Generates a random pandas DataFrame containing categories, timestamps, integers, and random floats. Useful for debugging or answering StackOverflow questions.

diverse_df.py

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import datetime

dft = pd.DataFrame({'A' : ['spam', 'eggs', 'spam', 'eggs'] * 6,
                   'B' : ['alpha', 'beta', 'gamma'] * 8,
                   'C' : [np.random.choice(pd.date_range(datetime.datetime(2013,1,1),datetime.datetime(2013,1,3))) for i in range(24)],
                   'D' : np.random.randn(24),
                   'E' : np.random.random_integers(0,4,24)})