Storing numpy sparse matrix in HDF5 (PyTables)

Question

I am having trouble storing a numpy csr_matrix with PyTables. I\'m getting this error:

TypeError: objects of type ``csr_matrix`` are not supported in this co         


        

Answer 1

I have updated Pietro Battiston's excellent answer for Python 3.6 and PyTables 3.x, as some PyTables function names have changed in the upgrade from 2.x.

import numpy as np
from scipy import sparse
import tables

def store_sparse_mat(M, name, filename='store.h5'):
    """
    Store a csr matrix in HDF5

    Parameters
    ----------
    M : scipy.sparse.csr.csr_matrix
        sparse matrix to be stored

    name: str
        node prefix in HDF5 hierarchy

    filename: str
        HDF5 filename
    """
    assert(M.__class__ == sparse.csr.csr_matrix), 'M must be a csr matrix'
    with tables.open_file(filename, 'a') as f:
        for attribute in ('data', 'indices', 'indptr', 'shape'):
            full_name = f'{name}_{attribute}'

            # remove existing nodes
            try:  
                n = getattr(f.root, full_name)
                n._f_remove()
            except AttributeError:
                pass

            # add nodes
            arr = np.array(getattr(M, attribute))
            atom = tables.Atom.from_dtype(arr.dtype)
            ds = f.create_carray(f.root, full_name, atom, arr.shape)
            ds[:] = arr

def load_sparse_mat(name, filename='store.h5'):
    """
    Load a csr matrix from HDF5

    Parameters
    ----------
    name: str
        node prefix in HDF5 hierarchy

    filename: str
        HDF5 filename

    Returns
    ----------
    M : scipy.sparse.csr.csr_matrix
        loaded sparse matrix
    """
    with tables.open_file(filename) as f:

        # get nodes
        attributes = []
        for attribute in ('data', 'indices', 'indptr', 'shape'):
            attributes.append(getattr(f.root, f'{name}_{attribute}').read())

    # construct sparse matrix
    M = sparse.csr_matrix(tuple(attributes[:3]), shape=attributes[3])
    return M