Pandas column of lists, create a row for each list element

Question

I have a dataframe where some cells contain lists of multiple values. Rather than storing multiple values in a cell, I\'d like to expand the dataframe so that each item in t

Answer 1

Very late answer but I want to add this:

A fast solution using vanilla Python that also takes care of the sample_num column in OP's example. On my own large dataset with over 10 million rows and a result with 28 million rows this only takes about 38 seconds. The accepted solution completely breaks down with that amount of data and leads to a memory error on my system that has 128GB of RAM.

df = df.reset_index(drop=True)
lstcol = df.lstcol.values
lstcollist = []
indexlist = []
countlist = []
for ii in range(len(lstcol)):
    lstcollist.extend(lstcol[ii])
    indexlist.extend([ii]*len(lstcol[ii]))
    countlist.extend([jj for jj in range(len(lstcol[ii]))])
df = pd.merge(df.drop("lstcol",axis=1),pd.DataFrame({"lstcol":lstcollist,"lstcol_num":countlist},
index=indexlist),left_index=True,right_index=True).reset_index(drop=True)

Answer 2

Trying to work through Roman Pekar's solution step-by-step to understand it better, I came up with my own solution, which uses melt to avoid some of the confusing stacking and index resetting. I can't say that it's obviously a clearer solution though:

items_as_cols = df.apply(lambda x: pd.Series(x['samples']), axis=1)
# Keep original df index as a column so it's retained after melt
items_as_cols['orig_index'] = items_as_cols.index

melted_items = pd.melt(items_as_cols, id_vars='orig_index', 
                       var_name='sample_num', value_name='sample')
melted_items.set_index('orig_index', inplace=True)

df.merge(melted_items, left_index=True, right_index=True)

Output (obviously we can drop the original samples column now):

                 samples  subject  trial_num sample_num  sample
0    [1.84, 1.05, -0.66]        1          1          0    1.84
0    [1.84, 1.05, -0.66]        1          1          1    1.05
0    [1.84, 1.05, -0.66]        1          1          2   -0.66
1    [-0.24, -0.9, 0.65]        1          2          0   -0.24
1    [-0.24, -0.9, 0.65]        1          2          1   -0.90
1    [-0.24, -0.9, 0.65]        1          2          2    0.65
2    [1.15, -0.87, -1.1]        1          3          0    1.15
2    [1.15, -0.87, -1.1]        1          3          1   -0.87
2    [1.15, -0.87, -1.1]        1          3          2   -1.10
3   [-0.8, -0.62, -0.68]        2          1          0   -0.80
3   [-0.8, -0.62, -0.68]        2          1          1   -0.62
3   [-0.8, -0.62, -0.68]        2          1          2   -0.68
4    [0.91, -0.47, 1.43]        2          2          0    0.91
4    [0.91, -0.47, 1.43]        2          2          1   -0.47
4    [0.91, -0.47, 1.43]        2          2          2    1.43
5  [-1.14, -0.24, -0.91]        2          3          0   -1.14
5  [-1.14, -0.24, -0.91]        2          3          1   -0.24
5  [-1.14, -0.24, -0.91]        2          3          2   -0.91

Answer 3

Pandas >= 0.25

Series and DataFrame methods define a .explode() method that explodes lists into separate rows. See the docs section on Exploding a list-like column.

df = pd.DataFrame({
    'var1': [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e',], [], np.nan], 
    'var2': [1, 2, 3, 4]
})
df
        var1  var2
0  [a, b, c]     1
1     [d, e]     2
2         []     3
3        NaN     4

df.explode('var1')

  var1  var2
0    a     1
0    b     1
0    c     1
1    d     2
1    e     2
2  NaN     3  # empty list converted to NaN
3  NaN     4  # NaN entry preserved as-is

# to reset the index to be monotonically increasing...
df.explode('var1').reset_index(drop=True)

  var1  var2
0    a     1
1    b     1
2    c     1
3    d     2
4    e     2
5  NaN     3
6  NaN     4

Note that this also handles mixed columns of lists and scalars, as well as empty lists and NaNs appropriately (this is a drawback of repeat-based solutions).

However, you should note that explode only works on a single column (for now).

P.S.: if you are looking to explode a column of strings, you need to split on a separator first, then use explode. See this (very much) related answer by me.

Answer 4

you can also use pd.concat and pd.melt for this:

>>> objs = [df, pd.DataFrame(df['samples'].tolist())]
>>> pd.concat(objs, axis=1).drop('samples', axis=1)
   subject  trial_num     0     1     2
0        1          1 -0.49 -1.00  0.44
1        1          2 -0.28  1.48  2.01
2        1          3 -0.52 -1.84  0.02
3        2          1  1.23 -1.36 -1.06
4        2          2  0.54  0.18  0.51
5        2          3 -2.18 -0.13 -1.35
>>> pd.melt(_, var_name='sample_num', value_name='sample', 
...         value_vars=[0, 1, 2], id_vars=['subject', 'trial_num'])
    subject  trial_num sample_num  sample
0         1          1          0   -0.49
1         1          2          0   -0.28
2         1          3          0   -0.52
3         2          1          0    1.23
4         2          2          0    0.54
5         2          3          0   -2.18
6         1          1          1   -1.00
7         1          2          1    1.48
8         1          3          1   -1.84
9         2          1          1   -1.36
10        2          2          1    0.18
11        2          3          1   -0.13
12        1          1          2    0.44
13        1          2          2    2.01
14        1          3          2    0.02
15        2          1          2   -1.06
16        2          2          2    0.51
17        2          3          2   -1.35

last, if you need you can sort base on the first the first three columns.

Answer 5

I found the easiest way was to:

1. Convert the samples column into a DataFrame
2. Joining with the original df
3. Melting

Shown here:

    df.samples.apply(lambda x: pd.Series(x)).join(df).\
melt(['subject','trial_num'],[0,1,2],var_name='sample')

        subject  trial_num sample  value
    0         1          1      0  -0.24
    1         1          2      0   0.14
    2         1          3      0  -0.67
    3         2          1      0  -1.52
    4         2          2      0  -0.00
    5         2          3      0  -1.73
    6         1          1      1  -0.70
    7         1          2      1  -0.70
    8         1          3      1  -0.29
    9         2          1      1  -0.70
    10        2          2      1  -0.72
    11        2          3      1   1.30
    12        1          1      2  -0.55
    13        1          2      2   0.10
    14        1          3      2  -0.44
    15        2          1      2   0.13
    16        2          2      2  -1.44
    17        2          3      2   0.73

It's worth noting that this may have only worked because each trial has the same number of samples (3). Something more clever may be necessary for trials of different sample sizes.

Answer 6

A bit longer than I expected:

>>> df
                samples  subject  trial_num
0  [-0.07, -2.9, -2.44]        1          1
1   [-1.52, -0.35, 0.1]        1          2
2  [-0.17, 0.57, -0.65]        1          3
3  [-0.82, -1.06, 0.47]        2          1
4   [0.79, 1.35, -0.09]        2          2
5   [1.17, 1.14, -1.79]        2          3
>>>
>>> s = df.apply(lambda x: pd.Series(x['samples']),axis=1).stack().reset_index(level=1, drop=True)
>>> s.name = 'sample'
>>>
>>> df.drop('samples', axis=1).join(s)
   subject  trial_num  sample
0        1          1   -0.07
0        1          1   -2.90
0        1          1   -2.44
1        1          2   -1.52
1        1          2   -0.35
1        1          2    0.10
2        1          3   -0.17
2        1          3    0.57
2        1          3   -0.65
3        2          1   -0.82
3        2          1   -1.06
3        2          1    0.47
4        2          2    0.79
4        2          2    1.35
4        2          2   -0.09
5        2          3    1.17
5        2          3    1.14
5        2          3   -1.79

If you want sequential index, you can apply reset_index(drop=True) to the result.

update:

>>> res = df.set_index(['subject', 'trial_num'])['samples'].apply(pd.Series).stack()
>>> res = res.reset_index()
>>> res.columns = ['subject','trial_num','sample_num','sample']
>>> res
    subject  trial_num  sample_num  sample
0         1          1           0    1.89
1         1          1           1   -2.92
2         1          1           2    0.34
3         1          2           0    0.85
4         1          2           1    0.24
5         1          2           2    0.72
6         1          3           0   -0.96
7         1          3           1   -2.72
8         1          3           2   -0.11
9         2          1           0   -1.33
10        2          1           1    3.13
11        2          1           2   -0.65
12        2          2           0    0.10
13        2          2           1    0.65
14        2          2           2    0.15
15        2          3           0    0.64
16        2          3           1   -0.10
17        2          3           2   -0.76