How to Read CSV Only Specific Columns Into Pandas DataFrame

Pulamolu Sai Mohan Feb 02, 2024
  1. Use the read_csv() Function and Pass a List of Column Names to Be Read
  2. Use the read_csv() Function and Pass List of Column Numbers to Be Read
How to Read CSV Only Specific Columns Into Pandas DataFrame

This tutorial will discuss different methods to read specific columns from a csv file using Pandas. We’ll use the following CSV file for the demo.

Course Mentor price $
0 Python Robert 199
1 Spark Elizibeth 299
2 Java Nolan 99
3 JavaScript Chris 250
4 C# johnson 399

Use the read_csv() Function and Pass a List of Column Names to Be Read

The Pandas library provides read_csv() function. The read_csv() is used to read a comma-separated values (csv) file into DataFrame.

The read_csv() takes the file path of the csv file, and it has more than 40 optional parameters. For this tutorial, let’s concentrate usecols parameter.

Syntax - pd.read_csv():

pd.read_csv(filepath, usecols)

Parameters

  • filepath - The path or location of the csv file to be loaded.
  • usecols - List of specific columns to be read.

Returns

  • DataFrame

Follow the steps below to use the read_csv() function and pass the list of column names to be read.

  • Import pandas library.
  • Pass the path of csv file and list of columns to be read to the read_csv() method.
  • The read_csv() method will return a data frame with that specific columns.

The following code is the implementation of the above approach.

# import the pandas
import pandas as pd

# Reading the specific columns from csv
df = pd.read_csv("data.csv", usecols=["Course", "price$"])

# printing the dataframe
print(df)

Output:

       Course  price$
0      Python     199
1       Spark     299
2        Java      99
3  JavaScript     250
4          C#     399

Use the read_csv() Function and Pass List of Column Numbers to Be Read

We can also use the column numbers to read_csv() to read-only specific columns.

  • Import pandas library.
  • Pass the path of csv file and list of columns numbers to be read to the read_csv() method.
  • The read_csv() method will return a data frame with that specific columns.

The following code is the implementation of the above approach.

# import the pandas
import pandas as pd

# Reading the specific columns from csv
df = pd.read_csv("data.csv", usecols=[2, 3])

# printing the dataframe
print(df)

Output:

     Mentor  price$
0     Robert     199
1  Elizibeth     299
2      Nolan      99
3      Chris     250
4    johnson     399

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