BUG: Added 'list' to pandas_dtype() valid dtype list

Author: analyticalmonk

pandas/core/dtypes/common.py

@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ def pandas_dtype(dtype):
             np.dtype(dtype)
         except (TypeError, ValueError):
             raise
-        if dtype in [object, np.object_]:
+        if dtype in [object, np.object_, list]:
             return np.dtype(dtype)
         elif np.dtype(dtype).kind == 'O':
             raise TypeError('dtype {0} not understood'.format(dtype))

pandas/tests/dtypes/test_common.py

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def test_invalid_dtype_error(self):
             with tm.assertRaisesRegexp(TypeError, msg):
                 pandas_dtype(dtype)
 
-        valid_list = [object, 'float64', np.object_,
+        valid_list = [object, 'float64', np.object_, list,
                       np.float64, float, np.dtype('float64')]
         for dtype in valid_list:
             pandas_dtype(dtype)