pandas create new column based on values from other columns / apply a function of multiple columns, row-wise

Question

I want to apply my custom function (it uses an if-else ladder) to these six columns (ERI_Hispanic, ERI_AmerInd_AKNatv, ERI_Asian,

Answer 1

Since this is the first Google result for 'pandas new column from others', here's a simple example:

import pandas as pd

# make a simple dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({'a':[1,2], 'b':[3,4]})
df
#    a  b
# 0  1  3
# 1  2  4

# create an unattached column with an index
df.apply(lambda row: row.a + row.b, axis=1)
# 0    4
# 1    6

# do same but attach it to the dataframe
df['c'] = df.apply(lambda row: row.a + row.b, axis=1)
df
#    a  b  c
# 0  1  3  4
# 1  2  4  6

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If you get the SettingWithCopyWarning you can do it this way also:

fn = lambda row: row.a + row.b # define a function for the new column
col = df.apply(fn, axis=1) # get column data with an index
df = df.assign(c=col.values) # assign values to column 'c'

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12555510/243392

And if your column name includes spaces you can use syntax like this:

df = df.assign(**{'some column name': col.values})

---

And here's the documentation for apply, and assign.