Reset a column's MultiIndex levels

Question

Is there a shorter way of dropping a column MultiIndex level (in my case, basic_amt) except transposing it twice?

In [704]: test
Out[704]: 
             


        

Answer 1

How about simply reassigning df.columns:

levels = df.columns.levels
labels = df.columns.labels
df.columns = levels[1][labels[1]]

For example:

import pandas as pd

columns = pd.MultiIndex.from_arrays([['basic_amt']*4,
                                     ['NSW','QLD','VIC','All']])
index = pd.Index(['All', 'Full Time', 'Part Time'], name = 'Faculty')
df = pd.DataFrame([(1,1,2,4),
                   (0,01,0,1),
                   (1,0,2,3)])
df.columns = columns
df.index = index

Before:

print(df)

           basic_amt               
                 NSW  QLD  VIC  All
Faculty                            
All                1    1    2    4
Full Time          0    1    0    1
Part Time          1    0    2    3

After:

levels = df.columns.levels
labels = df.columns.labels
df.columns = levels[1][labels[1]]
print(df)

           NSW  QLD  VIC  All
Faculty                      
All          1    1    2    4
Full Time    0    1    0    1
Part Time    1    0    2    3