Filter pandas dataframe with specific column names in python

Question

I have a pandas dataframe and a list as follows

mylist = [\'nnn\', \'mmm\', \'yyy\']
mydata =
   xxx   yyy zzz nnn ffffd mmm
0  0  10      5    5   5  5
1  1   9           


        

Answer 1

Just pass a list of column names to index df:

df[['nnn', 'mmm', 'yyy']]

   nnn  mmm  yyy
0    5    5   10
1    3    4    9
2    7    0    8

---

If you need to handle non-existent column names in your list, try filtering with df.columns.isin -

df.loc[:, df.columns.isin(['nnn', 'mmm', 'yyy', 'zzzzzz'])]

   yyy  nnn  mmm
0   10    5    5
1    9    3    4
2    8    7    0