FIX Fixes pandas extension arrays with objects in check_array (#25814)

thomasjpfan · web-flow · commit 18af5508013d · 2023-03-22T19:31:29.000+01:00
diff --git a/doc/whats_new/v1.3.rst b/doc/whats_new/v1.3.rst
@@ -410,6 +410,10 @@ Changelog
 - |FIX| Fixes :func:`utils.validation.check_array` to properly convert pandas
   extension arrays. :pr:`25813` by `Thomas Fan`_.
 
+- |Fix| :func:`utils.validation.check_array` now suports pandas DataFrames with
+  extension arrays and object dtypes by return an ndarray with object dtype.
+  :pr:`25814` by `Thomas Fan`_.
+
 :mod:`sklearn.semi_supervised`
 ..............................
 
diff --git a/sklearn/utils/tests/test_validation.py b/sklearn/utils/tests/test_validation.py
@@ -1795,3 +1795,34 @@ def test_check_array_array_api_has_non_finite(array_namespace):
     with config_context(array_api_dispatch=True):
         with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="infinity or a value too large"):
             check_array(X_inf)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "extension_dtype, regular_dtype",
+    [
+        ("boolean", "bool"),
+        ("Int64", "int64"),
+        ("Float64", "float64"),
+        ("category", "object"),
+    ],
+)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("include_object", [True, False])
+def test_check_array_multiple_extensions(
+    extension_dtype, regular_dtype, include_object
+):
+    """Check pandas extension arrays give the same result as non-extension arrays."""
+    pd = pytest.importorskip("pandas")
+    X_regular = pd.DataFrame(
+        {
+            "a": pd.Series([1, 0, 1, 0], dtype=regular_dtype),
+            "c": pd.Series([9, 8, 7, 6], dtype="int64"),
+        }
+    )
+    if include_object:
+        X_regular["b"] = pd.Series(["a", "b", "c", "d"], dtype="object")
+
+    X_extension = X_regular.assign(a=X_regular["a"].astype(extension_dtype))
+
+    X_regular_checked = check_array(X_regular, dtype=None)
+    X_extension_checked = check_array(X_extension, dtype=None)
+    assert_array_equal(X_regular_checked, X_extension_checked)
diff --git a/sklearn/utils/validation.py b/sklearn/utils/validation.py
@@ -785,6 +785,9 @@ def check_array(
         )
         if all(isinstance(dtype_iter, np.dtype) for dtype_iter in dtypes_orig):
             dtype_orig = np.result_type(*dtypes_orig)
+        elif pandas_requires_conversion and any(d == object for d in dtypes_orig):
+            # Force object if any of the dtypes is an object
+            dtype_orig = object
 
     elif (_is_extension_array_dtype(array) or hasattr(array, "iloc")) and hasattr(
         array, "dtype"
