Rename Column Names in Python Pandas Dataframe

• Pandas DataFrame consists of rows and columns.
• Each row is a measurement of instance whereas column is a vector which contains data for some precise attribute/variable.

In this article let’s see how to rename column names of a given Pandas DataFrame.

Method #1: 

Using rename() function.

By using the rename() function you can rename the columns in a Pandas dataframe.

# Import pandas package
import pandas as pd

# Define a dictionary
rankings = pd.DataFrame({'Country': ['India', 'South Africa', 'England',
               'New Zealand', 'Australia'],
       'variable': ['Y1980', 'Y1981', 'Y1981',
               'Y1980', 'Y1980'],
       'value': ['21.48678', '25.22533', '22.25703',
               '21.46552', '21.45145']} )


# Before renaming the columns
print(rankings)

rankings.rename(columns = {'Country':'COUNTRY', 'variable':'VARIABLE'}, inplace = True)

# After renaming the columns
print("\nAfter modifying column names:\n", rankings)

Output:

Method #2:

 By assigning a list of new column names

The columns can also be renamed easily by assigning a list of new names to the columns attribute of the dataframe .

# Import pandas package
import pandas as pd

# Define a dictionary
rankings = pd.DataFrame({'Country': ['India', 'South Africa', 'England',
               'New Zealand', 'Australia'],
       'variable': ['Y1980', 'Y1981', 'Y1981',
               'Y1980', 'Y1980'],
       'value': ['21.48678', '25.22533', '22.25703',
               '21.46552', '21.45145']} )



# Before renaming the columns
print(rankings)

rankings.columns = ['COUNTRY', 'VARIABLE', 'VALUE']

# After renaming the columns
print("\nAfter modifying column names:\n", rankings)

Output: