1 files changed, 33 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/numpy/random/mtrand/mtrand.pyx b/numpy/random/mtrand/mtrand.pyx
index f115dccdd..2d4d904bd 100644
--- a/numpy/random/mtrand/mtrand.pyx
+++ b/numpy/random/mtrand/mtrand.pyx
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ cdef extern from "initarray.h":
 import_array()
 
 import numpy as np
+import operator
 
 cdef object cont0_array(rk_state *state, rk_cont0 func, object size):
     cdef double *array_data
@@ -994,21 +995,24 @@ cdef class RandomState:
         """
 
         # Format and Verify input
-        if isinstance(a, int):
-            if a > 0:
-                pop_size = a #population size
-            else:
+        a = np.array(a, copy=False)
+        if a.ndim == 0:
+            try:
+                # __index__ must return an integer by python rules.
+                pop_size = operator.index(a.item())
+            except TypeError:
+                raise ValueError("a must be 1-dimensional or an integer")
+            if pop_size <= 0:
                 raise ValueError("a must be greater than 0")
+        elif a.ndim != 1:
+            raise ValueError("a must be 1-dimensional")
         else:
-            a = np.array(a, ndmin=1, copy=0)
-            if a.ndim != 1:
-                raise ValueError("a must be 1-dimensional")
-            pop_size = a.size
+            pop_size = a.shape[0]
             if pop_size is 0:
                 raise ValueError("a must be non-empty")
 
         if None != p:
-            p = np.array(p, dtype=np.double, ndmin=1, copy=0)
+            p = np.array(p, dtype=np.double, ndmin=1, copy=False)
             if p.ndim != 1:
                 raise ValueError("p must be 1-dimensional")
             if p.size != pop_size:
@@ -1019,7 +1023,10 @@ cdef class RandomState:
                 raise ValueError("probabilities do not sum to 1")
 
         shape = size
-        size = 1 if shape is None else np.prod(shape, dtype=np.intp)
+        if shape is not None:
+            size = np.prod(shape, dtype=np.intp)
+        else:
+            size = 1
 
         # Actual sampling
         if replace:
@@ -1060,18 +1067,27 @@ cdef class RandomState:
                 idx = self.permutation(pop_size)[:size]
                 if shape is not None:
                     idx.shape = shape
+
         if shape is None and isinstance(idx, np.ndarray):
             # In most cases a scalar will have been made an array
             idx = idx.item(0)
+
         #Use samples as indices for a if a is array-like
-        if isinstance(a, int):
+        if a.ndim == 0:
             return idx
-        res = a[idx]
-        # Note when introducing an axis argument a copy should be ensured.
-        if res.ndim == 0 and shape is not None:
-            # the result here is not a scalar but an array.
-            return np.array(res)
-        return res
+
+        if shape is not None and idx.ndim == 0:
+            # If size == () then the user requested a 0-d array as opposed to
+            # a scalar object when size is None. However a[idx] is always a
+            # scalar and not an array. So this makes sure the result is an
+            # array, taking into account that np.array(item) may not work
+            # for object arrays.
+            res = np.empty((), dtype=a.dtype)
+            res[()] = a[idx]
+            return res
+
+        return a[idx]
+
 
     def uniform(self, low=0.0, high=1.0, size=None):
         """