Assign column names in string to dataframe - Python

Question

I have the following string in Python (is not a list, is a string):

a = ['cc_call_center_sk', 'cc_call_center_id', 'cc_rec_start_date', 'cc_rec_end_date']

I also have the following dataframe:

   0      1      2      3
0  AA     AB     BC     CD
1  AZ     ZR     RT     TN

What I want to do is to assign the string 'a' to the columns of the dataframe. I did this:

df.columns = a

But I get the following error:

TypeError: Index(...) must be called with a collection of some kind, 
"['cc_call_center_sk', 'cc_call_center_id', 'cc_rec_start_date', 
'cc_rec_end_date']" was passed

I cannot pass directly the string to the df.columns. Any ideas on this? Thanks!!!!

jezrael · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-15 06:13:51Z

3

You need convert strings to list by ast.literal_eval:

import ast

df.columns = ast.literal_eval(a)

Another solution with strip and split, last remove ' for each column name:

a = "['cc_call_center_sk', 'cc_call_center_id', 'cc_rec_start_date', 'cc_rec_end_date']"

#solution 1
df.columns = [x.strip("'") for x in a.strip("[]").split(', ')]
#solution 2
df.columns = pd.Index(a.strip('[]').split(', ')).str.strip("'")

print (df)
  cc_call_center_sk cc_call_center_id cc_rec_start_date cc_rec_end_date
0                AA                AB                BC              CD
1                AZ                ZR                RT              TN

edited Oct 15, 2018 at 6:13

answered Oct 15, 2018 at 5:44

jezrael

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3 Comments

Gabriela M Over a year ago

Amazing! Thanks @jezrael

jezrael Over a year ago

@GabrielaMartinez - You are welcome! I notice first my answer was accepted and then remove accepting, so only ask if it was by accident or not - now is possible accept only one answer, not multiple. And which answer you choose it is up to you ;)

Gabriela M Over a year ago

Sorry about that! :)

U13-Forward · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-15 05:59:51Z

1

Or even better, use split:

df.columns = map(lambda x:x[1:-1],a[1:-1].split(', '))

Then now:

print(df)

Will be desired output, like:

  cc_call_center_sk cc_call_center_id cc_rec_start_date cc_rec_end_date
0                AA                AB                BC              CD
1                AZ                ZR                RT              TN

answered Oct 15, 2018 at 5:59

U13-Forward

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