From 0527926e6c9d70b5e554f98c95dbbc9e60334e3f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Kee Chong Tan <keechong.tan@>
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2018 14:37:23 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Improve Table column access

---
 python/pyarrow/table.pxi           | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
index cbf2a69f78c..9660e36cd2d 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
@@ -1152,7 +1152,30 @@ cdef class Table:
         self._check_nullptr()
         return pyarrow_wrap_schema(self.table.schema())
 
-    def column(self, int i):
+    def column(self, i):
+        """
+        Select a column by its column name, or numeric index.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        i : int or string
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        pyarrow.Column
+        """
+        if isinstance(i, six.string_types):
+            field_index = self.schema.get_field_index(i)
+            if field_index < 0:
+                raise KeyError("Column {} does not exist in table".format(i))
+            else:
+                return self._column(field_index)
+        elif isinstance(i, six.integer_types):
+            return self._column(i)
+        else:
+            raise TypeError("Index must either be string or integer")
+ 
+    def _column(self, int i):
         """
         Select a column by its numeric index.
 
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py
index 5303cb2190c..492cf0089e6 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py
@@ -301,6 +301,23 @@ def test_table_from_arrays_invalid_names():
         pa.Table.from_arrays(data, names=['a'])
 
 
+def test_table_select_column():
+    data = [
+        pa.array(range(5)),
+        pa.array([-10, -5, 0, 5, 10]),
+        pa.array(range(5, 10))
+    ]
+    table = pa.Table.from_arrays(data, names=('a', 'b', 'c'))
+
+    assert table.column('a').equals(table.column(0))
+
+    with pytest.raises(KeyError):
+        table.column('d')
+
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        table.column(None)
+
+
 def test_table_add_column():
     data = [
         pa.array(range(5)),

From c65033c2b46d6d35f044734c7a07c8522cbc9552 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Kee Chong Tan <keechong.tan@>
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2018 15:08:32 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Remove whitespace

---
 python/pyarrow/table.pxi | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
index 9660e36cd2d..cbbfe7da8b4 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
@@ -1174,7 +1174,7 @@ cdef class Table:
             return self._column(i)
         else:
             raise TypeError("Index must either be string or integer")
- 
+
     def _column(self, int i):
         """
         Select a column by its numeric index.