ENH: Make `np.in1d()` work for unorderable object arrays (#9999)

2 files changed, 39 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/numpy/lib/arraysetops.py b/numpy/lib/arraysetops.py
index ededb9dd0..f3301af92 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/arraysetops.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/arraysetops.py
@@ -448,8 +448,14 @@ def in1d(ar1, ar2, assume_unique=False, invert=False):
     ar1 = np.asarray(ar1).ravel()
     ar2 = np.asarray(ar2).ravel()
 
-    # This code is significantly faster when the condition is satisfied.
-    if len(ar2) < 10 * len(ar1) ** 0.145:
+    # Check if one of the arrays may contain arbitrary objects
+    contains_object = ar1.dtype.hasobject or ar2.dtype.hasobject
+
+    # This code is run when
+    # a) the first condition is true, making the code significantly faster
+    # b) the second condition is true (i.e. `ar1` or `ar2` may contain
+    #    arbitrary objects), since then sorting is not guaranteed to work
+    if len(ar2) < 10 * len(ar1) ** 0.145 or contains_object:
         if invert:
             mask = np.ones(len(ar1), dtype=bool)
             for a in ar2:
diff --git a/numpy/lib/tests/test_arraysetops.py b/numpy/lib/tests/test_arraysetops.py
index b8ced41e8..b4787838d 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/tests/test_arraysetops.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/tests/test_arraysetops.py
@@ -208,6 +208,37 @@ class TestSetOps(object):
         assert_array_equal(in1d(a, long_b, assume_unique=True), ec)
         assert_array_equal(in1d(a, long_b, assume_unique=False), ec)
 
+    def test_in1d_first_array_is_object(self):
+        ar1 = [None]
+        ar2 = np.array([1]*10)
+        expected = np.array([False])
+        result = np.in1d(ar1, ar2)
+        assert_array_equal(result, expected)
+
+    def test_in1d_second_array_is_object(self):
+        ar1 = 1
+        ar2 = np.array([None]*10)
+        expected = np.array([False])
+        result = np.in1d(ar1, ar2)
+        assert_array_equal(result, expected)
+
+    def test_in1d_both_arrays_are_object(self):
+        ar1 = [None]
+        ar2 = np.array([None]*10)
+        expected = np.array([True])
+        result = np.in1d(ar1, ar2)
+        assert_array_equal(result, expected)
+
+    def test_in1d_both_arrays_have_structured_dtype(self):
+        # Test arrays of a structured data type containing an integer field
+        # and a field of dtype `object` allowing for arbitrary Python objects
+        dt = np.dtype([('field1', int), ('field2', object)])
+        ar1 = np.array([(1, None)], dtype=dt)
+        ar2 = np.array([(1, None)]*10, dtype=dt)
+        expected = np.array([True])
+        result = np.in1d(ar1, ar2)
+        assert_array_equal(result, expected)
+
     def test_union1d(self):
         a = np.array([5, 4, 7, 1, 2])
         b = np.array([2, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 5])