Combine duplicated columns within a DataFrame

Question

If I have a dataframe that has columns that include the same name, is there a way to combine the columns that have the same name with some sort of function (i.e. sum)?

Answer 1

Here is possible simplier solution for common aggregation functions like sum, mean, median, max, min, std - only use parameters axis=1 for working with columns and level:

#coldspeed samples
np.random.seed(0)
df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.choice(50, (5, 5)), columns=list('AABBB'))
print (df)

print (df.sum(axis=1, level=0))
    A    B
0  91    6
1  48   76
2  29   60
3  39  108
4  41   75

df.columns = pd.MultiIndex.from_arrays([['one']*3 + ['two']*2, df.columns])

print (df.sum(axis=1, level=1))
    A    B
0  91    6
1  48   76
2  29   60
3  39  108
4  41   75

print (df.sum(axis=1, level=[0,1]))
  one     two
    A   B   B
0  91   0   6
1  48  19  57
2  29  24  36
3  39  39  69
4  41  37  38

Similar it working for index, then use axis=0 instead axis=1:

np.random.seed(0)
df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.choice(50, (5, 5)), columns=list('ABCDE'), index=list('aabbc'))
print (df)
    A   B   C   D   E
a  44  47   0   3   3
a  39   9  19  21  36
b  23   6  24  24  12
b   1  38  39  23  46
c  24  17  37  25  13

print (df.min(axis=0, level=0))
    A   B   C   D   E
a  39   9   0   3   3
b   1   6  24  23  12
c  24  17  37  25  13

df.index = pd.MultiIndex.from_arrays([['bar']*3 + ['foo']*2, df.index])

print (df.mean(axis=0, level=1))
      A     B     C     D     E
a  41.5  28.0   9.5  12.0  19.5
b  12.0  22.0  31.5  23.5  29.0
c  24.0  17.0  37.0  25.0  13.0

print (df.max(axis=0, level=[0,1]))
        A   B   C   D   E
bar a  44  47  19  21  36
    b  23   6  24  24  12
foo b   1  38  39  23  46
    c  24  17  37  25  13

If need use another functions like first, last, size, count is necessary use coldspeed answer