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Fix the time coding docs for pandas 3.1 #11796

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headtr1ck merged 2 commits into from
Oct 23, 2026
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Fix the time coding docs for pandas 3.1 #11796

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67fff7b
Fix the time coding docs for pandas 3.1
headtr1ck Oct 23, 2026
af8b0ca
Add PR number to whats-new
headtr1ck Oct 23, 2026
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6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions doc/internals/time-coding.md
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Expand Up @@ -212,17 +212,17 @@ except Exception as err:

{py:class}`pandas.Timestamp` is used within xarray to wrap strings of CF encoding reference times and datetime.datetime.

When arguments are numeric (not strings) "unit" can be anything from `'Y'`, `'W'`, `'D'`, `'h'`, `'m'`, `'s'`, `'ms'`, `'us'` or `'ns'`, though the returned resolution will be `"ns"`.
When arguments are numeric (not strings) "unit" can be anything from `'Y'`, `'W'`, `'D'`, `'h'`, `'m'`, `'s'`, `'ms'`, `'us'` or `'ns'`. It only defines how the number is interpreted: since pandas 3.1 the returned resolution is `'us'`, or `'ns'` if the input needs nanosecond precision.

In normal operation {py:class}`pandas.Timestamp` holds the timestamp in the provided resolution, but only one of `'s'`, `'ms'`, `'us'`, `'ns'`. Lower resolution input is automatically converted to `'s'`, higher resolution input is truncated to `'ns'`.
{py:class}`pandas.Timestamp` holds the timestamp in one of `'s'`, `'ms'`, `'us'`, `'ns'`. Created from a {py:class}`numpy.datetime64` it keeps that resolution, lower resolution input is converted to `'s'`, higher resolution input is truncated to `'ns'`.

The same conversion rules apply here as for {py:func}`pandas.to_timedelta` (see [to_timedelta]).
Depending on the internal resolution Timestamps can be represented in the range:

```{code-cell}
for unit in ["s", "ms", "us", "ns"]:
print(
f"unit: {unit!r} time range ({pd.Timestamp(int64_min, unit=unit)}, {pd.Timestamp(int64_max, unit=unit)})"
f"unit: {unit!r} time range ({pd.Timestamp(np.datetime64(int64_min, unit))}, {pd.Timestamp(np.datetime64(int64_max, unit))})"
)
```

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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions doc/whats-new.rst
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Expand Up @@ -406,6 +406,9 @@ Documentation
(:issue:`10832`, :pull:`11156`).
By `dolliecoder <https://github.com/dolliecoder>`_ and
`Michael Niklas <https://github.com/headtr1ck>`_.
- Fix the time coding docs for pandas 3.1, which now gives microsecond
resolution for numeric input with any ``unit`` (:pull:`11796`).
By `Michael Niklas <https://github.com/headtr1ck>`_.

Performance
~~~~~~~~~~~
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