API: default export for to_clipboard is now csv/tsv suitable for excel (GH3368)

doc/source/release.rst

@@ -207,6 +207,8 @@ API Changes
   - ``Series.get`` with negative indexers now returns the same as ``[]`` (:issue:`4390`)
   - allow ``ix/loc`` for Series/DataFrame/Panel to set on any axis even when the single-key is not currently contained in
     the index for that axis (:issue:`2578`, :issue:`5226`)
+  - Default export for ``to_clipboard`` is now csv with a sep of `\t` for
+    compat (:issue:`3368`)
   - ``at`` now will enlarge the object inplace (and return the same) (:issue:`2578`)
 
   - ``HDFStore``

pandas/core/generic.py

@@ -868,9 +868,15 @@ def load(self, path):  # TODO remove in 0.14
         warnings.warn("load is deprecated, use pd.read_pickle", FutureWarning)
         return read_pickle(path)
 
-    def to_clipboard(self):
+    def to_clipboard(self, sep=None, **kwargs):
         """
         Attempt to write text representation of object to the system clipboard
+        This can be pasted into Excel, for example.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        sep : optional, defaults to comma
+        other keywords are passed to to_csv
 
         Notes
         -----
@@ -880,7 +886,7 @@ def to_clipboard(self):
           - OS X: none
         """
         from pandas.io import clipboard
-        clipboard.to_clipboard(self)
+        clipboard.to_clipboard(self, sep, **kwargs)
 
     #----------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Fancy Indexing

pandas/io/clipboard.py

@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ def read_clipboard(**kwargs):  # pragma: no cover
     return read_table(StringIO(text), **kwargs)
 
 
-def to_clipboard(obj):  # pragma: no cover
+def to_clipboard(obj, sep=None, **kwargs):  # pragma: no cover
     """
     Attempt to write text representation of object to the system clipboard
+    The clipboard can be then pasted into Excel for example.
 
     Notes
     -----
@@ -38,4 +39,12 @@ def to_clipboard(obj):  # pragma: no cover
       - OS X:
     """
     from pandas.util.clipboard import clipboard_set
-    clipboard_set(str(obj))
+    try:
+        if sep is None:
+            sep = '\t'
+        buf = StringIO()
+        obj.to_csv(buf,sep=sep, **kwargs)
+        clipboard_set(buf.getvalue())
+    except:
+        clipboard_set(str(obj))
+

pandas/io/tests/test_clipboard.py

@@ -39,12 +39,19 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
     def tearDownClass(cls):
         del cls.data_types, cls.data
 
-    def check_round_trip_frame(self, data_type):
+    def check_round_trip_frame(self, data_type, sep=None):
         data = self.data[data_type]
-        data.to_clipboard()
-        result = read_clipboard()
+        data.to_clipboard(sep=sep)
+        if sep is not None:
+            result = read_clipboard(sep=sep,index_col=0)
+        else:
+            result = read_clipboard()
         tm.assert_frame_equal(data, result, check_dtype=False)
 
+    def test_round_trip_frame_sep(self):
+        for dt in self.data_types:
+            self.check_round_trip_frame(dt,sep=',')
+
     def test_round_trip_frame(self):
         for dt in self.data_types:
             self.check_round_trip_frame(dt)