I can't figure out the difference between Pandas .aggregate and .apply functions.
Take the following as an example: I load a dataset, do a groupby, define a simple function,
and either user .agg or .apply.
As you may see, the printing statement within my function results in the same output
after using .agg and .apply. The result, on the other hand is different. Why is that?
import pandas
import pandas as pd
iris = pd.read_csv('iris.csv')
by_species = iris.groupby('Species')
def f(x):
...: print type(x)
...: print x.head(3)
...: return 1
Using apply:
by_species.apply(f)
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#0 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa
#1 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 setosa
#2 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#0 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa
#1 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 setosa
#2 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#50 7.0 3.2 4.7 1.4 versicolor
#51 6.4 3.2 4.5 1.5 versicolor
#52 6.9 3.1 4.9 1.5 versicolor
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#100 6.3 3.3 6.0 2.5 virginica
#101 5.8 2.7 5.1 1.9 virginica
#102 7.1 3.0 5.9 2.1 virginica
#Out[33]:
#Species
#setosa 1
#versicolor 1
#virginica 1
#dtype: int64
Using agg
by_species.agg(f)
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#0 5.1 3.5 1.4 0.2 setosa
#1 4.9 3.0 1.4 0.2 setosa
#2 4.7 3.2 1.3 0.2 setosa
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#50 7.0 3.2 4.7 1.4 versicolor
#51 6.4 3.2 4.5 1.5 versicolor
#52 6.9 3.1 4.9 1.5 versicolor
#<class 'pandas.core.frame.DataFrame'>
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width Species
#100 6.3 3.3 6.0 2.5 virginica
#101 5.8 2.7 5.1 1.9 virginica
#102 7.1 3.0 5.9 2.1 virginica
#Out[34]:
# Sepal.Length Sepal.Width Petal.Length Petal.Width
#Species
#setosa 1 1 1 1
#versicolor 1 1 1 1
#virginica 1 1 1 1
apply applies the function to each group (your Species). Your function returns 1, so you end up with 1 value for each of 3 groups.
agg aggregates each column (feature) for each group, so you end up with one value per column per group.
Do read the groupby docs, they're quite helpful. There are also a bunch of tutorials floating around the web.
( Note: These comparison are relevant for DataframeGroupby objects )
Some plausible advantages of using .agg() compared to .apply(), for DataFrame GroupBy objects would be:
1) .agg() gives the flexibility of applying multiple functions at once, or pass a list of function to each column.
2) Also, applying different functions at once to different columns of dataframe.
That means you have pretty much control over each column with each operations.
Here is the link for more details: http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/version/0.13.1/groupby.html
However, apply function could be limited to apply one function to each columns of the dataframe at a time. So, you might have to call the apply function repeatedly to call upon different operations to same column.
Here, are some example comparison for .apply() vs .agg() for DataframeGroupBy objects :
Lets, first, see the operations using .apply( ):
In [261]: df = pd.DataFrame({"name":["Foo", "Baar", "Foo", "Baar"], "score_1":[5,10,15,10], "score_2" :[10,15,10,25], "score_3" : [10,20,30,40]})
In [262]: df
Out[262]:
name score_1 score_2 score_3
0 Foo 5 10 10
1 Baar 10 15 20
2 Foo 15 10 30
3 Baar 10 25 40
In [263]: df.groupby(["name", "score_1"])["score_2"].apply(lambda x : x.sum())
Out[263]:
name score_1
Baar 10 40
Foo 5 10
15 10
Name: score_2, dtype: int64
In [264]: df.groupby(["name", "score_1"])["score_2"].apply(lambda x : x.min())
Out[264]:
name score_1
Baar 10 15
Foo 5 10
15 10
Name: score_2, dtype: int64
In [265]: df.groupby(["name", "score_1"])["score_2"].apply(lambda x : x.mean())
Out[265]:
name score_1
Baar 10 20.0
Foo 5 10.0
15 10.0
Name: score_2, dtype: float64
Now, look at the same operations using .agg( ) effortlessly:
In [274]: df = pd.DataFrame({"name":["Foo", "Baar", "Foo", "Baar"], "score_1":[5,10,15,10], "score_2" :[10,15,10,25], "score_3" : [10,20,30,40]})
In [275]: df
Out[275]:
name score_1 score_2 score_3
0 Foo 5 10 10
1 Baar 10 15 20
2 Foo 15 10 30
3 Baar 10 25 40
In [276]: df.groupby(["name", "score_1"]).agg({"score_3" :[np.sum, np.min, np.mean, np.max], "score_2":lambda x : x.mean()})
Out[276]:
score_2 score_3
<lambda> sum amin mean amax
name score_1
Baar 10 20 60 20 30 40
Foo 5 10 10 10 10 10
15 10 30 30 30 30
So, .agg( ) could be really handy at handling the DataFrameGroupBy objects, as compared to .apply( ). But, if you are handling only pure dataframe objects, and not DataFrameGroupBy objects then apply() can be very useful, as apply( ) can apply a function along any axis of the dataframe.
(For Eg: axis = 0 implies column-wise operation with .apply(), which is a default mode, and axis = 1 would imply for row-wise operation while dealing with pure dataframe objects )
When using apply to a groupby I have encountered that .apply will return the grouped columns. There is a note in the documentation (pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/groupby.html):
"...Thus the grouped columns(s) may be included in the output as well as set the indices."
.aggregate will not return the grouped columns.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21828398/what-is-the-difference-between-pandas-agg-and-apply-function