Drop Duplicates from pandas DataFrame in Python (2 Examples)

In this Python tutorial you’ll learn how to remove duplicate rows from a pandas DataFrame.

The tutorial contains these content blocks:

Here’s how to do it.

Creating Example Data

To be able to use the functions of the pandas library, we first have to load pandas:

import pandas as pd                                            # Load pandas library

In the next step, we have to create an exemplifying DataFrame in Python:

data = pd.DataFrame({'x1':[1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4],              # Create example DataFrame
                     'x2':[5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5],
                     'x3':['a', 'a', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']})
print(data)                                                   # Print example DataFrame

Table 1 shows the output of the previous syntax: We have created some example data containing seven rows and three columns. Some of the rows in our data are duplicates.

Example 1: Drop Duplicates from pandas DataFrame

In this example, I’ll explain how to delete duplicate observations in a pandas DataFrame.

For this task, we can use the drop_duplicates function as shown below:

data_new1 = data.copy()                                       # Create duplicate of example data
data_new1 = data_new1.drop_duplicates()                       # Remove duplicates
print(data_new1)                                              # Print new data

As shown in Table 2, the previous syntax has created a new pandas DataFrame called data_new1, in which all repeated rows have been excluded.

Example 2: Drop Duplicates Across Certain Columns of pandas DataFrame

In this example, I’ll show how to drop lines that are duplicated in only some particular columns.

The following Python code retains only those rows that are not duplicated in the variables x1 and x2:

data_new2 = data.copy()                                       # Create duplicate of example data
data_new2 = data_new2.drop_duplicates(subset = ['x1', 'x2'])  # Remove duplicates in subset
print(data_new2)                                              # Print new data

In Table 3 you can see that we have created another data set that contains even less rows by running the previous Python code.

Video & Further Resources

Do you need more information on the Python programming codes of this tutorial? Then I recommend watching the following video on the Data School YouTube channel. In the video, the speaker illustrates how to search, find and eliminate duplicate rows in another pandas DataFrame example.

Besides the video, you might want to read the related tutorials that I have published on https://www.statisticsglobe.com/.

• Add Row to pandas DataFrame in Python
• Delete Rows of pandas DataFrame Conditionally
• Drop Rows with Blank Values from pandas DataFrame
• Drop Infinite Values from pandas DataFrame
• Remove Rows with NaN from pandas DataFrame
• How to Manipulate a pandas DataFrame in Python
• How to Use the pandas Library in Python
• Introduction to Python

Summary: In this article you have learned how to drop duplicates from a pandas DataFrame in Python. If you have additional comments and/or questions, tell me about it in the comments section below. Furthermore, please subscribe to my email newsletter in order to receive updates on the newest tutorials.