Renaming columns in pandas

Question

I have a DataFrame using pandas and column labels that I need to edit to replace the original column labels.

I\'d like to change the column names in a DataFrame

Answer 1

Let's say this is your dataframe.

You can rename the columns using two methods.

1. Using dataframe.columns=[#list]

   df.columns=['a','b','c','d','e']
   

   The limitation of this method is that if one column has to be changed, full column list has to be passed. Also, this method is not applicable on index labels. For example, if you passed this:

   df.columns = ['a','b','c','d']
   

   This will throw an error. Length mismatch: Expected axis has 5 elements, new values have 4 elements.

2. Another method is the Pandas rename() method which is used to rename any index, column or row

   df = df.rename(columns={'$a':'a'})
   

Similarly, you can change any rows or columns.