BUG: make HDFStore.select_column raise a KeyError when key is not a valid store

Author: CianciuStyles

pandas/io/pytables.py

@@ -1094,7 +1094,8 @@ def get_storer(self, key):
         """ return the storer object for a key, raise if not in the file """
         group = self.get_node(key)
         if group is None:
-            return None
+            raise KeyError('No object named %s in the file' % key)
+
         s = self._create_storer(group)
         s.infer_axes()
         return s

pandas/tests/io/test_pytables.py

@@ -3836,8 +3836,13 @@ def test_read_column(self):
 
         with ensure_clean_store(self.path) as store:
             _maybe_remove(store, 'df')
-            store.append('df', df)
 
+            # GH 17912
+            # HDFStore.select_column should raise a KeyError
+            # exception if the key is not a valid store
+            pytest.raises(KeyError, store.select_column, 'df', 'index')
+
+            store.append('df', df)
             # error
             pytest.raises(KeyError, store.select_column, 'df', 'foo')