ENH: Add categorical support for Stata export

doc/source/io.rst

@@ -3626,12 +3626,18 @@ outside of this range, the data is cast to ``int16``.
    if ``int64`` values are larger than 2**53.
 
 .. warning::
+
   :class:`~pandas.io.stata.StataWriter`` and
   :func:`~pandas.core.frame.DataFrame.to_stata` only support fixed width
   strings containing up to 244 characters, a limitation imposed by the version
   115 dta file format. Attempting to write *Stata* dta files with strings
   longer than 244 characters raises a ``ValueError``.
 
+.. warning::
+
+  *Stata* data files only support text labels for categorical data.  Exporting
+  data frames containing categorical data will convert non-string categorical values
+  to strings.
 
 .. _io.stata_reader:
 

doc/source/whatsnew/v0.15.2.txt

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ API changes
 Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+- Added ability to export Categorical data to Stata (:issue:`8633`).
 
 .. _whatsnew_0152.performance:
 

pandas/io/stata.py

@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@
 import struct
 from dateutil.relativedelta import relativedelta
 from pandas.core.base import StringMixin
+from pandas.core.categorical import Categorical
 from pandas.core.frame import DataFrame
 from pandas.core.series import Series
-from pandas.core.categorical import Categorical
 import datetime
 from pandas import compat, to_timedelta, to_datetime, isnull, DatetimeIndex
 from pandas.compat import lrange, lmap, lzip, text_type, string_types, range, \
-    zip
+    zip, BytesIO
 import pandas.core.common as com
 from pandas.io.common import get_filepath_or_buffer
 from pandas.lib import max_len_string_array, infer_dtype
@@ -336,6 +336,15 @@ class PossiblePrecisionLoss(Warning):
 conversion range. This may result in a loss of precision in the saved data.
 """
 
+class ValueLabelTypeMismatch(Warning):
+    pass
+
+value_label_mismatch_doc = """
+Stata value labels (pandas categories) must be strings. Column {0} contains
+non-string labels which will be converted to strings.  Please check that the
+Stata data file created has not lost information due to duplicate labels.
+"""
+
 
 class InvalidColumnName(Warning):
     pass
@@ -425,6 +434,131 @@ def _cast_to_stata_types(data):
     return data
 
 
+class StataValueLabel(object):
+    """
+    Parse a categorical column and prepare formatted output
+
+    Parameters
+    -----------
+    value : int8, int16, int32, float32 or float64
+        The Stata missing value code
+
+    Attributes
+    ----------
+    string : string
+        String representation of the Stata missing value
+    value : int8, int16, int32, float32 or float64
+        The original encoded missing value
+
+    Methods
+    -------
+    generate_value_label
+
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, catarray):
+
+        self.labname = catarray.name
+
+        categories = catarray.cat.categories
+        self.value_labels = list(zip(np.arange(len(categories)), categories))
+        self.value_labels.sort(key=lambda x: x[0])
+        self.text_len = np.int32(0)
+        self.off = []
+        self.val = []
+        self.txt = []
+        self.n = 0
+
+        # Compute lengths and setup lists of offsets and labels
+        for vl in self.value_labels:
+            category = vl[1]
+            if not isinstance(category, string_types):
+                category = str(category)
+                import warnings
+                warnings.warn(value_label_mismatch_doc.format(catarray.name),
+                              ValueLabelTypeMismatch)
+
+            self.off.append(self.text_len)
+            self.text_len += len(category) + 1  # +1 for the padding
+            self.val.append(vl[0])
+            self.txt.append(category)
+            self.n += 1
+
+        if self.text_len > 32000:
+            raise ValueError('Stata value labels for a single variable must '
+                             'have a combined length less than 32,000 '
+                             'characters.')
+
+        # Ensure int32
+        self.off = np.array(self.off, dtype=np.int32)
+        self.val = np.array(self.val, dtype=np.int32)
+
+        # Total length
+        self.len = 4 + 4 + 4 * self.n + 4 * self.n + self.text_len
+
+    def _encode(self, s):
+        """
+        Python 3 compatability shim
+        """
+        if compat.PY3:
+            return s.encode(self._encoding)
+        else:
+            return s
+
+    def generate_value_label(self, byteorder, encoding):
+        """
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        byteorder : str
+            Byte order of the output
+        encoding : str
+            File encoding
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        value_label : bytes
+            Bytes containing the formatted value label
+        """
+
+        self._encoding = encoding
+        bio = BytesIO()
+        null_string = '\x00'
+        null_byte = b'\x00'
+
+        # len
+        bio.write(struct.pack(byteorder + 'i', self.len))
+
+        # labname
+        labname = self._encode(_pad_bytes(self.labname[:32], 33))
+        bio.write(labname)
+
+        # padding - 3 bytes
+        for i in range(3):
+            bio.write(struct.pack('c', null_byte))
+
+        # value_label_table
+        # n - int32
+        bio.write(struct.pack(byteorder + 'i', self.n))
+
+        # textlen  - int32
+        bio.write(struct.pack(byteorder + 'i', self.text_len))
+
+        # off - int32 array (n elements)
+        for offset in self.off:
+            bio.write(struct.pack(byteorder + 'i', offset))
+
+        # val - int32 array (n elements)
+        for value in self.val:
+            bio.write(struct.pack(byteorder + 'i', value))
+
+        # txt - Text labels, null terminated
+        for text in self.txt:
+            bio.write(self._encode(text + null_string))
+
+        bio.seek(0)
+        return bio.read()
+
+
 class StataMissingValue(StringMixin):
     """
     An observation's missing value.
@@ -477,25 +611,31 @@ class StataMissingValue(StringMixin):
         for i in range(1, 27):
             MISSING_VALUES[i + b] = '.' + chr(96 + i)
 
-    base = b'\x00\x00\x00\x7f'
+    float32_base = b'\x00\x00\x00\x7f'
     increment = struct.unpack('<i', b'\x00\x08\x00\x00')[0]
     for i in range(27):
-        value = struct.unpack('<f', base)[0]
+        value = struct.unpack('<f', float32_base)[0]
         MISSING_VALUES[value] = '.'
         if i > 0:
             MISSING_VALUES[value] += chr(96 + i)
         int_value = struct.unpack('<i', struct.pack('<f', value))[0] + increment
-        base = struct.pack('<i', int_value)
+        float32_base = struct.pack('<i', int_value)
 
-    base = b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xe0\x7f'
+    float64_base = b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xe0\x7f'
     increment = struct.unpack('q', b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00')[0]
     for i in range(27):
-        value = struct.unpack('<d', base)[0]
+        value = struct.unpack('<d', float64_base)[0]
         MISSING_VALUES[value] = '.'
         if i > 0:
             MISSING_VALUES[value] += chr(96 + i)
         int_value = struct.unpack('q', struct.pack('<d', value))[0] + increment
-        base = struct.pack('q', int_value)
+        float64_base = struct.pack('q', int_value)
+
+    BASE_MISSING_VALUES = {'int8': 101,
+                           'int16': 32741,
+                           'int32': 2147483621,
+                           'float32': struct.unpack('<f', float32_base)[0],
+                           'float64': struct.unpack('<d', float64_base)[0]}
 
     def __init__(self, value):
         self._value = value
@@ -518,6 +658,22 @@ def __eq__(self, other):
         return (isinstance(other, self.__class__)
                 and self.string == other.string and self.value == other.value)
 
+    @classmethod
+    def get_base_missing_value(cls, dtype):
+        if dtype == np.int8:
+            value = cls.BASE_MISSING_VALUES['int8']
+        elif dtype == np.int16:
+            value = cls.BASE_MISSING_VALUES['int16']
+        elif dtype == np.int32:
+            value = cls.BASE_MISSING_VALUES['int32']
+        elif dtype == np.float32:
+            value = cls.BASE_MISSING_VALUES['float32']
+        elif dtype == np.float64:
+            value = cls.BASE_MISSING_VALUES['float64']
+        else:
+            raise ValueError('Unsupported dtype')
+        return value
+
 
 class StataParser(object):
     _default_encoding = 'cp1252'
@@ -1111,10 +1267,10 @@ def data(self, convert_dates=True, convert_categoricals=True, index=None,
                 umissing, umissing_loc = np.unique(series[missing],
                                                    return_inverse=True)
                 replacement = Series(series, dtype=np.object)
-                for i, um in enumerate(umissing):
+                for j, um in enumerate(umissing):
                     missing_value = StataMissingValue(um)
 
-                    loc = missing_loc[umissing_loc == i]
+                    loc = missing_loc[umissing_loc == j]
                     replacement.iloc[loc] = missing_value
             else:  # All replacements are identical
                 dtype = series.dtype
@@ -1390,6 +1546,45 @@ def _write(self, to_write):
         else:
             self._file.write(to_write)
 
+    def _prepare_categoricals(self, data):
+        """Check for categorigal columns, retain categorical information for
+        Stata file and convert categorical data to int"""
+
+        is_cat = [com.is_categorical_dtype(data[col]) for col in data]
+        self._is_col_cat = is_cat
+        self._value_labels = []
+        if not any(is_cat):
+            return data
+
+        get_base_missing_value = StataMissingValue.get_base_missing_value
+        index = data.index
+        data_formatted = []
+        for col, col_is_cat in zip(data, is_cat):
+            if col_is_cat:
+                self._value_labels.append(StataValueLabel(data[col]))
+                dtype = data[col].cat.codes.dtype
+                if dtype == np.int64:
+                    raise ValueError('It is not possible to export int64-based '
+                                     'categorical data to Stata.')
+                values = data[col].cat.codes.values.copy()
+
+                # Upcast if needed so that correct missing values can be set
+                if values.max() >= get_base_missing_value(dtype):
+                    if dtype == np.int8:
+                        dtype = np.int16
+                    elif dtype == np.int16:
+                        dtype = np.int32
+                    else:
+                        dtype = np.float64
+                    values = np.array(values, dtype=dtype)
+
+                # Replace missing values with Stata missing value for type
+                values[values == -1] = get_base_missing_value(dtype)
+                data_formatted.append((col, values, index))
+
+            else:
+                data_formatted.append((col, data[col]))
+        return DataFrame.from_items(data_formatted)
 
     def _replace_nans(self, data):
         # return data
@@ -1480,27 +1675,26 @@ def _check_column_names(self, data):
     def _prepare_pandas(self, data):
         #NOTE: we might need a different API / class for pandas objects so
         # we can set different semantics - handle this with a PR to pandas.io
-        class DataFrameRowIter(object):
-            def __init__(self, data):
-                self.data = data
-
-            def __iter__(self):
-                for row in data.itertuples():
-                    # First element is index, so remove
-                    yield row[1:]
 
         if self._write_index:
             data = data.reset_index()
-        # Check columns for compatibility with stata
-        data = _cast_to_stata_types(data)
+
         # Ensure column names are strings
         data = self._check_column_names(data)
+
+        # Check columns for compatibility with stata, upcast if necessary
+        data = _cast_to_stata_types(data)
+
         # Replace NaNs with Stata missing values
         data = self._replace_nans(data)
-        self.datarows = DataFrameRowIter(data)
+
+        # Convert categoricals to int data, and strip labels
+        data = self._prepare_categoricals(data)
+
         self.nobs, self.nvar = data.shape
         self.data = data
         self.varlist = data.columns.tolist()
+
         dtypes = data.dtypes
         if self._convert_dates is not None:
             self._convert_dates = _maybe_convert_to_int_keys(
@@ -1515,6 +1709,7 @@ def __iter__(self):
         self.fmtlist = []
         for col, dtype in dtypes.iteritems():
             self.fmtlist.append(_dtype_to_default_stata_fmt(dtype, data[col]))
+
         # set the given format for the datetime cols
         if self._convert_dates is not None:
             for key in self._convert_dates:
@@ -1529,8 +1724,14 @@ def write_file(self):
         self._write(_pad_bytes("", 5))
         self._prepare_data()
         self._write_data()
+        self._write_value_labels()
         self._file.close()
 
+    def _write_value_labels(self):
+        for vl in self._value_labels:
+            self._file.write(vl.generate_value_label(self._byteorder,
+                                                     self._encoding))
+
     def _write_header(self, data_label=None, time_stamp=None):
         byteorder = self._byteorder
         # ds_format - just use 114
@@ -1585,9 +1786,15 @@ def _write_descriptors(self, typlist=None, varlist=None, srtlist=None,
             self._write(_pad_bytes(fmt, 49))
 
         # lbllist, 33*nvar, char array
-        #NOTE: this is where you could get fancy with pandas categorical type
         for i in range(nvar):
-            self._write(_pad_bytes("", 33))
+            # Use variable name when categorical
+            if self._is_col_cat[i]:
+                name = self.varlist[i]
+                name = self._null_terminate(name, True)
+                name = _pad_bytes(name[:32], 33)
+                self._write(name)
+            else:  # Default is empty label
+                self._write(_pad_bytes("", 33))
 
     def _write_variable_labels(self, labels=None):
         nvar = self.nvar
@@ -1624,9 +1831,6 @@ def _prepare_data(self):
                 data_cols.append(data[col].values)
         dtype = np.dtype(dtype)
 
-        # 3. Convert to record array
-
-        # data.to_records(index=False, convert_datetime64=False)
         if has_strings:
             self.data = np.fromiter(zip(*data_cols), dtype=dtype)
         else: