apply(pd.to_category,errors='coerce') code example

Example 1: using df.astype to select categorical data and numerical data

df = pd.DataFrame({'vertebrates': ['Bird', 'Bird', 'Mammal', 'Fish', 'Amphibian', 'Reptile', 'Mammal']})

df.vertebrates.astype("category").cat.codes

Example 2: how to make a column a factor in pandas

df['col_name'] = df['col_name'].astype('category')