How to Change the Order of Pandas DataFrame Columns

Asad Riaz Feb 02, 2024 Pandas Pandas DataFrame Pandas DataFrame Column
  1. List Columns in the Newly Desired Order in Pandas
  2. insert New Column With the Specific Location in Pandas
  3. reindex Column for Given Order in Pandas
How to Change the Order of Pandas DataFrame Columns

We will introduce how to change the order of DataFrame columns, with different methods like assigning the column names in the order we want, by using insert and reindex.

List Columns in the Newly Desired Order in Pandas

The simplest way is to reassign the DataFrame with a list of the columns, or by just assign the column names in the order we want them:

# python 3.x
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame(
    {
        "a": ["1", "2", "3", "4"],
        "b": [16, 7, 6, 16],
        "c": [61, 57, 16, 36],
        "d": ["12", "22", "13", "44"],
        "e": ["Green", "Red", "Blue", "Yellow"],
        "f": [1, 11, 23, 66],
    }
)
print(df)
df = df[["e", "c", "b", "f", "d", "a"]]
print("Rearranging ..................")
print("..............................")
print(df)

Output:

   a   b   c   d       e   f
0  1  16  61  12   Green   1
1  2   7  57  22     Red  11
2  3   6  16  13    Blue  23
3  4  16  36  44  Yellow  66
Rearranging ..................
..............................
        e   c   b   f   d  a
0   Green  61  16   1  12  1
1     Red  57   7  11  22  2
2    Blue  16   6  23  13  3
3  Yellow  36  16  66  44  4

insert New Column With the Specific Location in Pandas

If we are creating a new column we can insert it any location we want:

# python 3.x
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame(
    {
        "a": ["1", "2", "3", "4"],
        "b": [16, 7, 6, 16],
        "c": [61, 57, 16, 36],
        "d": ["12", "22", "13", "44"],
        "e": ["Green", "Red", "Blue", "Yellow"],
        "f": [1, 11, 23, 66],
    }
)
print(df)
print("Inserting ..................")
print("..............................")
df.insert(0, "newColMean", df.mean(1))
print(df)

Output:

   newColMean  a   b   c   d       e   f
0   26.000000  1  16  61  12   Green   1
1   25.000000  2   7  57  22     Red  11
2   15.000000  3   6  16  13    Blue  23
3   39.333333  4  16  36  44  Yellow  66

reindex Column for Given Order in Pandas

reindex is arguably the most efficient way to rearrange the column:

# python 3.x
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame(
    {
        "a": ["1", "2", "3", "4"],
        "b": [16, 7, 6, 16],
        "c": [61, 57, 16, 36],
        "d": ["12", "22", "13", "44"],
        "e": ["Green", "Red", "Blue", "Yellow"],
        "f": [1, 11, 23, 66],
    }
)
print(df)
print("Rearranging ..................")
print("..............................")
df = df.reindex(columns=["a", "f", "d", "b", "c", "e"])
print(df)

Output:

   a   b   c   d       e   f
0  1  16  61  12   Green   1
1  2   7  57  22     Red  11
2  3   6  16  13    Blue  23
3  4  16  36  44  Yellow  66
Rearranging ..................
..............................
   a   f   d   b   c       e
0  1   1  12  16  61   Green
1  2  11  22   7  57     Red
2  3  23  13   6  16    Blue
3  4  66  44  16  36  Yellow
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