Sample query:
I have the following indexed DataFrame with named columns and rows not- continuous numbers:
a b c d
2 0.671399 0.101208 -0.181532 0.241273
3 0.446172 -0.243316 0.051767 1.577318
5 0.614758 0.075793 -0.451460 -0.012493
I would like to add a new column, 'e'
, to the existing data frame and do not want to change anything in the data frame (i.e., the new column always has the same length as the DataFrame).
0 -0.335485
1 -1.166658
2 -0.385571
dtype: float64
How can I add column e
to the above example?
How to add a new column to an existing DataFrame?
Edit 2017
Crrently the best method to add the values of a Series as a new column of a DataFrame could be using assign
:
df1 = df1.assign(e=pd.Series(np.random.randn(sLength)).values)
Edit 2015
Some reported getting the SettingWithCopyWarning
with this code.
However, the code still runs perfectly with the current pandas version 0.16.1.
>>> sLength = len(df1['a'])
>>> df1
a b c d
6 -0.269221 -0.026476 0.997517 1.294385
8 0.917438 0.847941 0.034235 -0.448948
>>> df1['e'] = pd.Series(np.random.randn(sLength), index=df1.index)
>>> df1
a b c d e
6 -0.269221 -0.026476 0.997517 1.294385 1.757167
8 0.917438 0.847941 0.034235 -0.448948 2.228131
>>> pd.version.short_version
'0.16.1'
The SettingWithCopyWarning
aims to inform of a possibly invalid assignment on a copy of the Dataframe. It doesn’t necessarily say you did it wrong (it can trigger false positives) but from 0.13.0 it let you know there are more adequate methods for the same purpose. Then, if you get the warning, just follow its advise: Try using .loc[row_index,col_indexer] = value instead
>>> df1.loc[:,'f'] = pd.Series(np.random.randn(sLength), index=df1.index)
>>> df1
a b c d e f
6 -0.269221 -0.026476 0.997517 1.294385 1.757167 -0.050927
8 0.917438 0.847941 0.034235 -0.448948 2.228131 0.006109
>>>
In fact, this is currently the more efficient method as described in pandas docs
Original answer:
Use the original df1 indexes to create the series:
df1['e'] = pd.Series(np.random.randn(sLength), index=df1.index)
Answer #2:
This is the simple way of adding a new column: df['e'] = e
Answer #3:
I would like to add a new column, ‘e’, to the existing data frame and do not change anything in the data frame. (The series always got the same length as a dataframe.)
I assume that the index values in e
match those in df1
.
The easiest way to initiate a new column named e
, and assign it the values from your series e
:
df['e'] = e.values
assign (Pandas 0.16.0+)
As of Pandas 0.16.0, you can also use assign
, which assigns new columns to a DataFrame and returns a new object (a copy) with all the original columns in addition to the new ones.
df1 = df1.assign(e=e.values)
You can also include more than one column:
df = pd.DataFrame({'a': [1, 2], 'b': [3, 4]})
>>> df.assign(mean_a=df.a.mean(), mean_b=df.b.mean())
a b mean_a mean_b
0 1 3 1.5 3.5
1 2 4 1.5 3.5
In context with your example:
np.random.seed(0)
df1 = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(10, 4), columns=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])
mask = df1.applymap(lambda x: x <-0.7)
df1 = df1[-mask.any(axis=1)]
sLength = len(df1['a'])
e = pd.Series(np.random.randn(sLength))
>>> df1
a b c d
0 1.764052 0.400157 0.978738 2.240893
2 -0.103219 0.410599 0.144044 1.454274
3 0.761038 0.121675 0.443863 0.333674
7 1.532779 1.469359 0.154947 0.378163
9 1.230291 1.202380 -0.387327 -0.302303
>>> e
0 -1.048553
1 -1.420018
2 -1.706270
3 1.950775
4 -0.509652
dtype: float64
df1 = df1.assign(e=e.values)
>>> df1
a b c d e
0 1.764052 0.400157 0.978738 2.240893 -1.048553
2 -0.103219 0.410599 0.144044 1.454274 -1.420018
3 0.761038 0.121675 0.443863 0.333674 -1.706270
7 1.532779 1.469359 0.154947 0.378163 1.950775
9 1.230291 1.202380 -0.387327 -0.302303 -0.509652
Super simple column assignment in dataframe
A pandas dataframe is implemented as an ordered dict of columns.
This means that the __getitem__
[]
can not only be used to get a certain column, but __setitem__
[] =
can be used to assign a new column.
For example, this dataframe can have a column added to it by simply using the []
accessor
size name color
0 big rose red
1 small violet blue
2 small tulip red
3 small harebell blue
df['protected'] = ['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes']
size name color protected
0 big rose red no
1 small violet blue no
2 small tulip red no
3 small harebell blue yes
Note that this works even if the index of the dataframe is off.
df.index = [3,2,1,0]
df['protected'] = ['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes']
size name color protected
3 big rose red no
2 small violet blue no
1 small tulip red no
0 small harebell blue yes
[]= is the way to go, but watch out!
However, if you have a pd.Series
and try to assign it to a dataframe where the indexes are off, you will run in to trouble. See example:
df['protected'] = pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes'])
size name color protected
3 big rose red yes
2 small violet blue no
1 small tulip red no
0 small harebell blue no
This is because a pd.Series
by default has an index enumerated from 0 to n. And the pandas [] =
method tries to be “smart”
What actually is going on.
When you use the [] =
method pandas is quietly performing an outer join or outer merge using the index of the left hand dataframe and the index of the right hand series. df['column'] = series
Side note
This quickly causes cognitive dissonance, since the []=
method is trying to do a lot of different things depending on the input, and the outcome cannot be predicted unless you just know how pandas works. I would therefore advice against the []=
in code bases, but when exploring data in a notebook, it is fine.
Going around the problem
If you have a pd.Series
and want it assigned from top to bottom, or if you are coding productive code and you are not sure of the index order, it is worth it to safeguard for this kind of issue.
You could downcast the pd.Series
to a np.ndarray
or a list
, this will do the trick.
df['protected'] = pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes']).values
or
df['protected'] = list(pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes']))
But this is not very explicit.
Some coder may come along and say “Hey, this looks redundant, I’ll just optimize this away”.
Explicit way
Setting the index of the pd.Series
to be the index of the df
is explicit.
df['protected'] = pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes'], index=df.index)
Or more realistically, you probably have a pd.Series
already available.
protected_series = pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes'])
protected_series.index = df.index
3 no
2 no
1 no
0 yes
Can now be assigned
df['protected'] = protected_series
size name color protected
3 big rose red no
2 small violet blue no
1 small tulip red no
0 small harebell blue yes
Alternative way with df.reset_index()
Since the index dissonance is the problem, if you feel that the index of the dataframe should not dictate things, you can simply drop the index, this should be faster, but it is not very clean, since your function now probably does two things.
df.reset_index(drop=True)
protected_series.reset_index(drop=True)
df['protected'] = protected_series
size name color protected
0 big rose red no
1 small violet blue no
2 small tulip red no
3 small harebell blue yes
Note on df.assign
While df.assign
make it more explicit what you are doing, it actually has all the same problems as the above []=
df.assign(protected=pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes']))
size name color protected
3 big rose red yes
2 small violet blue no
1 small tulip red no
0 small harebell blue no
Just watch out with df.assign
that your column is not called self
. It will cause errors. This makes df.assign
smelly, since there are these kinds of artifacts in the function.
df.assign(self=pd.Series(['no', 'no', 'no', 'yes'])
TypeError: assign() got multiple values for keyword argument 'self'
You may say, “Well, I’ll just not use self
then”. But who knows how this function changes in the future to support new arguments. Maybe your column name will be an argument in a new update of pandas, causing problems with upgrading.
Answer #4:
If you want to set the whole new column to an initial base value (e.g. None
), you can do this: df1['e'] = None
This actually would assign “object” type to the cell. So later you’re free to put complex data types, like list, into individual cells.
Hope you learned something from this post.
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