Python pandas replace value in column

Question

When I look at the values in a column in my dataframe, I can see that due to user data entry errors, the same category has been entered incorrectly.

For my dataframe I use this code:

df['column_name'].value_counts()

output:

 Targeted    523534
 targeted    1
 story       25425
 story       2
 multiple    2524543

For story, I guess there is a space?

I am trying to replace targeted with Targeted.

df['column_name'].replace("targeted","Targeted")

But nothing is happening, I still get the same value count.

Did you df['column_name'].replace("targeted","Targeted").value_counts()? — Zero
– Zero, Commented Feb 8, 2017 at 19:08

jezrael · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-08 19:21:43Z

4

Yes, is seems there is start of end white-space(s).

df['column_name'] = df['column_name'].str.strip().replace("targeted","Targeted")

df['column_name'] = df['column_name'].str.strip().str.replace("targeted","Targeted")

Another possible solution is convert all characters to lowercase:

df['column_name'] = df['column_name'].str.strip().str.lower()

answered Feb 8, 2017 at 19:08

jezrael

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1 Comment

thank you , this option worked the best df['column_name'] = df['column_name'].str.strip().replace("targeted","Targeted")