replace the value in data frame if it maches a sub string code example

Example 1: pandas replace word begins with contains

df['sport'] = df.sport.str.replace(r'(^.*ball.*$)', 'ball sport')
df

Example 2: pandas replace word begins with contains

In [71]:
df.loc[df['sport'].str.contains('ball'), 'sport'] = 'ball sport'
df

Out[71]:
    name       sport
0    Bob      tennis
1   Jane  ball sport
2  Alice  ball sport