You can use the following syntax to set a column in a pandas DataFrame as the index:
#set one column as index df.set_index('col1') #set multiple columns as multi index df.set_index(['col1', 'col2'])
The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice with the following DataFrame:
import pandas as pd #create DataFrame df = pd.DataFrame({'points': [5, 7, 7, 9, 12, 9], 'assists': [11, 8, 10, 6, 6, 5], 'team': ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F'], 'conference': [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}) #view DataFrame df points assists team conference 0 5 11 A 1 1 7 8 B 2 2 7 10 C 3 3 9 6 D 4 4 12 6 E 5 5 9 5 F 6
Example 1: Set One Column as Index
The following code shows how to set one column of the pandas DataFrame as the index:
df.set_index('team') points assists conference team A 5 11 1 B 7 8 2 C 7 10 3 D 9 6 4 E 12 6 5 F 9 5 6
Example 2: Set Multiple Columns as Index
The following code shows how to set multiple columns of the pandas DataFrame as a Multi-Index::
df.set_index(['team', 'conference'])
points assists
team conference
A 1 5 11
B 2 7 8
C 3 7 10
D 4 9 6
E 5 12 6
F 6 9 5
Additional Resources
How to Rename Index in Pandas DataFrame
How to Drop Rows by Index in Pandas
How to Drop Columns by Index in Pandas