ENH: better MultiIndex.__repr__

doc/source/user_guide/advanced.rst

@@ -182,15 +182,15 @@ on a deeper level.
 Defined Levels
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-The repr of a ``MultiIndex`` shows all the defined levels of an index, even
+The :class:`MultiIndex` keeps all the defined levels of an index, even
 if they are not actually used. When slicing an index, you may notice this.
 For example:
 
 .. ipython:: python
 
-   df.columns  # original MultiIndex
+   df.columns.levels  # original MultiIndex
 
-   df[['foo','qux']].columns  # sliced
+   df[['foo','qux']].columns.levels  # sliced
 
 This is done to avoid a recomputation of the levels in order to make slicing
 highly performant. If you want to see only the used levels, you can use the
@@ -210,7 +210,8 @@ To reconstruct the ``MultiIndex`` with only the used levels, the
 
 .. ipython:: python
 
-   df[['foo', 'qux']].columns.remove_unused_levels()
+   new_mi = df[['foo', 'qux']].columns.remove_unused_levels()
+   new_mi.levels
 
 Data alignment and using ``reindex``
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

doc/source/whatsnew/v0.25.0.rst

@@ -74,6 +74,38 @@ a dict to a Series groupby aggregation (:ref:`whatsnew_0200.api_breaking.depreca
 
 See :ref:`_groupby.aggregate.named` for more.
 
+
+.. _whatsnew_0250.enhancements.multi_index_repr:
+
+Better repr for MultiIndex
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Printing of :class:`MultiIndex` instances now shows tuples of each row and ensures
+that the tuple items are vertically aligned, so it's now easier to understand
+the structure of the ``MultiIndex``. (:issue:`13480`):
+
+The repr now looks like this:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+   pd.MultiIndex.from_product([['a', 'abc'], range(500)])
+
+Previously, outputting a :class:`MultiIndex` printed all the ``levels`` and
+``codes`` of the ``MultiIndex``, which was visually unappealing and made
+the output more difficult to navigate. For example (limiting the range to 5):
+
+.. code-block:: ipython
+
+   In [1]: pd.MultiIndex.from_product([['a', 'abc'], range(5)])
+   Out[1]: MultiIndex(levels=[['a', 'abc'], [0, 1, 2, 3]],
+      ...:            codes=[[0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1], [0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3]])
+
+In the new repr, all values will be shown, if the number of rows is smaller
+than :attr:`options.display.max_seq_items` (default: 100 items). Horizontally,
+the output will truncate, if it's wider than :attr:`options.display.width`
+(default: 80 characters).
+
+
 .. _whatsnew_0250.enhancements.other:
 
 Other Enhancements

pandas/core/indexes/base.py

@@ -1322,16 +1322,23 @@ def set_names(self, names, level=None, inplace=False):
         >>> idx = pd.MultiIndex.from_product([['python', 'cobra'],
         ...                                   [2018, 2019]])
         >>> idx
-        MultiIndex(levels=[['cobra', 'python'], [2018, 2019]],
-                   codes=[[1, 1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 1]])
+        MultiIndex([('python', 2018),
+                    ('python', 2019),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2018),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2019)],
+                   )
         >>> idx.set_names(['kind', 'year'], inplace=True)
         >>> idx
-        MultiIndex(levels=[['cobra', 'python'], [2018, 2019]],
-                   codes=[[1, 1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 1]],
+        MultiIndex([('python', 2018),
+                    ('python', 2019),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2018),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2019)],
                    names=['kind', 'year'])
         >>> idx.set_names('species', level=0)
-        MultiIndex(levels=[['cobra', 'python'], [2018, 2019]],
-                   codes=[[1, 1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 1]],
+        MultiIndex([('python', 2018),
+                    ('python', 2019),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2018),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2019)],
                    names=['species', 'year'])
         """
 
@@ -1393,12 +1400,16 @@ def rename(self, name, inplace=False):
         ...                                   [2018, 2019]],
         ...                                   names=['kind', 'year'])
         >>> idx
-        MultiIndex(levels=[['cobra', 'python'], [2018, 2019]],
-                   codes=[[1, 1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 1]],
+        MultiIndex([('python', 2018),
+                    ('python', 2019),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2018),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2019)],
                    names=['kind', 'year'])
         >>> idx.rename(['species', 'year'])
-        MultiIndex(levels=[['cobra', 'python'], [2018, 2019]],
-                   codes=[[1, 1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0, 1]],
+        MultiIndex([('python', 2018),
+                    ('python', 2019),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2018),
+                    ( 'cobra', 2019)],
                    names=['species', 'year'])
         >>> idx.rename('species')
         Traceback (most recent call last):
@@ -5420,8 +5431,8 @@ def ensure_index_from_sequences(sequences, names=None):
 
     >>> ensure_index_from_sequences([['a', 'a'], ['a', 'b']],
                                     names=['L1', 'L2'])
-    MultiIndex(levels=[['a'], ['a', 'b']],
-               codes=[[0, 0], [0, 1]],
+    MultiIndex([('a', 'a'),
+                ('a', 'b')],
                names=['L1', 'L2'])
 
     See Also
@@ -5461,8 +5472,10 @@ def ensure_index(index_like, copy=False):
     Index([('a', 'a'), ('b', 'c')], dtype='object')
 
     >>> ensure_index([['a', 'a'], ['b', 'c']])
-    MultiIndex(levels=[['a'], ['b', 'c']],
-               codes=[[0, 0], [0, 1]])
+    MultiIndex([('a', 'b'),
+                ('a', 'c')],
+               dtype='object')
+               )
 
     See Also
     --------