Pandas: how to merge two dataframes on a column by keeping the information of the first one?
I have two dataframes df1 and df2. df1 contains the information of the age of people, while df2 contains the information of the sex of people. Not all the people are in df1 nor in df2
df1
Name Age
0 Tom 34
1 Sara 18
2 Eva 44
3 Jack 27
4 Laura 30
df2
Name Sex
0 Tom M
1 Paul M
2 Eva F
3 Jack M
4 Michelle F
I want to have the information of the sex of the people in df1 and setting NaN if I do not have this information in df2. I tried to do df1 = pd.merge(df1, df2, on = 'Name', how = 'outer') but I keep the information of some people in df2 that I don't want.
df1
Name Age Sex
0 Tom 34 M
1 Sara 18 NaN
2 Eva 44 F
3 Jack 27 M
4 Laura 30 NaN
Sample:
df1 = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Tom', 'Sara', 'Eva', 'Jack', 'Laura'],
'Age': [34, 18, 44, 27, 30]})
#print (df1)
df3 = df1.copy()
df2 = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Tom', 'Paul', 'Eva', 'Jack', 'Michelle'],
'Sex': ['M', 'M', 'F', 'M', 'F']})
#print (df2)
Use map by Series created by set_index:
df1['Sex'] = df1['Name'].map(df2.set_index('Name')['Sex'])
print (df1)
Name Age Sex
0 Tom 34 M
1 Sara 18 NaN
2 Eva 44 F
3 Jack 27 M
4 Laura 30 NaN
Alternative solution with merge with left join:
df = df3.merge(df2[['Name','Sex']], on='Name', how='left')
print (df)
Name Age Sex
0 Tom 34 M
1 Sara 18 NaN
2 Eva 44 F
3 Jack 27 M
4 Laura 30 NaN
If need map by multiple columns (e.g. Year and Code) need merge with left join:
df1 = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Tom', 'Sara', 'Eva', 'Jack', 'Laura'],
'Year':[2000,2003,2003,2004,2007],
'Code':[1,2,3,4,4],
'Age': [34, 18, 44, 27, 30]})
print (df1)
Name Year Code Age
0 Tom 2000 1 34
1 Sara 2003 2 18
2 Eva 2003 3 44
3 Jack 2004 4 27
4 Laura 2007 4 30
df2 = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Tom', 'Paul', 'Eva', 'Jack', 'Michelle'],
'Sex': ['M', 'M', 'F', 'M', 'F'],
'Year':[2001,2003,2003,2004,2007],
'Code':[1,2,3,5,3],
'Val':[21,34,23,44,67]})
print (df2)
Name Sex Year Code Val
0 Tom M 2001 1 21
1 Paul M 2003 2 34
2 Eva F 2003 3 23
3 Jack M 2004 5 44
4 Michelle F 2007 3 67
#merge by all columns
df = df1.merge(df2, on=['Year','Code'], how='left')
print (df)
Name_x Year Code Age Name_y Sex Val
0 Tom 2000 1 34 NaN NaN NaN
1 Sara 2003 2 18 Paul M 34.0
2 Eva 2003 3 44 Eva F 23.0
3 Jack 2004 4 27 NaN NaN NaN
4 Laura 2007 4 30 NaN NaN NaN
#specified columns - columns for join (Year, Code) need always + appended columns (Val)
df = df1.merge(df2[['Year','Code', 'Val']], on=['Year','Code'], how='left')
print (df)
Name Year Code Age Val
0 Tom 2000 1 34 NaN
1 Sara 2003 2 18 34.0
2 Eva 2003 3 44 23.0
3 Jack 2004 4 27 NaN
4 Laura 2007 4 30 NaN
If get error with map it means duplicates by columns of join, here Name:
df1 = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Tom', 'Sara', 'Eva', 'Jack', 'Laura'],
'Age': [34, 18, 44, 27, 30]})
print (df1)
Name Age
0 Tom 34
1 Sara 18
2 Eva 44
3 Jack 27
4 Laura 30
df3, df4 = df1.copy(), df1.copy()
df2 = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Tom', 'Tom', 'Eva', 'Jack', 'Michelle'],
'Val': [1,2,3,4,5]})
print (df2)
Name Val
0 Tom 1 <-duplicated name Tom
1 Tom 2 <-duplicated name Tom
2 Eva 3
3 Jack 4
4 Michelle 5
s = df2.set_index('Name')['Val']
df1['New'] = df1['Name'].map(s)
print (df1)
InvalidIndexError: Reindexing only valid with uniquely valued Index objects
Solutions are removed duplicates by DataFrame.drop_duplicates, or use map by dict for last dupe match:
#default keep first value
s = df2.drop_duplicates('Name').set_index('Name')['Val']
print (s)
Name
Tom 1
Eva 3
Jack 4
Michelle 5
Name: Val, dtype: int64
df1['New'] = df1['Name'].map(s)
print (df1)
Name Age New
0 Tom 34 1.0
1 Sara 18 NaN
2 Eva 44 3.0
3 Jack 27 4.0
4 Laura 30 NaN
#add parameter for keep last value
s = df2.drop_duplicates('Name', keep='last').set_index('Name')['Val']
print (s)
Name
Tom 2
Eva 3
Jack 4
Michelle 5
Name: Val, dtype: int64
df3['New'] = df3['Name'].map(s)
print (df3)
Name Age New
0 Tom 34 2.0
1 Sara 18 NaN
2 Eva 44 3.0
3 Jack 27 4.0
4 Laura 30 NaN
#map by dictionary
d = dict(zip(df2['Name'], df2['Val']))
print (d)
{'Tom': 2, 'Eva': 3, 'Jack': 4, 'Michelle': 5}
df4['New'] = df4['Name'].map(d)
print (df4)
Name Age New
0 Tom 34 2.0
1 Sara 18 NaN
2 Eva 44 3.0
3 Jack 27 4.0
4 Laura 30 NaN
You can also use the join method:
df1.set_index("Name").join(df2.set_index("Name"), how="left")
edit: added set_index("Name")