Why can't I define column names when I create the dataframe with pandas?

Question

import pandas as pd

DF = pd.DataFrame(DICTIONARY, 
                  index = [r"$lambda$="+str(i) for i in range(3)],
                  columns = [r"$xi$="+str(j) for j in range(3)])

There are a few times when I have a dictionary (not very large) and try to convert it into a dataframe, the code above would yield one with each cell being NaN. Yet the code below works fine. I wonder what could be the difference?

DF = pd.DataFrame(DICTIONARY, index = [r"$lambda$="+str(i) for i in range(3)])
DF.columns = [r"$xi$="+str(j) for j in range(3)]

Asked By: Paw in Data

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Source

Answer 1

What are your dictionary keys? I am guessing the keys don’t align to your columns.

In the second option you are letting pandas assign default column names and then overwriting them.

Something like the below code works when the column names align – but explicitly defining the columns parameter, in this case, adds no value because the dict key already provides the names.

DF = pd.DataFrame({1:1,2:2,3:3},
    index = [r"$lambda$="+str(i) for i in range(3)],
    columns = [j+1 for j in range(3)])

Answered By: Maximus

Why can't I define column names when I create the dataframe with pandas?

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