How to delete all rows in a dataframe?

Question

I want to delete all the rows in a dataframe.

The reason I want to do this is so that I can reconstruct the dataframe with an iterative loop. I want to start with a completely empty dataframe.

Alternatively, I could create an empty df from just the column / type information if that is possible

Asked By: cammil

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Source

Answer 1

The latter is possible and strongly recommended – “inserting” rows row-by-row is highly inefficient. A sketch could be

>>> import numpy as np
>>> import pandas as pd
>>> index = np.arange(0, 10)
>>> df = pd.DataFrame(index=index, columns=['foo', 'bar'])
>>> df
Out[268]: 
   foo  bar
0  NaN  NaN
1  NaN  NaN
2  NaN  NaN
3  NaN  NaN
4  NaN  NaN
5  NaN  NaN
6  NaN  NaN
7  NaN  NaN
8  NaN  NaN
9  NaN  NaN

Answered By: FooBar

Answer 2

Here’s another method if you have an existing DataFrame that you’d like to empty without recreating the column information:

df_empty = df[0:0]

df_empty is a DataFrame with zero rows but with the same column structure as df

Answered By: ashishsingal

Answer 3

If you have an existing DataFrame with the columns you want then extract the column names into a list comprehension then create an empty DataFrame with your column names.

# Creating DataFrame from a CSV file with desired headers
csv_a = "path/to/my.csv"
df_a = pd.read_csv(csv_a)

# Extract column names into a list
names = [x for x in df_a.columns]

# Create empty DataFrame with those column names
df_b = pd.DataFrame(columns=names)

Answered By: Lelouch

Answer 4

df.drop(df.index,inplace=True)

This line will delete all rows, while keeping the column names.

Answered By: Emin Berkay Dağlar

Answer 5

You can also use head:

df_empty = df.head(0)

Answered By: rachwa

Answer 6

Old Thread. But i found another way

df_final=df_dup[0:0].copy(deep=True)

Answered By: MAYANK PANDE

How to delete all rows in a dataframe?

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