ENH: cast instead of raise for IntervalIndex setops with differnet closed

doc/source/whatsnew/v1.3.0.rst

@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ Interval
 ^^^^^^^^
 - Bug in :meth:`IntervalIndex.intersection` and :meth:`IntervalIndex.symmetric_difference` always returning object-dtype when operating with :class:`CategoricalIndex` (:issue:`38653`, :issue:`38741`)
 - Bug in :meth:`IntervalIndex.intersection` returning duplicates when at least one of both Indexes has duplicates which are present in the other (:issue:`38743`)
--
+- :meth:`IntervalIndex.union`, :meth:`IntervalIndex.intersection`, :meth:`IntervalIndex.difference`, and :meth:`IntervalIndex.symmetric_difference` now cast to the appropriate dtype instead of raising ``TypeError`` when operating with another :class:`IntervalIndex` with incompatible dtype (:issue:`39267`)
 
 Indexing
 ^^^^^^^^

pandas/core/indexes/base.py

@@ -3003,6 +3003,7 @@ def _intersection(self, other, sort=False):
 
         return result
 
+    @final
     def difference(self, other, sort=None):
         """
         Return a new Index with elements of index not in `other`.
@@ -3127,7 +3128,7 @@ def symmetric_difference(self, other, result_name=None, sort=None):
             result_name = result_name_update
 
         if not self._should_compare(other):
-            return self.union(other).rename(result_name)
+            return self.union(other, sort=sort).rename(result_name)
         elif not is_dtype_equal(self.dtype, other.dtype):
             dtype = find_common_type([self.dtype, other.dtype])
             this = self.astype(dtype, copy=False)
@@ -6236,7 +6237,7 @@ def _maybe_cast_data_without_dtype(subarr):
         try:
             data = IntervalArray._from_sequence(subarr, copy=False)
             return data
-        except ValueError:
+        except (ValueError, TypeError):
             # GH27172: mixed closed Intervals --> object dtype
             pass
     elif inferred == "boolean":

pandas/core/indexes/datetimelike.py

@@ -660,9 +660,8 @@ def is_type_compatible(self, kind: str) -> bool:
     # --------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Set Operation Methods
 
-    @Appender(Index.difference.__doc__)
-    def difference(self, other, sort=None):
-        new_idx = super().difference(other, sort=sort)._with_freq(None)
+    def _difference(self, other, sort=None):
+        new_idx = super()._difference(other, sort=sort)._with_freq(None)
         return new_idx
 
     def _intersection(self, other: Index, sort=False) -> Index:

pandas/core/indexes/interval.py

@@ -127,13 +127,17 @@ def setop_check(method):
     def wrapped(self, other, sort=False):
         self._validate_sort_keyword(sort)
         self._assert_can_do_setop(other)
-        other, _ = self._convert_can_do_setop(other)
+        other, result_name = self._convert_can_do_setop(other)
 
-        if not isinstance(other, IntervalIndex):
-            result = getattr(self.astype(object), op_name)(other)
-            if op_name in ("difference",):
-                result = result.astype(self.dtype)
-            return result
+        if op_name == "difference":
+            if not isinstance(other, IntervalIndex):
+                result = getattr(self.astype(object), op_name)(other, sort=sort)
+                return result.astype(self.dtype)
+
+            elif not self._should_compare(other):
+                # GH#19016: ensure set op will not return a prohibited dtype
+                result = getattr(self.astype(object), op_name)(other, sort=sort)
+                return result.astype(self.dtype)
 
         return method(self, other, sort)
 
@@ -912,17 +916,6 @@ def _format_space(self) -> str:
     # --------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Set Operations
 
-    def _assert_can_do_setop(self, other):
-        super()._assert_can_do_setop(other)
-
-        if isinstance(other, IntervalIndex) and not self._should_compare(other):
-            # GH#19016: ensure set op will not return a prohibited dtype
-            raise TypeError(
-                "can only do set operations between two IntervalIndex "
-                "objects that are closed on the same side "
-                "and have compatible dtypes"
-            )
-
     def _intersection(self, other, sort):
         """
         intersection specialized to the case with matching dtypes.
@@ -1014,7 +1007,7 @@ def func(self, other, sort=sort):
         return setop_check(func)
 
     _union = _setop("union")
-    difference = _setop("difference")
+    _difference = _setop("difference")
 
     # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 

pandas/core/indexes/range.py

@@ -632,14 +632,14 @@ def _union(self, other, sort):
                     return type(self)(start_r, end_r + step_o, step_o)
         return self._int64index._union(other, sort=sort)
 
-    def difference(self, other, sort=None):
+    def _difference(self, other, sort=None):
         # optimized set operation if we have another RangeIndex
         self._validate_sort_keyword(sort)
         self._assert_can_do_setop(other)
         other, result_name = self._convert_can_do_setop(other)
 
         if not isinstance(other, RangeIndex):
-            return super().difference(other, sort=sort)
+            return super()._difference(other, sort=sort)
 
         res_name = ops.get_op_result_name(self, other)
 
@@ -654,11 +654,11 @@ def difference(self, other, sort=None):
             return self[:0].rename(res_name)
         if not isinstance(overlap, RangeIndex):
             # We won't end up with RangeIndex, so fall back
-            return super().difference(other, sort=sort)
+            return super()._difference(other, sort=sort)
         if overlap.step != first.step:
             # In some cases we might be able to get a RangeIndex back,
             #  but not worth the effort.
-            return super().difference(other, sort=sort)
+            return super()._difference(other, sort=sort)
 
         if overlap[0] == first.start:
             # The difference is everything after the intersection
@@ -668,7 +668,7 @@ def difference(self, other, sort=None):
             new_rng = range(first.start, overlap[0], first.step)
         else:
             # The difference is not range-like
-            return super().difference(other, sort=sort)
+            return super()._difference(other, sort=sort)
 
         new_index = type(self)._simple_new(new_rng, name=res_name)
         if first is not self._range:

pandas/tests/indexes/interval/test_setops.py

@@ -178,21 +178,19 @@ def test_set_incompatible_types(self, closed, op_name, sort):
         result = set_op(Index([1, 2, 3]), sort=sort)
         tm.assert_index_equal(result, expected)
 
-        # mixed closed
-        msg = (
-            "can only do set operations between two IntervalIndex objects "
-            "that are closed on the same side and have compatible dtypes"
-        )
+        # mixed closed -> cast to object
         for other_closed in {"right", "left", "both", "neither"} - {closed}:
             other = monotonic_index(0, 11, closed=other_closed)
-            with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=msg):
-                set_op(other, sort=sort)
+            expected = getattr(index.astype(object), op_name)(other, sort=sort)
+            if op_name == "difference":
+                expected = index
+            result = set_op(other, sort=sort)
+            tm.assert_index_equal(result, expected)
 
-        # GH 19016: incompatible dtypes
+        # GH 19016: incompatible dtypes -> cast to object
         other = interval_range(Timestamp("20180101"), periods=9, closed=closed)
-        msg = (
-            "can only do set operations between two IntervalIndex objects "
-            "that are closed on the same side and have compatible dtypes"
-        )
-        with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=msg):
-            set_op(other, sort=sort)
+        expected = getattr(index.astype(object), op_name)(other, sort=sort)
+        if op_name == "difference":
+            expected = index
+        result = set_op(other, sort=sort)
+        tm.assert_index_equal(result, expected)