DEPR: Not passing tuple to get_group when grouping on length-1 list-likes

doc/source/user_guide/cookbook.rst

@@ -466,7 +466,7 @@ Unlike agg, apply's callable is passed a sub-DataFrame which gives you access to
 
 .. ipython:: python
 
-   gb = df.groupby(["animal"])
+   gb = df.groupby("animal")
    gb.get_group("cat")
 
 `Apply to different items in a group

doc/source/user_guide/groupby.rst

@@ -211,9 +211,9 @@ For example, the groups created by ``groupby()`` below are in the order they app
 .. ipython:: python
 
    df3 = pd.DataFrame({"X": ["A", "B", "A", "B"], "Y": [1, 4, 3, 2]})
-   df3.groupby(["X"]).get_group("A")
+   df3.groupby("X").get_group("A")
 
-   df3.groupby(["X"]).get_group("B")
+   df3.groupby(["X"]).get_group(("B",))
 
 
 .. _groupby.dropna:

doc/source/whatsnew/v2.2.0.rst

@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ Deprecations
 - Deprecated allowing non-keyword arguments in :meth:`DataFrame.to_markdown` except ``buf``. (:issue:`54229`)
 - Deprecated allowing non-keyword arguments in :meth:`DataFrame.to_pickle` except ``path``. (:issue:`54229`)
 - Deprecated allowing non-keyword arguments in :meth:`DataFrame.to_string` except ``buf``. (:issue:`54229`)
+- Deprecated not passing a tuple to :class:`DataFrameGroupBy.get_group` or :class:`SeriesGroupBy.get_group` when grouping by a length-1 list-like (:issue:`25971`)
+
 -
 
 .. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

pandas/core/groupby/groupby.py

@@ -1033,7 +1033,7 @@ def get_group(self, name, obj=None) -> DataFrame | Series:
         owl     1  2  3
         toucan  1  5  6
         eagle   7  8  9
-        >>> df.groupby(by=["a"]).get_group(1)
+        >>> df.groupby(by=["a"]).get_group((1,))
                 a  b  c
         owl     1  2  3
         toucan  1  5  6
@@ -1053,6 +1053,26 @@ def get_group(self, name, obj=None) -> DataFrame | Series:
         2023-01-15    2
         dtype: int64
         """
+        keys = self.keys
+        level = self.level
+        # mypy doesn't recognize level/keys as being sized when passed to len
+        if (is_list_like(level) and len(level) == 1) or (  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            is_list_like(keys) and len(keys) == 1  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+        ):
+            # GH#25971
+            if isinstance(name, tuple) and len(name) == 1:
+                # Allow users to pass tuples of length 1 to silence warning
+                name = name[0]
+            elif not isinstance(name, tuple):
+                warnings.warn(
+                    "When grouping with a length-1 list-like, "
+                    "you will need to pass a length-1 tuple to get_group in a future "
+                    "version of pandas. Pass `(name,)` instead of `name` to silence "
+                    "this warning.",
+                    FutureWarning,
+                    stacklevel=find_stack_level(),
+                )
+
         inds = self._get_index(name)
         if not len(inds):
             raise KeyError(name)

pandas/tests/groupby/test_categorical.py

@@ -268,7 +268,10 @@ def test_level_get_group(observed):
             names=["Index1", "Index2"],
         ),
     )
-    result = g.get_group("a")
+    msg = "you will need to pass a length-1 tuple"
+    with tm.assert_produces_warning(FutureWarning, match=msg):
+        # GH#25971 - warn when not passing a length-1 tuple
+        result = g.get_group("a")
 
     tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 

pandas/tests/groupby/test_groupby.py

@@ -3159,3 +3159,31 @@ def test_groupby_series_with_datetimeindex_month_name():
     expected = Series([2, 1], name="jan")
     expected.index.name = "jan"
     tm.assert_series_equal(result, expected)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("test_series", [True, False])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "kwarg, value, name, warn",
+    [
+        ("by", "a", 1, None),
+        ("by", ["a"], 1, FutureWarning),
+        ("by", ["a"], (1,), None),
+        ("level", 0, 1, None),
+        ("level", [0], 1, FutureWarning),
+        ("level", [0], (1,), None),
+    ],
+)
+def test_depr_get_group_len_1_list_likes(test_series, kwarg, value, name, warn):
+    # GH#25971
+    obj = DataFrame({"b": [3, 4, 5]}, index=Index([1, 1, 2], name="a"))
+    if test_series:
+        obj = obj["b"]
+    gb = obj.groupby(**{kwarg: value})
+    msg = "you will need to pass a length-1 tuple"
+    with tm.assert_produces_warning(warn, match=msg):
+        result = gb.get_group(name)
+    if test_series:
+        expected = Series([3, 4], index=Index([1, 1], name="a"), name="b")
+    else:
+        expected = DataFrame({"b": [3, 4]}, index=Index([1, 1], name="a"))
+    tm.assert_equal(result, expected)

pandas/tests/reshape/merge/test_join.py

@@ -813,9 +813,7 @@ def _check_join(left, right, result, join_col, how="left", lsuffix="_x", rsuffix
     left_grouped = left.groupby(join_col)
     right_grouped = right.groupby(join_col)
 
-    for group_key, group in result.groupby(
-        join_col if len(join_col) > 1 else join_col[0]
-    ):
+    for group_key, group in result.groupby(join_col):
         l_joined = _restrict_to_columns(group, left.columns, lsuffix)
         r_joined = _restrict_to_columns(group, right.columns, rsuffix)