pandas create new column based on values from other columns / apply a function of multiple columns, row-wise

Question

I want to apply my custom function (it uses an if-else ladder) to these six columns (ERI_Hispanic, ERI_AmerInd_AKNatv, ERI_Asian,

Answer 1

The answers above are perfectly valid, but a vectorized solution exists, in the form of numpy.select. This allows you to define conditions, then define outputs for those conditions, much more efficiently than using apply:

---

First, define conditions:

conditions = [
    df['eri_hispanic'] == 1,
    df[['eri_afr_amer', 'eri_asian', 'eri_hawaiian', 'eri_nat_amer', 'eri_white']].sum(1).gt(1),
    df['eri_nat_amer'] == 1,
    df['eri_asian'] == 1,
    df['eri_afr_amer'] == 1,
    df['eri_hawaiian'] == 1,
    df['eri_white'] == 1,
]

Now, define the corresponding outputs:

outputs = [
    'Hispanic', 'Two Or More', 'A/I AK Native', 'Asian', 'Black/AA', 'Haw/Pac Isl.', 'White'
]

Finally, using numpy.select:

res = np.select(conditions, outputs, 'Other')
pd.Series(res)

0           White
1        Hispanic
2           White
3           White
4           Other
5           White
6     Two Or More
7           White
8    Haw/Pac Isl.
9           White
dtype: object

---

Why should numpy.select be used over apply? Here are some performance checks:

df = pd.concat([df]*1000)

In [42]: %timeit df.apply(lambda row: label_race(row), axis=1)
1.07 s ± 4.16 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1 loop each)

In [44]: %%timeit
    ...: conditions = [
    ...:     df['eri_hispanic'] == 1,
    ...:     df[['eri_afr_amer', 'eri_asian', 'eri_hawaiian', 'eri_nat_amer', 'eri_white']].sum(1).gt(1),
    ...:     df['eri_nat_amer'] == 1,
    ...:     df['eri_asian'] == 1,
    ...:     df['eri_afr_amer'] == 1,
    ...:     df['eri_hawaiian'] == 1,
    ...:     df['eri_white'] == 1,
    ...: ]
    ...:
    ...: outputs = [
    ...:     'Hispanic', 'Two Or More', 'A/I AK Native', 'Asian', 'Black/AA', 'Haw/Pac Isl.', 'White'
    ...: ]
    ...:
    ...: np.select(conditions, outputs, 'Other')
    ...:
    ...:
3.09 ms ± 17 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 100 loops each)

Using numpy.select gives us vastly improved performance, and the discrepancy will only increase as the data grows.