pola-rs/polars · error

cannot call `map_groups` when grouping by an expression

Error message

cannot call `map_groups` when grouping by an expression

What it means

Error "cannot call `map_groups` when grouping by an expression" thrown in pola-rs/polars.

Source

Thrown at py-polars/src/polars/dataframe/group_by.py:454

        │ 3   ┆ red   ┆ triangle │
        └─────┴───────┴──────────┘

        It is better to implement this with an expression:

        >>> df.filter(
        ...     pl.int_range(pl.len()).shuffle().over("color") < 2
        ... )  # doctest: +IGNORE_RESULT
        """
        if self.predicates:
            msg = "cannot call `map_groups` when filtering groups with `having`"
            raise TypeError(msg)
        if self.named_by:
            msg = "cannot call `map_groups` when grouping by named expressions"
            raise TypeError(msg)
        by = list(_parse_inputs_as_iterable(self.by))
        if not all(isinstance(c, str) for c in by):
            msg = "cannot call `map_groups` when grouping by an expression"
            raise TypeError(msg)

        return self.df.__class__._from_pydf(
            self.df._df.group_by_map_groups(by, function, self.maintain_order)
        )

    def head(self, n: int = 5) -> DataFrame:
        """
        Get the first `n` rows of each group.

        Parameters
        ----------
        n
            Number of rows to return.

        Examples
        --------
        >>> df = pl.DataFrame(
        ...     {

View on GitHub (pinned to df599052da)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at py-polars/src/polars/dataframe/group_by.py:454 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of pola-rs/polars@df599052da (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e4c30c6e727f05d0. Report an issue: GitHub.