Selecting multiple columns in a pandas dataframe

Question

I have data in different columns but I don\'t know how to extract it to save it in another variable.

index  a   b   c
1      2   3   4
2      3   4   5


        

Answer 1

The different approaches discussed in above responses are based on the assumption that either the user knows column indices to drop or subset on, or the user wishes to subset a dataframe using a range of columns (for instance between 'C' : 'E'). pandas.DataFrame.drop() is certainly an option to subset data based on a list of columns defined by user (though you have to be cautious that you always use copy of dataframe and inplace parameters should not be set to True!!)

Another option is to use pandas.columns.difference(), which does a set difference on column names, and returns an index type of array containing desired columns. Following is the solution:

df = pd.DataFrame([[2,3,4],[3,4,5]],columns=['a','b','c'],index=[1,2])
columns_for_differencing = ['a']
df1 = df.copy()[df.columns.difference(columns_for_differencing)]
print(df1)

The output would be: b c 1 3 4 2 4 5

Answer 2

I realize this question is quite old, but in the latest version of pandas there is an easy way to do exactly this. Column names (which are strings) can be sliced in whatever manner you like.

columns = ['b', 'c']
df1 = pd.DataFrame(df, columns=columns)

Answer 3

With pandas,

wit column names

dataframe[['column1','column2']]

to select by iloc and specific columns with index number:

dataframe.iloc[:,[1,2]]

with loc column names can be used like

dataframe.loc[:,['column1','column2']]

Answer 4

I found this method to be very useful:

# iloc[row slicing, column slicing]
surveys_df.iloc [0:3, 1:4]

More details can be found here

Answer 5

You can use pandas. I create the DataFrame:

    import pandas as pd
    df = pd.DataFrame([[1, 2,5], [5,4, 5], [7,7, 8], [7,6,9]], 
                      index=['Jane', 'Peter','Alex','Ann'],
                      columns=['Test_1', 'Test_2', 'Test_3'])

The DataFrame:

           Test_1  Test_2  Test_3
    Jane        1       2       5
    Peter       5       4       5
    Alex        7       7       8
    Ann         7       6       9

To select 1 or more columns by name:

    df[['Test_1','Test_3']]

           Test_1  Test_3
    Jane        1       5
    Peter       5       5
    Alex        7       8
    Ann         7       9

You can also use:

    df.Test_2

And yo get column Test_2

    Jane     2
    Peter    4
    Alex     7
    Ann      6

You can also select columns and rows from these rows using .loc(). This is called "slicing". Notice that I take from column Test_1to Test_3

    df.loc[:,'Test_1':'Test_3']

The "Slice" is:

            Test_1  Test_2  Test_3
     Jane        1       2       5
     Peter       5       4       5
     Alex        7       7       8
     Ann         7       6       9

And if you just want Peter and Ann from columns Test_1 and Test_3:

    df.loc[['Peter', 'Ann'],['Test_1','Test_3']]

You get:

           Test_1  Test_3
    Peter       5       5
    Ann         7       9

Answer 6

In [39]: df
Out[39]: 
   index  a  b  c
0      1  2  3  4
1      2  3  4  5

In [40]: df1 = df[['b', 'c']]

In [41]: df1
Out[41]: 
   b  c
0  3  4
1  4  5