How to Change the Order of Columns in Pandas DataFrame

In this short guide, you’ll see how to change the order of columns in Pandas DataFrame.

An example is included for illustration purposes.

Steps to Change the Order of Columns in Pandas DataFrame

Step 1: Prepare the Data for the DataFrame

To begin, prepare the data for your DataFrame.

For example, the following dataset was prepared:

Name	Age	Profession	Country
Jack	22	Accountant	Italy
Maria	31	Engineer	Spain
Emma	43	Doctor	Brazil
Rick	25	Lawyer	Mexico
Sophia	52	Banker	France

Step 2: Create the DataFrame

Now create the actual DataFrame based on the above dataset:

import pandas as pd

data = {'Name': ['Jack','Maria','Emma','Rick','Sophia'],
        'Age': [22,31,43,25,52],
        'Profession': ['Accountant','Engineer','Doctor','Lawyer','Banker'],
        'Country': ['Italy','Spain','Brazil','Mexico','France']     
        }

df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns= ['Name','Age','Profession','Country'])

print (df)

Run the code in Python, and you’ll get the following DataFrame:

     Name  Age  Profession Country
0    Jack   22  Accountant   Italy
1   Maria   31    Engineer   Spain
2    Emma   43      Doctor  Brazil
3    Rick   25      Lawyer  Mexico
4  Sophia   52      Banker  France

As you can see, the order of the columns is:

Name, Age, Profession, Country

Step 3: Change the Order of the Columns in the DataFrame

Let’s say that you want to change the order of the columns to:

Name, Country, Age, Profession

In that case, you’ll need to add the following syntax to the code:

df = df[['Name','Country','Age','Profession']]

So this is the complete code to reorder your columns in the DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

data = {'Name': ['Jack','Maria','Emma','Rick','Sophia'],
        'Age': [22,31,43,25,52],
        'Profession': ['Accountant','Engineer','Doctor','Lawyer','Banker'],
        'Country': ['Italy','Spain','Brazil','Mexico','France']     
        }

df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns= ['Name','Age','Profession','Country'])
df = df[['Name','Country','Age','Profession']]

print (df)

Once you run the code, you’ll get the DataFrame below with the ordered columns:

     Name Country  Age  Profession
0    Jack   Italy   22  Accountant
1   Maria   Spain   31    Engineer
2    Emma  Brazil   43      Doctor
3    Rick  Mexico   25      Lawyer
4  Sophia  France   52      Banker

You may also wish to check the following page for additional Python tutorials.