BUG: df.iloc[:, :1] with EA column

doc/source/whatsnew/v1.1.0.rst

@@ -467,6 +467,7 @@ Indexing
 - Bug in :meth:`DataFrame.iloc.__setitem__` creating a new array instead of overwriting ``Categorical`` values in-place (:issue:`32831`)
 - Bug in :meth:`DataFrame.copy` _item_cache not invalidated after copy causes post-copy value updates to not be reflected (:issue:`31784`)
 - Bug in `Series.__getitem__` with an integer key and a :class:`MultiIndex` with leading integer level failing to raise ``KeyError`` if the key is not present in the first level (:issue:`33355`)
+- Bug in :meth:`DataFrame.iloc` when slicing a single column-:class:`DataFrame`` with ``ExtensionDtype`` (e.g. ``df.iloc[:, :1]``) returning an invalid result (:issue:`32957`)
 
 Missing
 ^^^^^^^

pandas/core/internals/blocks.py

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from pandas._libs import NaT, algos as libalgos, lib, writers
 import pandas._libs.internals as libinternals
-from pandas._libs.tslibs import Timedelta, conversion
+from pandas._libs.tslibs import conversion
 from pandas._libs.tslibs.timezones import tz_compare
 from pandas._typing import ArrayLike
 from pandas.util._validators import validate_bool_kwarg
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ def __setstate__(self, state):
 
     def _slice(self, slicer):
         """ return a slice of my values """
+
         return self.values[slicer]
 
     def getitem_block(self, slicer, new_mgr_locs=None):
@@ -1734,14 +1735,40 @@ def _can_hold_element(self, element: Any) -> bool:
         return True
 
     def _slice(self, slicer):
-        """ return a slice of my values """
-        # slice the category
+        """
+        Return a slice of my values.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        slicer : slice, ndarray[int], or a tuple of these
+            Valid (non-reducing) indexer for self.values.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        np.ndarray or ExtensionArray
+        """
         # return same dims as we currently have
+        if not isinstance(slicer, tuple) and self.ndim == 2:
+            # reached via getitem_block via _slice_take_blocks_ax0
+            # TODO(EA2D): wont be necessary with 2D EAs
+            slicer = (slicer, slice(None))
 
         if isinstance(slicer, tuple) and len(slicer) == 2:
-            if not com.is_null_slice(slicer[0]):
-                raise AssertionError("invalid slicing for a 1-ndim categorical")
-            slicer = slicer[1]
+            first = slicer[0]
+            if not isinstance(first, slice):
+                raise AssertionError(
+                    "invalid slicing for a 1-ndim ExtensionArray", first
+                )
+            # GH#32959 only full-slicers along fake-dim0 are valid
+            # TODO(EA2D): wont be necessary with 2D EAs
+            new_locs = self.mgr_locs[first]
+            if len(new_locs):
+                # effectively slice(None)
+                slicer = slicer[1]
+            else:
+                raise AssertionError(
+                    "invalid slicing for a 1-ndim ExtensionArray", slicer
+                )
 
         return self.values[slicer]
 
@@ -2203,15 +2230,6 @@ def external_values(self):
         #  return an object-dtype ndarray of Timestamps.
         return np.asarray(self.values.astype("datetime64[ns]", copy=False))
 
-    def _slice(self, slicer):
-        """ return a slice of my values """
-        if isinstance(slicer, tuple):
-            col, loc = slicer
-            if not com.is_null_slice(col) and col != 0:
-                raise IndexError(f"{self} only contains one item")
-            return self.values[loc]
-        return self.values[slicer]
-
     def diff(self, n: int, axis: int = 0) -> List["Block"]:
         """
         1st discrete difference.

pandas/core/internals/managers.py

@@ -1311,6 +1311,10 @@ def _slice_take_blocks_ax0(self, slice_or_indexer, fill_value=lib.no_default):
             blk = self.blocks[0]
 
             if sl_type in ("slice", "mask"):
+                # GH#32959 EABlock would fail since we cant make 0-width
+                # TODO(EA2D): special casing unnecessary with 2D EAs
+                if sllen == 0:
+                    return []
                 return [blk.getitem_block(slobj, new_mgr_locs=slice(0, sllen))]
             elif not allow_fill or self.ndim == 1:
                 if allow_fill and fill_value is None:

pandas/tests/extension/base/getitem.py

@@ -40,6 +40,34 @@ def test_iloc_frame(self, data):
         result = df.iloc[:4, 0]
         self.assert_series_equal(result, expected)
 
+        # GH#32959 slice columns with step
+        result = df.iloc[:, ::2]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df[["A"]])
+        result = df[["B", "A"]].iloc[:, ::2]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df[["B"]])
+
+    def test_iloc_frame_single_block(self, data):
+        # GH#32959 null slice along index, slice along columns with single-block
+        df = pd.DataFrame({"A": data})
+
+        result = df.iloc[:, :]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df)
+
+        result = df.iloc[:, :1]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df)
+
+        result = df.iloc[:, :2]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df)
+
+        result = df.iloc[:, ::2]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df)
+
+        result = df.iloc[:, 1:2]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df.iloc[:, :0])
+
+        result = df.iloc[:, -1:]
+        self.assert_frame_equal(result, df)
+
     def test_loc_series(self, data):
         ser = pd.Series(data)
         result = ser.loc[:3]