Adventures in Machine Learning

Mastering Key Operations in Pandas: Selection Filtering Sorting and More

Pandas is a powerful library for data manipulation and analysis in Python. Its ability to handle large datasets and blend various data sources into a single dataframe makes it a popular choice among data scientists and analysts.

Getting Top N Rows by Group in a Pandas Dataframe

Suppose you have a dataset with multiple groups and you would like to retrieve the top N rows from each group. Pandas enables you to perform this task seamlessly.

Syntax for getting top N rows by group

To retrieve the top N rows by group, you can use the groupby and apply methods in Pandas. The groupby method groups the dataframe by the chosen column(s), and the apply method applies the function to retrieve the top N rows.

The general syntax for getting top N rows by group is as follows:

df.groupby('column_name').apply(lambda x: x.nlargest(N, 'column_sortby'))

In this syntax, column_name is the name of the column(s) by which you want to group the dataframe. column_sortby is the column by which to sort the groups.

N represents the number of rows to retrieve for each group.

Example 1: Getting top N rows grouped by one column

Suppose your dataset contains purchase data for multiple products and you wish to see the top 5 purchases for each product type.

Let’s create a sample dataset to demonstrate how to do this.

import pandas as pd
data = {'Product Type': ['phone', 'phone', 'phone', 'laptop', 'laptop', 'tablet', 'tablet', 'tablet'],
        'Product Name': ['Samsung Galaxy S21', 'Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max', 'OnePlus 9 Pro', 'Dell XPS 15', 
                         'Apple MacBook Pro', 'Microsoft Surface Pro 7', 'Amazon Fire HD 10', 'Lenovo Tab M8'],
        'Purchase Amount ($)': [850, 1250, 899, 949, 1699, 649, 299, 199]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
# group by product type and get top 2 purchases for each type
top2_grouped = df.groupby('Product Type').apply(lambda x: x.nlargest(2, 'Purchase Amount ($)'))
print(top2_grouped)

The code above will output the following:

                      Product Type             Product Name  Purchase Amount ($)
    Product Type                                                               
    laptop       4           laptop        Apple MacBook Pro                 1699
                 3           laptop             Dell XPS 15                  949
    phone        1           phone  Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max                 1250
                 0           phone       Samsung Galaxy S21                  850
    tablet       5           tablet  Microsoft Surface Pro 7                  649
                 6           tablet         Amazon Fire HD 10                  299

The resulting dataframe shows the top two purchases for each product type. Notice that the lambda function is used with the nlargest function to retrieve the two largest values for each group.

Example 2: Getting top N rows grouped by multiple columns

You can use the groupby method with multiple columns to group the dataframe by more than one column. Let’s revisit the previous example and group the dataframe by both Product Type and Product Name, and retrieve the top 1 purchase for each group.

# group by product type and product name and get top 1 purchase for each group
top1_grouped = df.groupby(['Product Type', 'Product Name']).apply(lambda x: x.nlargest(1, 'Purchase Amount ($)'))
print(top1_grouped)

The output will be:

                                                    Product Type             Product Name  Purchase Amount ($)
    Product Type Product Name                                                                   
    laptop       Apple MacBook Pro                        laptop        Apple MacBook Pro                 1699
                 Dell XPS 15                               laptop             Dell XPS 15                  949
    phone        Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max                   phone  Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max                 1250
                 OnePlus 9 Pro                             phone             OnePlus 9 Pro                  899
                 Samsung Galaxy S21                        phone       Samsung Galaxy S21                  850
    tablet       Amazon Fire HD 10                         tablet         Amazon Fire HD 10                  299
                 Lenovo Tab M8                             tablet             Lenovo Tab M8                  199
    Microsoft Surface Pro 7                   None   Microsoft Surface Pro 7                  649

The resulting dataframe shows the top purchase from the Product Type and Product Name groups.

Additional Resources

  • Pandas Documentation: The official documentation for Pandas is comprehensive and well-organized.
  • Pandas Tutorials on DataCamp: DataCamp provides excellent courses on Pandas, including beginner and advanced lessons.
  • 10 Minutes to Pandas: This is a quick and easy tutorial for those who want a brief introduction to Pandas.

Creating a Pandas DataFrame

Creating a Pandas dataframe is a fundamental task when working with data in Python. In this section, we will discuss the syntax for creating a dataframe, provide examples of creating a dataframe, and recommend additional resources for Pandas tutorials and common operations.

Syntax for creating a DataFrame

To create a Pandas dataframe, you can use the pd.DataFrame() constructor. The general syntax for creating a dataframe is as follows:

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'Column1': ['Value1', 'Value2', ...],
                   'Column2': ['Value1', 'Value2', ...],
                   ...                   })

In the syntax above, ‘Column1’, ‘Column2’, are the names of the columns, and [‘Value1’, ‘Value2’, …] are the values of each column.

Example of creating a DataFrame

Suppose you have a list of dictionaries representing different cities and their population in millions. Let’s create a dataframe from this data to demonstrate how it works.

import pandas as pd
cities = [{'City': 'New York', 'Population': 8.336},
          {'City': 'Los Angeles', 'Population': 3.979},
          {'City': 'Chicago', 'Population': 2.693},
          {'City': 'Houston', 'Population': 2.320},
          {'City': 'Phoenix', 'Population': 1.680}]
df = pd.DataFrame(cities)
print(df)

The output will be:

           City  Population
    0    New York       8.336
    1  Los Angeles     3.979
    2      Chicago     2.693
    3      Houston     2.320
    4      Phoenix     1.680

The resulting dataframe shows the City and Population columns from the list of dictionaries.

Additional Resources

  • Pandas Documentation: The official documentation for Pandas is comprehensive and well-organized.
  • Pandas Tutorials on DataCamp: DataCamp provides excellent courses on Pandas, including beginner and advanced lessons.
  • 10 Minutes to Pandas: This is a quick and easy tutorial for those who want a brief introduction to Pandas.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored two key topics in Pandas: getting top N rows by group in a Pandas dataframe and creating a Pandas dataframe. We discussed the syntax for each topic, provided examples of how to use them, and recommended additional resources for Pandas tutorials and common operations.

We hope this article was informative and helps you in your data analysis endeavors.

Selecting Data from a Pandas DataFrame

Data selection is the process of retrieving a subset of data from a DataFrame. Pandas allows you to select data based on conditions, columns, and indexes.

Syntax for selecting data from a DataFrame

To select data from a Pandas dataframe, you can use the following syntax.

df.loc[row_labels, column_labels]

Here, df is the name of the Pandas dataframe, row_labels and column_labels are the row labels and columns labels that you want to select, respectively.

If you want to select all the rows, you can use a colon “:” in place of row_labels. Similarly, if you want to select all the columns, you can use a colon “:” in place of column_labels.

Example of selecting data from a DataFrame

Let’s create a sample dataframe and illustrate how to select data from it.

import pandas as pd
data = {'Name': ['John', 'Mary', 'Ben', 'Tom'],
        'Age': [25, 21, 31, 19],
        'City': ['New York', 'San Francisco', 'Los Angeles', 'Chicago']}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
print(df.loc[0:2, 'Name':'Age']) 

The output will be:

     Name  Age
0    John   25
1    Mary   21
2     Ben   31

This code selects the rows with index labels from 0 to 2 and the columns from Name to Age.

Additional Resources

  • Pandas Documentation: The official documentation for Pandas is comprehensive and well-organized.
  • Pandas Tutorials on DataCamp: DataCamp provides excellent courses on Pandas, including beginner and advanced lessons.
  • 10 Minutes to Pandas: This is a quick and easy tutorial for those who want a brief introduction to Pandas.

Filtering Data in a Pandas DataFrame

Data filtering is the process of selecting rows that match a specific criterion from a Pandas dataframe. Pandas filter function enables you to filter rows based on conditions.

Syntax for filtering data in a DataFrame

To filter data from a Pandas dataframe, you can use the following syntax.

df[df['column_name'] < value]

Here, df is the name of the Pandas dataframe, column_name is the name of the column by which you want to filter the data, and value is the value that you want to use as a condition for filtering.

Example of filtering data in a DataFrame

Let’s create a sample dataframe and demonstrate how to filter data from it.

import pandas as pd
data = {'Name': ['John', 'Mary', 'Ben', 'Tom'],
        'Age': [25, 21, 31, 19],
        'City': ['New York', 'San Francisco', 'Los Angeles', 'Chicago']}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
filtered_df = df[df['Age'] > 21] 
print(filtered_df) 

The output will be:

    Name  Age           City
0  John   25       New York
2   Ben   31    Los Angeles

This code filters records from the Age column where the value is greater than 21.

Additional Resources

  • Pandas Documentation: The official documentation for Pandas is comprehensive and well-organized.
  • Pandas Tutorials on DataCamp: DataCamp provides excellent courses on Pandas, including beginner and advanced lessons.
  • 10 Minutes to Pandas: This is a quick and easy tutorial for those who want a brief introduction to Pandas.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed two important operations in Pandas: selecting data from a Pandas dataframe and filtering data in a Pandas dataframe. The ability to select and filter data is crucial for data manipulation and analysis.

By following the syntax and examples provided, you can extract meaningful insights from your datasets efficiently. We hope this article was informative and helps you in your data analysis endeavors.

Sorting Data in a Pandas DataFrame

Sorting data in a Pandas DataFrame is a common task in data manipulation and analysis. Sorting can help you identify trends, outliers, and patterns in your data.

Syntax for Sorting Data in a Pandas DataFrame

To sort a Pandas dataframe, you can use the sort_values() method.

The syntax for sorting data in a Pandas dataframe is as follows:

df.sort_values(by=['column_name'], ascending=[True/False])

Here, df is the name of the Pandas dataframe, column_name is the name of the column by which you want to sort the data, and ascending parameter is used to specify whether to sort the values in ascending or descending order.

Example of Sorting Data in a Pandas DataFrame

Let’s create a sample dataframe and demonstrate how to sort the data in it:

import pandas as pd
data = {'Name': ['John', 'Mary', 'Ben', 'Tom'],
        'Age': [25, 21, 31, 19],
        'City': ['New York', 'San Francisco', 'Los Angeles', 'Chicago']}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
sorted_df = df.sort_values(by=['Age'], ascending=[False])
print(sorted_df)

The output will be:

    Name  Age           City
2   Ben   31    Los Angeles
0  John   25       New York
1  Mary   21  San Francisco
3   Tom   19        Chicago

This code sorts the rows in the dataframe by the Age column in descending order.

Additional Resources

  • Pandas Documentation: The official documentation for Pandas is comprehensive and well-organized.
  • Pandas Tutorials on DataCamp: DataCamp provides excellent courses on Pandas, including beginner and advanced lessons.
  • 10 Minutes to Pandas: This is a quick and easy tutorial for those who want a brief introduction to Pandas.

Conclusion

Sorting data in a Pandas DataFrame is a fundamental operation in data manipulation and analysis. The sort_values() method

Popular Posts