Get Specific Element from pandas DataFrame in Python (2 Examples)

In this Python tutorial you’ll learn how to return a specific data cell from a pandas DataFrame.

Table of contents:

Let’s dive right in…

Exemplifying Data & Software Libraries

We first need to load the pandas library, in order to use the functions that are contained in the library:

import pandas as pd                              # Load pandas library

Next, we’ll also need to create a pandas DataFrame that we can use in the example syntax later on:

data = pd.DataFrame({'x1':range(80, 71, - 1),    # Create pandas DataFrame
                     'x2':['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i'],
                     'x3':range(27, 18, - 1),
                     'x4':[1, 5, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1]})
print(data)                                      # Print pandas DataFrame

Table 1 shows the structure of our example data – It has nine rows and four columns.

Example 1: Extract Cell Value by Index in pandas DataFrame

This example demonstrates how to get a certain pandas DataFrame cell using the row and column index locations.

For this task, we can use the .iat attribute as shown below:

data_cell_1 = data.iat[5, 2]                     # Using .iat attribute
print(data_cell_1)                               # Print extracted value
# 22

The previous Python syntax has returned the value 22, i.e. the data cell at the row index 5 and the column index 2.

Example 2: Extract Cell Value by Column Name in pandas DataFrame

In this example, I’ll show how to print a specific element of a pandas DataFrame using the row index and the column name.

To achieve this, we can use the .at attribute:

data_cell_2 = data.at[1, "x2"]                   # Using .at attribute
print(data_cell_2)                               # Print extracted value
# b

The data cell at the row index 1 in the variable x2 contains the character “b”.

Video & Further Resources

Do you need more explanations on the examples of this tutorial? Then I recommend having a look at the following video on my YouTube channel. I’m explaining the examples of this tutorial in the video:

Besides that, you might have a look at the other articles on Statistics Globe. You can find a selection of related articles about similar topics such as lists and indices below.

• Get Index of Column in pandas DataFrame in Python
• Get Values of First Row in pandas DataFrame in Python
• Insert Row at Specific Position of pandas DataFrame in Python
• Get Column Names of pandas DataFrame as List in Python
• Get Max & Min Value of Column & Index in pandas DataFrame in Python
• Insert Column at Specific Position of pandas DataFrame in Python
• How to Use the pandas Library in Python
• Introduction to Python

This page has shown how to extract a certain data cell from a pandas DataFrame in the Python programming language. In case you have further questions, please let me know in the comments below.