Pandas DataFrame – Delete Column

There are different ways to delete a column of Pandas DataFrame. Following are some of the ways we will discuss in this tutorial.

  • Delete column using del keyword.
  • Delete column using drop() method.
  • Delete column using pop() method.

Delete DataFrame Column using del keyword

To delete a column of DataFrame using del keyword, use the following syntax.

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 del myDataFrame['column_name']

In the following example, we shall initialize a DataFrame with three columns and delete one of the column using del keyword.

Python Program

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import pandas as pd

#initialize a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({
	'a':[14, 52, 46],
	'b':[32, 85, 64],
	'c':[88, 47, 36]})
	
#delete column 'b'
del df['b']

#print the dataframe
print(df)

Output

    a   c
0  14  88
1  52  47
2  46  36

The column with name b has been deleted from the dataframe.

Delete DataFrame Column using drop() method

pandas.DataFrame.drop() method returns a new DataFrame with the specified columns dropped from the original DataFrame. The original DataFrame is not modified.

Python Program

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import pandas as pd

#initialize a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({
	'a':[14, 52, 46],
	'b':[32, 85, 64],
	'c':[88, 47, 36]})
	
#delete column 'b'
df1 = df.drop(['b'], axis=1)

#print the dataframe
print(df1)

Output

    a   c
0  14  88
1  52  47
2  46  36

Delete DataFrame Column using pop() method

pandas.DataFrame.pop() method deletes specified column from the DataFrame and returns the deleted column.

Python Program

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import pandas as pd

#initialize a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({
	'a':[14, 52, 46],
	'b':[32, 85, 64],
	'c':[88, 47, 36]})
	
#delete column 'b'
poppedColumn = df.pop('b')

#print the dataframe
print(df)

print('\nDeleted Column\n-------------')
#print deleted column
print(poppedColumn)

Output

    a   c
0  14  88
1  52  47
2  46  36

Deleted Column
-------------
0    32
1    85
2    64
Name: b, dtype: int64

Conclusion

In this Pandas Tutorial, we learned how to delete a column from DataFrame.