How to copy a DataFrame with Pandas using Python

1 min

Making a copy of a DataFrame can save you a lot of trouble.

When assign a subset of a DataFrame to a variable the changes you make on this subset will change your initial DataFrame. So to say it might not be something you want.

To avoid this, you can use the DataFrame.copy() method. Method that will copy for your DataFrame or DataFrame subset somewhere else in memory.

Here is the code

# To use dataframes
import pandas as pd

# We create a sample dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({"col1" : [2, 1, 4, 2, 0]})

# We copy the dataframe subset into a new dataframe
df_new = df[df["col1"] >= 1].copy()

# Or the entire dataframe
df_2 = df.copy()

Here you are! You now know how to copy a DataFrame with Pandas using Python.

More on DataFrames

If you want to know more about DataFrame and Pandas. Check out the other articles I wrote on the topic, just here :

Pandas - The Python You Need
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