BUG: json_normalize not consistently ignoring errors (#41876)

doc/source/whatsnew/v1.4.0.rst

@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ MultiIndex
 I/O
 ^^^
 - Bug in :func:`read_excel` attempting to read chart sheets from .xlsx files (:issue:`41448`)
+- Bug in :func:`json_normalize` where ``errors=ignore`` could fail to ignore missing values of ``meta`` when ``record_path`` has a length greater than one (:issue:`41876`)
 - Bug in :func:`read_csv` with multi-header input and arguments referencing column names as tuples (:issue:`42446`)
 -
 

pandas/io/json/_normalize.py

@@ -380,14 +380,31 @@ def _json_normalize(
     Returns normalized data with columns prefixed with the given string.
     """
 
-    def _pull_field(js: dict[str, Any], spec: list | str) -> Scalar | Iterable:
+    def _pull_field(
+        js: dict[str, Any], spec: list | str, extract_record: bool = False
+    ) -> Scalar | Iterable:
         """Internal function to pull field"""
         result = js
-        if isinstance(spec, list):
-            for field in spec:
-                result = result[field]
-        else:
-            result = result[spec]
+        try:
+            if isinstance(spec, list):
+                for field in spec:
+                    result = result[field]
+            else:
+                result = result[spec]
+        except KeyError as e:
+            if extract_record:
+                raise KeyError(
+                    f"Key {e} not found. If specifying a record_path, all elements of "
+                    f"data should have the path."
+                ) from e
+            elif errors == "ignore":
+                return np.nan
+            else:
+                raise KeyError(
+                    f"Key {e} not found. To replace missing values of {e} with "
+                    f"np.nan, pass in errors='ignore'"
+                ) from e
+
         return result
 
     def _pull_records(js: dict[str, Any], spec: list | str) -> list:
@@ -396,7 +413,7 @@ def _pull_records(js: dict[str, Any], spec: list | str) -> list:
         _pull_field, but require to return list. And will raise error
         if has non iterable value.
         """
-        result = _pull_field(js, spec)
+        result = _pull_field(js, spec, extract_record=True)
 
         # GH 31507 GH 30145, GH 26284 if result is not list, raise TypeError if not
         # null, otherwise return an empty list
@@ -488,16 +505,7 @@ def _recursive_extract(data, path, seen_meta, level=0):
                     if level + 1 > len(val):
                         meta_val = seen_meta[key]
                     else:
-                        try:
-                            meta_val = _pull_field(obj, val[level:])
-                        except KeyError as e:
-                            if errors == "ignore":
-                                meta_val = np.nan
-                            else:
-                                raise KeyError(
-                                    "Try running with errors='ignore' as key "
-                                    f"{e} is not always present"
-                                ) from e
+                        meta_val = _pull_field(obj, val[level:])
                     meta_vals[key].append(meta_val)
                 records.extend(recs)
 

pandas/tests/io/json/test_normalize.py

@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ def missing_metadata():
                     "zip": 44646,
                 }
             ],
+            "previous_residences": {"cities": [{"city_name": "Foo York City"}]},
         },
         {
             "addresses": [
@@ -115,7 +116,8 @@ def missing_metadata():
                     "state": "TN",
                     "zip": 37643,
                 }
-            ]
+            ],
+            "previous_residences": {"cities": [{"city_name": "Barmingham"}]},
         },
     ]
 
@@ -598,7 +600,10 @@ def test_json_normalize_errors(self, missing_metadata):
         # If meta keys are not always present a new option to set
         # errors='ignore' has been implemented
 
-        msg = "Try running with errors='ignore' as key 'name' is not always present"
+        msg = (
+            "Key 'name' not found. To replace missing values of "
+            "'name' with np.nan, pass in errors='ignore'"
+        )
         with pytest.raises(KeyError, match=msg):
             json_normalize(
                 data=missing_metadata,
@@ -618,11 +623,44 @@ def test_missing_meta(self, missing_metadata):
             [9562, "Morris St.", "Massillon", "OH", 44646, "Alice"],
             [8449, "Spring St.", "Elizabethton", "TN", 37643, np.nan],
         ]
-        columns = ["city", "number", "state", "street", "zip", "name"]
         columns = ["number", "street", "city", "state", "zip", "name"]
         expected = DataFrame(ex_data, columns=columns)
         tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
+    def test_missing_meta_multilevel_record_path_errors_raise(self, missing_metadata):
+        # GH41876
+        # Ensure errors='raise' works as intended even when a record_path of length
+        # greater than one is passed in
+        msg = (
+            "Key 'name' not found. To replace missing values of "
+            "'name' with np.nan, pass in errors='ignore'"
+        )
+        with pytest.raises(KeyError, match=msg):
+            json_normalize(
+                data=missing_metadata,
+                record_path=["previous_residences", "cities"],
+                meta="name",
+                errors="raise",
+            )
+
+    def test_missing_meta_multilevel_record_path_errors_ignore(self, missing_metadata):
+        # GH41876
+        # Ensure errors='ignore' works as intended even when a record_path of length
+        # greater than one is passed in
+        result = json_normalize(
+            data=missing_metadata,
+            record_path=["previous_residences", "cities"],
+            meta="name",
+            errors="ignore",
+        )
+        ex_data = [
+            ["Foo York City", "Alice"],
+            ["Barmingham", np.nan],
+        ]
+        columns = ["city_name", "name"]
+        expected = DataFrame(ex_data, columns=columns)
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+
     def test_donot_drop_nonevalues(self):
         # GH21356
         data = [