Fix pandas.api.extensions.ExtensionArray._pad_or_backfill

Add 'limit_area' parameter, return value description and 'See Also' section

Author: ivonastojanovic

ci/code_checks.sh

@@ -193,7 +193,6 @@ if [[ -z "$CHECK" || "$CHECK" == "docstrings" ]]; then
         -i "pandas.Timestamp.tzinfo GL08" \
         -i "pandas.Timestamp.value GL08" \
         -i "pandas.Timestamp.year GL08" \
-        -i "pandas.api.extensions.ExtensionArray._pad_or_backfill PR01,RT03,SA01" \
         -i "pandas.api.extensions.ExtensionArray._reduce RT03,SA01" \
         -i "pandas.api.extensions.ExtensionArray._values_for_factorize SA01" \
         -i "pandas.api.extensions.ExtensionArray.astype SA01" \

pandas/core/arrays/base.py

@@ -1032,6 +1032,12 @@ def _pad_or_backfill(
             maximum number of entries along the entire axis where NaNs will be
             filled.
 
+        limit_area : {'inside', 'outside'} or None, default None
+            Specifies which area to limit filling.
+            - 'inside': Limit the filling to the area within the gaps.
+            - 'outside': Limit the filling to the area outside the gaps.
+            If `None`, no limitation is applied.
+
         copy : bool, default True
             Whether to make a copy of the data before filling. If False, then
             the original should be modified and no new memory should be allocated.
@@ -1043,6 +1049,16 @@ def _pad_or_backfill(
         Returns
         -------
         Same type as self
+            The filled array with the same type as the original.
+
+        See Also
+        --------
+        Series.ffill : Forward fill missing values.
+        Series.bfill : Backward fill missing values.
+        DataFrame.ffill : Forward fill missing values in DataFrame.
+        DataFrame.bfill : Backward fill missing values in DataFrame.
+        api.types.isna : Check for missing values.
+        api.types.isnull : Check for missing values.
 
         Examples
         --------