Pandas column of lists, create a row for each list element
I have a dataframe where some cells contain lists of multiple values. Rather than storing multiple values in a cell, I'd like to expand the dataframe so that each item in the list gets its own row (with the same values in all other columns). So if I have:
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
df = pd.DataFrame(
{'trial_num': [1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3],
'subject': [1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2],
'samples': [list(np.random.randn(3).round(2)) for i in range(6)]
}
)
df
Out[10]:
samples subject trial_num
0 [0.57, -0.83, 1.44] 1 1
1 [-0.01, 1.13, 0.36] 1 2
2 [1.18, -1.46, -0.94] 1 3
3 [-0.08, -4.22, -2.05] 2 1
4 [0.72, 0.79, 0.53] 2 2
5 [0.4, -0.32, -0.13] 2 3
How do I convert to long form, e.g.:
subject trial_num sample sample_num
0 1 1 0.57 0
1 1 1 -0.83 1
2 1 1 1.44 2
3 1 2 -0.01 0
4 1 2 1.13 1
5 1 2 0.36 2
6 1 3 1.18 0
# etc.
The index is not important, it's OK to set existing columns as the index and the final ordering isn't important.
Solution 1:
A bit longer than I expected:
>>> df
samples subject trial_num
0 [-0.07, -2.9, -2.44] 1 1
1 [-1.52, -0.35, 0.1] 1 2
2 [-0.17, 0.57, -0.65] 1 3
3 [-0.82, -1.06, 0.47] 2 1
4 [0.79, 1.35, -0.09] 2 2
5 [1.17, 1.14, -1.79] 2 3
>>>
>>> s = df.apply(lambda x: pd.Series(x['samples']),axis=1).stack().reset_index(level=1, drop=True)
>>> s.name = 'sample'
>>>
>>> df.drop('samples', axis=1).join(s)
subject trial_num sample
0 1 1 -0.07
0 1 1 -2.90
0 1 1 -2.44
1 1 2 -1.52
1 1 2 -0.35
1 1 2 0.10
2 1 3 -0.17
2 1 3 0.57
2 1 3 -0.65
3 2 1 -0.82
3 2 1 -1.06
3 2 1 0.47
4 2 2 0.79
4 2 2 1.35
4 2 2 -0.09
5 2 3 1.17
5 2 3 1.14
5 2 3 -1.79
If you want sequential index, you can apply reset_index(drop=True) to the result.
update:
>>> res = df.set_index(['subject', 'trial_num'])['samples'].apply(pd.Series).stack()
>>> res = res.reset_index()
>>> res.columns = ['subject','trial_num','sample_num','sample']
>>> res
subject trial_num sample_num sample
0 1 1 0 1.89
1 1 1 1 -2.92
2 1 1 2 0.34
3 1 2 0 0.85
4 1 2 1 0.24
5 1 2 2 0.72
6 1 3 0 -0.96
7 1 3 1 -2.72
8 1 3 2 -0.11
9 2 1 0 -1.33
10 2 1 1 3.13
11 2 1 2 -0.65
12 2 2 0 0.10
13 2 2 1 0.65
14 2 2 2 0.15
15 2 3 0 0.64
16 2 3 1 -0.10
17 2 3 2 -0.76
Solution 2:
Pandas >= 0.25
Series and DataFrame methods define a .explode() method that explodes lists into separate rows. See the docs section on Exploding a list-like column.
df = pd.DataFrame({
'var1': [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e',], [], np.nan],
'var2': [1, 2, 3, 4]
})
df
var1 var2
0 [a, b, c] 1
1 [d, e] 2
2 [] 3
3 NaN 4
df.explode('var1')
var1 var2
0 a 1
0 b 1
0 c 1
1 d 2
1 e 2
2 NaN 3 # empty list converted to NaN
3 NaN 4 # NaN entry preserved as-is
# to reset the index to be monotonically increasing...
df.explode('var1').reset_index(drop=True)
var1 var2
0 a 1
1 b 1
2 c 1
3 d 2
4 e 2
5 NaN 3
6 NaN 4
Note that this also handles mixed columns of lists and scalars, as well as empty lists and NaNs appropriately (this is a drawback of repeat-based solutions).
However, you should note that explode only works on a single column (for now).
P.S.: if you are looking to explode a column of strings, you need to split on a separator first, then use explode. See this (very much) related answer by me.