ENH: Add global nullable option

doc/source/whatsnew/v2.0.0.rst

@@ -49,6 +49,16 @@ The ``use_nullable_dtypes`` keyword argument has been expanded to the following
 * :func:`read_feather`
 * :func:`to_numeric`
 
+To simplify opting-in to nullable dtypes for these functions, a new option ``nullable_dtypes`` was added that allows setting
+the keyword argument globally to ``True`` if not specified directly. The option can be enabled
+through:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    pd.options.mode.nullable_dtypes = True
+
+The option will only work for functions with the keyword ``use_nullable_dtypes``.
+
 Additionally a new global configuration, ``mode.dtype_backend`` can now be used in conjunction with the parameter ``use_nullable_dtypes=True`` in the following functions
 to select the nullable dtypes implementation.
 

pandas/_config/__init__.py

@@ -33,3 +33,8 @@
 def using_copy_on_write():
     _mode_options = _global_config["mode"]
     return _mode_options["copy_on_write"] and _mode_options["data_manager"] == "block"
+
+
+def using_nullable_dtypes():
+    _mode_options = _global_config["mode"]
+    return _mode_options["nullable_dtypes"]

pandas/core/config_init.py

@@ -560,6 +560,22 @@ def use_inf_as_na_cb(key) -> None:
         validator=is_one_of_factory(["pandas", "pyarrow"]),
     )
 
+
+nullable_dtypes_doc = """
+: bool
+    If nullable dtypes should be returned. This is only applicable to functions
+    where the ``use_nullable_dtypes`` keyword is implemented.
+"""
+
+with cf.config_prefix("mode"):
+    cf.register_option(
+        "nullable_dtypes",
+        False,
+        nullable_dtypes_doc,
+        validator=is_bool,
+    )
+
+
 # Set up the io.excel specific reader configuration.
 reader_engine_doc = """
 : string

pandas/core/tools/numeric.py

@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 
-from pandas._config import get_option
+from pandas._config import (
+    get_option,
+    using_nullable_dtypes,
+)
 
 from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._typing import (
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ def to_numeric(
     arg,
     errors: DateTimeErrorChoices = "raise",
     downcast: Literal["integer", "signed", "unsigned", "float"] | None = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
 ):
     """
     Convert argument to a numeric type.
@@ -157,6 +160,12 @@ def to_numeric(
     if errors not in ("ignore", "raise", "coerce"):
         raise ValueError("invalid error value specified")
 
+    _use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     is_series = False
     is_index = False
     is_scalars = False
@@ -204,11 +213,11 @@ def to_numeric(
         values = ensure_object(values)
         coerce_numeric = errors not in ("ignore", "raise")
         try:
-            values, new_mask = lib.maybe_convert_numeric(  # type: ignore[call-overload]
+            values, new_mask = lib.maybe_convert_numeric(
                 values,
                 set(),
                 coerce_numeric=coerce_numeric,
-                convert_to_masked_nullable=use_nullable_dtypes,
+                convert_to_masked_nullable=_use_nullable_dtypes,
             )
         except (ValueError, TypeError):
             if errors == "raise":
@@ -218,7 +227,7 @@ def to_numeric(
         # Remove unnecessary values, is expected later anyway and enables
         # downcasting
         values = values[~new_mask]
-    elif use_nullable_dtypes and new_mask is None:
+    elif _use_nullable_dtypes and new_mask is None:
         new_mask = np.zeros(values.shape, dtype=np.bool_)
 
     # attempt downcast only if the data has been successfully converted

pandas/io/clipboards.py

@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 from io import StringIO
 import warnings
 
+from pandas._config import using_nullable_dtypes
+
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas.util._exceptions import find_stack_level
 
 from pandas.core.dtypes.generic import ABCDataFrame
@@ -15,7 +18,9 @@
 
 
 def read_clipboard(
-    sep: str = r"\s+", use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False, **kwargs
+    sep: str = r"\s+",
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
+    **kwargs,
 ):  # pragma: no cover
     r"""
     Read text from clipboard and pass to read_csv.
@@ -56,6 +61,12 @@ def read_clipboard(
     if encoding is not None and encoding.lower().replace("-", "") != "utf8":
         raise NotImplementedError("reading from clipboard only supports utf-8 encoding")
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     from pandas.io.clipboard import clipboard_get
     from pandas.io.parsers import read_csv
 

pandas/io/excel/_base.py

@@ -23,8 +23,12 @@
 )
 import zipfile
 
-from pandas._config import config
+from pandas._config import (
+    config,
+    using_nullable_dtypes,
+)
 
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._libs.parsers import STR_NA_VALUES
 from pandas._typing import (
     DtypeArg,
@@ -380,7 +384,7 @@ def read_excel(
     comment: str | None = ...,
     skipfooter: int = ...,
     storage_options: StorageOptions = ...,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = ...,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = ...,
 ) -> DataFrame:
     ...
 
@@ -419,7 +423,7 @@ def read_excel(
     comment: str | None = ...,
     skipfooter: int = ...,
     storage_options: StorageOptions = ...,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = ...,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = ...,
 ) -> dict[IntStrT, DataFrame]:
     ...
 
@@ -458,7 +462,7 @@ def read_excel(
     comment: str | None = None,
     skipfooter: int = 0,
     storage_options: StorageOptions = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
 ) -> DataFrame | dict[IntStrT, DataFrame]:
 
     should_close = False
@@ -471,6 +475,12 @@ def read_excel(
             "an ExcelFile - ExcelFile already has the engine set"
         )
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     try:
         data = io.parse(
             sheet_name=sheet_name,

pandas/io/feather_format.py

@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
     Sequence,
 )
 
+from pandas._config import using_nullable_dtypes
+
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._typing import (
     FilePath,
     ReadBuffer,
@@ -103,7 +106,7 @@ def read_feather(
     columns: Sequence[Hashable] | None = None,
     use_threads: bool = True,
     storage_options: StorageOptions = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
 ):
     """
     Load a feather-format object from the file path.
@@ -143,6 +146,12 @@ def read_feather(
     import_optional_dependency("pyarrow")
     from pyarrow import feather
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     with get_handle(
         path, "rb", storage_options=storage_options, is_text=False
     ) as handles:

pandas/io/html.py

@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
     cast,
 )
 
+from pandas._config import using_nullable_dtypes
+
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._typing import (
     BaseBuffer,
     FilePath,
@@ -1036,7 +1039,7 @@ def read_html(
     keep_default_na: bool = True,
     displayed_only: bool = True,
     extract_links: Literal[None, "header", "footer", "body", "all"] = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
 ) -> list[DataFrame]:
     r"""
     Read HTML tables into a ``list`` of ``DataFrame`` objects.
@@ -1206,6 +1209,12 @@ def read_html(
         )
     validate_header_arg(header)
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     io = stringify_path(io)
 
     return _parse(

pandas/io/json/_json.py

@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 
+from pandas._config import using_nullable_dtypes
+
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._libs.json import (
     dumps,
     loads,
@@ -496,7 +499,7 @@ def read_json(
     compression: CompressionOptions = "infer",
     nrows: int | None = None,
     storage_options: StorageOptions = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
 ) -> DataFrame | Series | JsonReader:
     """
     Convert a JSON string to pandas object.
@@ -732,6 +735,12 @@ def read_json(
     if orient == "table" and convert_axes:
         raise ValueError("cannot pass both convert_axes and orient='table'")
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     if dtype is None and orient != "table":
         # error: Incompatible types in assignment (expression has type "bool", variable
         # has type "Union[ExtensionDtype, str, dtype[Any], Type[str], Type[float],

pandas/io/orc.py

@@ -8,8 +8,12 @@
     Literal,
 )
 
-from pandas._config import get_option
+from pandas._config import (
+    get_option,
+    using_nullable_dtypes,
+)
 
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._typing import (
     FilePath,
     ReadBuffer,
@@ -33,7 +37,7 @@
 def read_orc(
     path: FilePath | ReadBuffer[bytes],
     columns: list[str] | None = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
     **kwargs,
 ) -> DataFrame:
     """
@@ -86,6 +90,12 @@ def read_orc(
 
     orc = import_optional_dependency("pyarrow.orc")
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     with get_handle(path, "rb", is_text=False) as handles:
         orc_file = orc.ORCFile(handles.handle)
         pa_table = orc_file.read(columns=columns, **kwargs)

pandas/io/parquet.py

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 )
 from warnings import catch_warnings
 
+from pandas._config import using_nullable_dtypes
+
+from pandas._libs import lib
 from pandas._typing import (
     FilePath,
     ReadBuffer,
@@ -453,7 +456,7 @@ def read_parquet(
     engine: str = "auto",
     columns: list[str] | None = None,
     storage_options: StorageOptions = None,
-    use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
+    use_nullable_dtypes: bool | lib.NoDefault = lib.no_default,
     **kwargs,
 ) -> DataFrame:
     """
@@ -511,6 +514,12 @@ def read_parquet(
     """
     impl = get_engine(engine)
 
+    use_nullable_dtypes = (
+        use_nullable_dtypes
+        if use_nullable_dtypes is not lib.no_default
+        else using_nullable_dtypes()
+    )
+
     return impl.read(
         path,
         columns=columns,