CatBoost Encoder

class category_encoders.cat_boost.CatBoostEncoder(verbose=0, cols=None, drop_invariant=False, return_df=True, handle_unknown='value', handle_missing='value', random_state=None, sigma=None, a=1)[source]

CatBoost Encoding for categorical features.

Supported targets: binomial and continuous. For polynomial target support, see PolynomialWrapper.

CatBoostEncoder is the variation of target encoding. It supports time-aware encoding, regularization, and online learning.

This implementation is time-aware (similar to CatBoost’s parameter ‘has_time=True’), so no random permutations are used. It makes this encoder sensitive to ordering of the data and suitable for time series problems. If your data does not have time dependency, it should still work just fine, assuming sorting of the data won’t leak any information outside the training scope (i.e., no data leakage). When data leakage is a possibility, it is wise to eliminate it first (for example, shuffle or resample the data).

NOTE: behavior of the transformer would differ in transform and fit_transform methods depending if y values are passed. If no target is passed, then encoder will map the last value of the running mean to each category. If y is passed then it will map all values of the running mean to each category’s occurrences.

Parameters:

verbose: int: integer indicating verbosity of the output. 0 for none.
cols: list: a list of columns to encode, if None, all string columns will be encoded.
drop_invariant: bool: boolean for whether or not to drop columns with 0 variance.
return_df: bool: boolean for whether to return a pandas DataFrame from transform (otherwise it will be a numpy array).
handle_missing: str: options are ‘error’, ‘return_nan’ and ‘value’, defaults to ‘value’, which returns the target mean.
handle_unknown: str: options are ‘error’, ‘return_nan’ and ‘value’, defaults to ‘value’, which returns the target mean.
sigma: float: adds normal (Gaussian) distribution noise into training data in order to decrease overfitting (testing data are untouched). sigma gives the standard deviation (spread or “width”) of the normal distribution.
a: float: additive smoothing (it is the same variable as “m” in m-probability estimate). By default, set to 1.

Methods

`fit`(X[, y])	Fits the encoder according to X and y.
`fit_transform`(X[, y])	Fit and transform using the target information.
`get_feature_names`()	Deprecated method to get feature names.
`get_feature_names_in`()	Get the names of all input columns present when fitting.
`get_feature_names_out`([input_features])	Get the names of all transformed / added columns.
`get_metadata_routing`()	Get metadata routing of this object.
`get_params`([deep])	Get parameters for this estimator.
`set_output`(*[, transform])	Set output container.
`set_params`(**params)	Set the parameters of this estimator.
`set_transform_request`(*[, override_return_df])	Request metadata passed to the `transform` method.
`transform`(X[, y, override_return_df])	Perform the transformation to new categorical data.

References

[1]

Transforming categorical features to numerical features, from

https://tech.yandex.com/catboost/doc/dg/concepts/algorithm-main-stages_cat-to-numberic-docpage/

[2]

CatBoost: unbiased boosting with categorical features, from

https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.09516

Fits the encoder according to X and y.

Parameters:

Xarray-like, shape = [n_samples, n_features]: Training vectors, where n_samples is the number of samples and n_features is the number of features.
yarray-like, shape = [n_samples]: Target values.

Returns:

selfencoder: Returns self.

Fit and transform using the target information.

This also uses the target for transforming, not only for training.

get_feature_names() → ndarray: Deprecated method to get feature names. Use get_feature_names_out instead.

get_feature_names_in() → ndarray

Get the names of all input columns present when fitting.

These columns are necessary for the transform step.

get_feature_names_out(input_features=None) → ndarray

Get the names of all transformed / added columns.

Note that in sklearn the get_feature_names_out function takes the feature_names_in as an argument and determines the output feature names using the input. A fit is usually not necessary and if so a NotFittedError is raised. We just require a fit all the time and return the fitted output columns.

Returns:

feature_names: np.ndarray: A numpy array with all feature names transformed or added. Note: potentially dropped features (because the feature is constant/invariant) are not included!

get_metadata_routing()

Get metadata routing of this object.

Please check User Guide on how the routing mechanism works.

Returns:

routingMetadataRequest: A MetadataRequest encapsulating routing information.

get_params(deep=True)

Get parameters for this estimator.

Parameters:

deepbool, default=True: If True, will return the parameters for this estimator and contained subobjects that are estimators.

Returns:

paramsdict: Parameter names mapped to their values.

set_output(*, transform=None)

Set output container.

See sphx_glr_auto_examples_miscellaneous_plot_set_output.py for an example on how to use the API.

Parameters:

transform{“default”, “pandas”, “polars”}, default=None

Configure output of transform and fit_transform.

“default”: Default output format of a transformer
“pandas”: DataFrame output
“polars”: Polars output
None: Transform configuration is unchanged

Added in version 1.4: “polars” option was added.

Returns:

selfestimator instance: Estimator instance.

set_params(**params)

Set the parameters of this estimator.

The method works on simple estimators as well as on nested objects (such as Pipeline). The latter have parameters of the form <component>__<parameter> so that it’s possible to update each component of a nested object.

Parameters:

**paramsdict: Estimator parameters.

Returns:

selfestimator instance: Estimator instance.

set_transform_request(*, override_return_df: bool | None | str = '$UNCHANGED$') → CatBoostEncoder

Request metadata passed to the transform method.

Note that this method is only relevant if enable_metadata_routing=True (see sklearn.set_config()). Please see User Guide on how the routing mechanism works.

The options for each parameter are:

True: metadata is requested, and passed to transform if provided. The request is ignored if metadata is not provided.
False: metadata is not requested and the meta-estimator will not pass it to transform.
None: metadata is not requested, and the meta-estimator will raise an error if the user provides it.
str: metadata should be passed to the meta-estimator with this given alias instead of the original name.

The default (sklearn.utils.metadata_routing.UNCHANGED) retains the existing request. This allows you to change the request for some parameters and not others.

Added in version 1.3.

Note

This method is only relevant if this estimator is used as a sub-estimator of a meta-estimator, e.g. used inside a Pipeline. Otherwise it has no effect.

Parameters:

override_return_dfstr, True, False, or None, default=sklearn.utils.metadata_routing.UNCHANGED: Metadata routing for override_return_df parameter in transform.

Returns:

selfobject: The updated object.

Perform the transformation to new categorical data.

Some encoders behave differently on whether y is given or not. This is mainly due to regularisation in order to avoid overfitting. On training data transform should be called with y, on test data without.

Parameters:

Xarray-like, shape = [n_samples, n_features]
yarray-like, shape = [n_samples] or None
override_return_dfbool: override self.return_df to force to return a data frame

Returns:

parray or DataFrame, shape = [n_samples, n_features_out]: Transformed values with encoding applied.