Return a fixed frequency PeriodIndex, with day (calendar) as the default
    frequency

    Parameters
    ----------
    start : string or period-like, default None
        Left bound for generating periods
    end : string or period-like, default None
        Right bound for generating periods
    periods : integer, default None
        Number of periods to generate
    freq : string or DateOffset, optional
        Frequency alias. By default the freq is taken from `start` or `end`
        if those are Period objects. Otherwise, the default is ``"D"`` for
        daily frequency.

    name : string, default None
        Name of the resulting PeriodIndex

    Returns
    -------
    prng : PeriodIndex

    Notes
    -----
    Of the three parameters: ``start``, ``end``, and ``periods``, exactly two
    must be specified.

    To learn more about the frequency strings, please see `this link
    <http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/timeseries.html#offset-aliases>`__.

    Examples
    --------

    >>> pd.period_range(start='2017-01-01', end='2018-01-01', freq='M')
    PeriodIndex(['2017-01', '2017-02', '2017-03', '2017-04', '2017-05',
                 '2017-06', '2017-06', '2017-07', '2017-08', '2017-09',
                 '2017-10', '2017-11', '2017-12', '2018-01'],
                dtype='period[M]', freq='M')

    If ``start`` or ``end`` are ``Period`` objects, they will be used as anchor
    endpoints for a ``PeriodIndex`` with frequency matching that of the
    ``period_range`` constructor.

    >>> pd.period_range(start=pd.Period('2017Q1', freq='Q'),
    ...                 end=pd.Period('2017Q2', freq='Q'), freq='M')
    PeriodIndex(['2017-03', '2017-04', '2017-05', '2017-06'],
                dtype='period[M]', freq='M')

def period_range(start=None, end=None, periods=None, freq=None, name=None):
    """
    Return a fixed frequency PeriodIndex, with day (calendar) as the default
    frequency

    Parameters
    ----------
    start : string or period-like, default None
        Left bound for generating periods
    end : string or period-like, default None
        Right bound for generating periods
    periods : integer, default None
        Number of periods to generate
    freq : string or DateOffset, optional
        Frequency alias. By default the freq is taken from `start` or `end`
        if those are Period objects. Otherwise, the default is ``"D"`` for
        daily frequency.

    name : string, default None
        Name of the resulting PeriodIndex

    Returns
    -------
    prng : PeriodIndex

    Notes
    -----
    Of the three parameters: ``start``, ``end``, and ``periods``, exactly two
    must be specified.

    To learn more about the frequency strings, please see `this link
    <http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/timeseries.html#offset-aliases>`__.

    Examples
    --------

    >>> pd.period_range(start='2017-01-01', end='2018-01-01', freq='M')
    PeriodIndex(['2017-01', '2017-02', '2017-03', '2017-04', '2017-05',
                 '2017-06', '2017-06', '2017-07', '2017-08', '2017-09',
                 '2017-10', '2017-11', '2017-12', '2018-01'],
                dtype='period[M]', freq='M')

    If ``start`` or ``end`` are ``Period`` objects, they will be used as anchor
    endpoints for a ``PeriodIndex`` with frequency matching that of the
    ``period_range`` constructor.

    >>> pd.period_range(start=pd.Period('2017Q1', freq='Q'),
    ...                 end=pd.Period('2017Q2', freq='Q'), freq='M')
    PeriodIndex(['2017-03', '2017-04', '2017-05', '2017-06'],
                dtype='period[M]', freq='M')
    """
    if com.count_not_none(start, end, periods) != 2:
        raise ValueError('Of the three parameters: start, end, and periods, '
                         'exactly two must be specified')
    if freq is None and (not isinstance(start, Period)
                         and not isinstance(end, Period)):
        freq = 'D'

    data, freq = PeriodArray._generate_range(start, end, periods, freq,
                                             fields={})
    data = PeriodArray(data, freq=freq)
    return PeriodIndex(data, name=name)