hdf(path, key=objname, start=1, stop=2),
+            samples[1:2]
+        )