Create Subset of Columns of pandas DataFrame in Python (Example)

This tutorial shows how to extract a subset of columns of a pandas DataFrame in the Python programming language.

The tutorial contains the following:

Let’s dig in:

Exemplifying Data & Add-On Libraries

If we want to use the functions of the pandas library, we first need to import pandas:

import pandas as pd                              # Import pandas library to Python

As a next step, let’s also create some example data:

data = pd.DataFrame({'x1':range(70, 61, - 1),    # Create pandas DataFrame
                     'x2':['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i'],
                     'x3':range(100, 109),
                     'x4':range(7, - 2, - 1),
                     'x5':[1, 2, 2, 1, 4, 2, 2, 3, 1]})
print(data)                                      # Print pandas DataFrame

Table 1 shows that our example pandas DataFrame consists of nine rows and five variables.

Example: Extract Subset of Columns in pandas DataFrame

In this example, I’ll explain how to select a pandas DataFrame subset containing particular variables with certain variable names.

For this task, we have to specify a list of variables within double square brackets as shown below:

data_subset = data[['x1', 'x3', 'x5']]           # Select certain columns
print(data_subset)                               # Print DataFrame subset

Table 2 illustrates the output of the previous code – A new pandas DataFrame containing three of the originally five columns of our input data set.

Video, Further Resources & Summary

I have recently published a video tutorial on my YouTube channel, which shows the Python code of this article. You can find the video below:

Besides that, you may read the other Python tutorials on https://www.statisticsglobe.com/. A selection of articles can be found below:

• Create Subset of pandas DataFrame in Python
• Create Subset of Rows of pandas DataFrame
• Add Multiple Columns to pandas DataFrame in Python
• Change Order of Columns in pandas DataFrame in Python
• Mean of Columns & Rows of pandas DataFrame in Python
• Combine Two Text Columns of pandas DataFrame in Python
• Count Rows & Columns of pandas DataFrame in Python
• How to Use the pandas Library in Python
• Python Programming Tutorials

In summary: This article has demonstrated how to get a subset of columns of a pandas DataFrame in Python. Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments, in case you have any additional questions.