unicode, bytes

pandas/core/arrays/base.py

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 import operator
 
+from pandas import compat
+from pandas.core.config import get_option
 from pandas.core.dtypes.generic import ABCSeries, ABCIndexClass
 from pandas.errors import AbstractMethodError
 from pandas.compat.numpy import function as nv
@@ -662,6 +664,19 @@ def copy(self, deep=False):
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Printing
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        result = str(self)
+        if compat.PY2:
+            encoding = get_option("display.encoding")
+            result = result.decode(encoding)
+        return result
+
+    def __bytes__(self):
+        result = str(self)
+        if compat.PY3:
+            encoding = get_option("display.encoding")
+            result = result.encode(encoding)
+        return result
 
     def __repr__(self):
         from pandas.io.formats.printing import format_object_summary

pandas/tests/extension/base/printing.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import io
 
 import pandas as pd
+from pandas import compat
 import pytest
 
 from .base import BaseExtensionTests
@@ -23,6 +24,17 @@ def test_array_repr(self, data, size):
         if size == 'big':
             assert '...' in result
 
+    def test_array_repr_bytes(self, data):
+        result = bytes(data)
+        if compat.PY2:
+            assert isinstance(result, str)
+        else:
+            assert isinstance(result, bytes)
+
+    def test_array_repr_unicode(self, data):
+        result = compat.u(data)
+        assert isinstance(result, compat.text_type)
+
     def test_series_repr(self, data):
         ser = pd.Series(data)
         assert data.dtype.name in repr(ser)