Python Pandas merge only certain columns

Question

Is it possible to only merge some columns? I have a DataFrame df1 with columns x, y, z, and df2 with columns x, a ,b, c, d, e, f, etc.

I want to merge the two DataFr

Answer 1

You can use .loc to select the specific columns with all rows and then pull that. An example is below:

pandas.merge(dataframe1, dataframe2.iloc[:, [0:5]], how='left', on='key')

In this example, you are merging dataframe1 and dataframe2. You have chosen to do an outer left join on 'key'. However, for dataframe2 you have specified .iloc which allows you to specific the rows and columns you want in a numerical format. Using :, your selecting all rows, but [0:5] selects the first 5 columns. You could use .loc to specify by name, but if your dealing with long column names, then .iloc may be better.