API: add excel kw to to_clipboard to preserve compat behavior (related GH5070)

pandas/core/generic.py

@@ -868,14 +868,19 @@ def load(self, path):  # TODO remove in 0.14
         warnings.warn("load is deprecated, use pd.read_pickle", FutureWarning)
         return read_pickle(path)
 
-    def to_clipboard(self, sep=None, **kwargs):
+    def to_clipboard(self, excel=None, sep=None, **kwargs):
         """
         Attempt to write text representation of object to the system clipboard
         This can be pasted into Excel, for example.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
-        sep : optional, defaults to comma
+        excel : boolean, defaults to True
+                if True, use the provided separator, writing in a csv
+                format for allowing easy pasting into excel.
+                if False, write a string representation of the object
+                to the clipboard
+        sep : optional, defaults to tab
         other keywords are passed to to_csv
 
         Notes
@@ -886,7 +891,7 @@ def to_clipboard(self, sep=None, **kwargs):
           - OS X: none
         """
         from pandas.io import clipboard
-        clipboard.to_clipboard(self, sep, **kwargs)
+        clipboard.to_clipboard(self, excel=excel, sep=sep, **kwargs)
 
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Fancy Indexing

pandas/io/clipboard.py

@@ -26,11 +26,22 @@ def read_clipboard(**kwargs):  # pragma: no cover
     return read_table(StringIO(text), **kwargs)
 
 
-def to_clipboard(obj, sep=None, **kwargs):  # pragma: no cover
+def to_clipboard(obj, excel=None, sep=None, **kwargs):  # pragma: no cover
     """
     Attempt to write text representation of object to the system clipboard
     The clipboard can be then pasted into Excel for example.
 
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    obj : the object to write to the clipboard
+    excel : boolean, defaults to True
+            if True, use the provided separator, writing in a csv
+            format for allowing easy pasting into excel.
+            if False, write a string representation of the object
+            to the clipboard
+    sep : optional, defaults to tab
+    other keywords are passed to to_csv
+
     Notes
     -----
     Requirements for your platform
@@ -39,12 +50,19 @@ def to_clipboard(obj, sep=None, **kwargs):  # pragma: no cover
       - OS X:
     """
     from pandas.util.clipboard import clipboard_set
-    try:
-        if sep is None:
-            sep = '\t'
-        buf = StringIO()
-        obj.to_csv(buf,sep=sep, **kwargs)
-        clipboard_set(buf.getvalue())
-    except:
-        clipboard_set(str(obj))
+    if excel is None:
+        excel = True
+
+    if excel:
+        try:
+            if sep is None:
+                sep = '\t'
+            buf = StringIO()
+            obj.to_csv(buf,sep=sep, **kwargs)
+            clipboard_set(buf.getvalue())
+            return
+        except:
+            pass
+
+    clipboard_set(str(obj))
 

pandas/io/tests/test_clipboard.py

@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
     def tearDownClass(cls):
         del cls.data_types, cls.data
 
-    def check_round_trip_frame(self, data_type, sep=None):
+    def check_round_trip_frame(self, data_type, excel=None, sep=None):
         data = self.data[data_type]
-        data.to_clipboard(sep=sep)
+        data.to_clipboard(excel=excel, sep=sep)
         if sep is not None:
             result = read_clipboard(sep=sep,index_col=0)
         else:
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ def test_round_trip_frame_sep(self):
         for dt in self.data_types:
             self.check_round_trip_frame(dt,sep=',')
 
+    def test_round_trip_frame_string(self):
+        for dt in self.data_types:
+            self.check_round_trip_frame(dt,excel=False)
+
     def test_round_trip_frame(self):
         for dt in self.data_types:
             self.check_round_trip_frame(dt)