Pandas column of lists, create a row for each list element
UPDATE: the solution below was helpful for older Pandas versions, because the DataFrame.explode() wasn’t available. Starting from Pandas 0.25.0 you can simply use DataFrame.explode().
lst_col = 'samples'
r = pd.DataFrame({
col:np.repeat(df[col].values, df[lst_col].str.len())
for col in df.columns.drop(lst_col)}
).assign(**{lst_col:np.concatenate(df[lst_col].values)})[df.columns]
Result:
In [103]: r
Out[103]:
samples subject trial_num
0 0.10 1 1
1 -0.20 1 1
2 0.05 1 1
3 0.25 1 2
4 1.32 1 2
5 -0.17 1 2
6 0.64 1 3
7 -0.22 1 3
8 -0.71 1 3
9 -0.03 2 1
10 -0.65 2 1
11 0.76 2 1
12 1.77 2 2
13 0.89 2 2
14 0.65 2 2
15 -0.98 2 3
16 0.65 2 3
17 -0.30 2 3
PS here you may find a bit more generic solution
UPDATE: some explanations: IMO the easiest way to understand this code is to try to execute it step-by-step:
in the following line we are repeating values in one column N times where N - is the length of the corresponding list:
In [10]: np.repeat(df['trial_num'].values, df[lst_col].str.len())
Out[10]: array([1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3], dtype=int64)
this can be generalized for all columns, containing scalar values:
In [11]: pd.DataFrame({
...: col:np.repeat(df[col].values, df[lst_col].str.len())
...: for col in df.columns.drop(lst_col)}
...: )
Out[11]:
trial_num subject
0 1 1
1 1 1
2 1 1
3 2 1
4 2 1
5 2 1
6 3 1
.. ... ...
11 1 2
12 2 2
13 2 2
14 2 2
15 3 2
16 3 2
17 3 2
[18 rows x 2 columns]
using np.concatenate() we can flatten all values in the list column (samples) and get a 1D vector:
In [12]: np.concatenate(df[lst_col].values)
Out[12]: array([-1.04, -0.58, -1.32, 0.82, -0.59, -0.34, 0.25, 2.09, 0.12, 0.83, -0.88, 0.68, 0.55, -0.56, 0.65, -0.04, 0.36, -0.31])
putting all this together:
In [13]: pd.DataFrame({
...: col:np.repeat(df[col].values, df[lst_col].str.len())
...: for col in df.columns.drop(lst_col)}
...: ).assign(**{lst_col:np.concatenate(df[lst_col].values)})
Out[13]:
trial_num subject samples
0 1 1 -1.04
1 1 1 -0.58
2 1 1 -1.32
3 2 1 0.82
4 2 1 -0.59
5 2 1 -0.34
6 3 1 0.25
.. ... ... ...
11 1 2 0.68
12 2 2 0.55
13 2 2 -0.56
14 2 2 0.65
15 3 2 -0.04
16 3 2 0.36
17 3 2 -0.31
[18 rows x 3 columns]
using pd.DataFrame()[df.columns] will guarantee that we are selecting columns in the original order...
A bit longer than I expected:
>>> df
samples subject trial_num
0 [-0.07, -2.9, -2.44] 1 1
1 [-1.52, -0.35, 0.1] 1 2
2 [-0.17, 0.57, -0.65] 1 3
3 [-0.82, -1.06, 0.47] 2 1
4 [0.79, 1.35, -0.09] 2 2
5 [1.17, 1.14, -1.79] 2 3
>>>
>>> s = df.apply(lambda x: pd.Series(x['samples']),axis=1).stack().reset_index(level=1, drop=True)
>>> s.name = 'sample'
>>>
>>> df.drop('samples', axis=1).join(s)
subject trial_num sample
0 1 1 -0.07
0 1 1 -2.90
0 1 1 -2.44
1 1 2 -1.52
1 1 2 -0.35
1 1 2 0.10
2 1 3 -0.17
2 1 3 0.57
2 1 3 -0.65
3 2 1 -0.82
3 2 1 -1.06
3 2 1 0.47
4 2 2 0.79
4 2 2 1.35
4 2 2 -0.09
5 2 3 1.17
5 2 3 1.14
5 2 3 -1.79
If you want sequential index, you can apply reset_index(drop=True) to the result.
update:
>>> res = df.set_index(['subject', 'trial_num'])['samples'].apply(pd.Series).stack()
>>> res = res.reset_index()
>>> res.columns = ['subject','trial_num','sample_num','sample']
>>> res
subject trial_num sample_num sample
0 1 1 0 1.89
1 1 1 1 -2.92
2 1 1 2 0.34
3 1 2 0 0.85
4 1 2 1 0.24
5 1 2 2 0.72
6 1 3 0 -0.96
7 1 3 1 -2.72
8 1 3 2 -0.11
9 2 1 0 -1.33
10 2 1 1 3.13
11 2 1 2 -0.65
12 2 2 0 0.10
13 2 2 1 0.65
14 2 2 2 0.15
15 2 3 0 0.64
16 2 3 1 -0.10
17 2 3 2 -0.76
Pandas >= 0.25
Series and DataFrame methods define a .explode() method that explodes lists into separate rows. See the docs section on Exploding a list-like column.
df = pd.DataFrame({
'var1': [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e',], [], np.nan],
'var2': [1, 2, 3, 4]
})
df
var1 var2
0 [a, b, c] 1
1 [d, e] 2
2 [] 3
3 NaN 4
df.explode('var1')
var1 var2
0 a 1
0 b 1
0 c 1
1 d 2
1 e 2
2 NaN 3 # empty list converted to NaN
3 NaN 4 # NaN entry preserved as-is
# to reset the index to be monotonically increasing...
df.explode('var1').reset_index(drop=True)
var1 var2
0 a 1
1 b 1
2 c 1
3 d 2
4 e 2
5 NaN 3
6 NaN 4
Note that this also handles mixed columns of lists and scalars, as well as empty lists and NaNs appropriately (this is a drawback of repeat-based solutions).
However, you should note that explode only works on a single column (for now).
P.S.: if you are looking to explode a column of strings, you need to split on a separator first, then use explode. See this (very much) related answer by me.