Stacking doesn't work on dims named ""

[gusostow]

What happened?

Stacking a dataset on a dimensions named "" raises a KeyError.

What did you expect to happen?

No exception.

Minimal Complete Verifiable Example

import xarray as xr

# Create a simple dataset with an empty string dimension name
data = {
    "foo": (("",), [1]),
    "bar": (("",), [2]),
}

# Create the dataset
ds = xr.Dataset(data)

# KeyError: '__pred_level_0'
ds.stack({"stacked": ("",)})

MVCE confirmation

• Minimal example — the example is as focused as reasonably possible to demonstrate the underlying issue in xarray.
• Complete example — the example is self-contained, including all data and the text of any traceback.
• Verifiable example — the example copy & pastes into an IPython prompt or Binder notebook, returning the result.
• New issue — a search of GitHub Issues suggests this is not a duplicate.
• Recent environment — the issue occurs with the latest version of xarray and its dependencies.

Relevant log output

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/aostow/projects/xarray2024/empty-dim-name.py", line 13, in <module>
    ds.stack({"stacked": ("",)})
  File "PREFIX/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xarray/util/deprecation_helpers.py", line 143, in wrapper
    return func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "PREFIX/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xarray/core/dataset.py", line 5540, in stack
    result = result._stack_once(dims, new_dim, index_cls, create_index)
  File "PREFIX/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xarray/core/dataset.py", line 5478, in _stack_once
    idx_vars = idx.create_variables(product_vars)
  File "PREFIX/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xarray/core/indexes.py", line 1175, in create_variables
    dtype = self.level_coords_dtype[name]  # type: ignore[index]  # TODO: are Hashables ok?
KeyError: 'stacked_level_0'

Anything else we need to know?

I bisected the regression to 3ead17ea.

Environment

INSTALLED VERSIONS

commit: None
python: 3.10.12 | packaged by conda-forge | (main, Jun 23 2023, 22:40:32) [GCC 12.3.0]
python-bits: 64
OS: Linux
OS-release: 4.18.0-477.67.1.el8_8.x86_64
machine: x86_64
processor: x86_64
byteorder: little
LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
LOCALE: ('en_US', 'UTF-8')
libhdf5: 1.10.6
libnetcdf: None

xarray: 2025.1.1
pandas: 2.2.3
numpy: 1.26.4
scipy: 1.10.1
netCDF4: None
pydap: None
h5netcdf: None
h5py: 3.6.0
zarr: 2.13.3
cftime: None
nc_time_axis: None
iris: None
bottleneck: 1.3.2.dev0
dask: 2023.6.0
distributed: 2023.6.0
matplotlib: 3.5.3
cartopy: None
seaborn: 0.11.2
numbagg: installed
fsspec: 2024.3.1
cupy: None
pint: 0.24.3
sparse: 0.15.4
flox: None
numpy_groupies: None
setuptools: 65.5.0
pip: 23.0.1
conda: None
pytest: 7.4.4
mypy: 1.10.0
IPython: 7.31.1
sphinx: 7.3.7

[TomNicholas]

Thanks for raising.

Should we even be allowing a dim named "" though? @max-sixty as the representative of all things Hashable 😁

[max-sixty]

@TomNicholas as the representative of strings, I'd imagine you would be eager to support "" — a valid string!

(jokes aside, yeah, this seems niche, and I'm guessing it breaks for non-string hashables too?)

[Illviljan]

The bug happens here:

xarray/xarray/core/indexes.py

Line 950 in 1c7ee65

name = idx.name or f"{dim}_level_{i}"

"" is falseish, as are the hashables False, None and () and will break as well.

Not sure what the case f"{dim}_level_{i}" is fixing. I suppose it's not possible to just simplify and accept idx.name only?

[keewis]

Not sure what the case f"{dim}_level_{i}" is fixing.

given the context I would assume "{dim}_level_{i}" has to do with (unnamed?) MultiIndex levels. It might be fine to explicitly check for None instead of using or in that case, though.

(MultiIndex levels without associated coordinates have been deprecated for a while now – not sure how long, though, but it must be at least two years – so we might also choose to complete the deprecation cycle and remove that part of the code)