How to update values in a specific row in a Python Pandas DataFrame?

If you have one large dataframe and only a few update values I would use apply like this:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({'filename' :  ['test0.dat', 'test2.dat'], 
                                  'm': [12, 13], 'n' : [None, None]})

data = {'filename' :  'test2.dat', 'n':16}

def update_vals(row, data=data):
    if row.filename == data['filename']:
        row.n = data['n']
    return row

df.apply(update_vals, axis=1)

So first of all, pandas updates using the index. When an update command does not update anything, check both left-hand side and right-hand side. If you don't update the indices to follow your identification logic, you can do something along the lines of

>>> df.loc[df.filename == 'test2.dat', 'n'] = df2[df2.filename == 'test2.dat'].loc[0]['n']
>>> df
Out[331]: 
    filename   m     n
0  test0.dat  12  None
1  test2.dat  13    16

If you want to do this for the whole table, I suggest a method I believe is superior to the previously mentioned ones: since your identifier is filename, set filename as your index, and then use update() as you wanted to. Both merge and the apply() approach contain unnecessary overhead:

>>> df.set_index('filename', inplace=True)
>>> df2.set_index('filename', inplace=True)
>>> df.update(df2)
>>> df
Out[292]: 
            m     n
filename           
test0.dat  12  None
test2.dat  13    16

In SQL, I would have do it in one shot as

update table1 set col1 = new_value where col1 = old_value

but in Python Pandas, we could just do this:

data = [['ram', 10], ['sam', 15], ['tam', 15]] 
kids = pd.DataFrame(data, columns = ['Name', 'Age']) 
kids

which will generate the following output :

    Name    Age
0   ram     10
1   sam     15
2   tam     15

now we can run:

kids.loc[kids.Age == 15,'Age'] = 17
kids

which will show the following output

Name    Age
0   ram     10
1   sam     17
2   tam     17

which should be equivalent to the following SQL

update kids set age = 17 where age = 15