Split (explode) pandas dataframe string entry to separate rows

Question

I have a pandas dataframe in which one column of text strings contains comma-separated values. I want to split each CSV field and create a new row per entry (as

Answer 1

My version of the solution to add to this collection! :-)

# Original problem
from pandas import DataFrame
import numpy as np
a = DataFrame([{'var1': 'a,b,c', 'var2': 1},
               {'var1': 'd,e,f', 'var2': 2}])
b = DataFrame([{'var1': 'a', 'var2': 1},
               {'var1': 'b', 'var2': 1},
               {'var1': 'c', 'var2': 1},
               {'var1': 'd', 'var2': 2},
               {'var1': 'e', 'var2': 2},
               {'var1': 'f', 'var2': 2}])
### My solution
import pandas as pd
import functools
def expand_on_cols(df, fuse_cols, delim=","):
    def expand_on_col(df, fuse_col):
        col_order = df.columns
        df_expanded = pd.DataFrame(
            df.set_index([x for x in df.columns if x != fuse_col])[fuse_col]
            .apply(lambda x: x.split(delim))
            .explode()
        ).reset_index()
        return df_expanded[col_order]
    all_expanded = functools.reduce(expand_on_col, fuse_cols, df)
    return all_expanded

assert(b.equals(expand_on_cols(a, ["var1"], delim=",")))