Pandas: Rename a specific column name in a given DataFrame

Last update on April 03 2025 13:11:17 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

42. Rename Specific Column

Write a Pandas program to rename a specific column name in a given DataFrame.
Sample data:
Original DataFrame
col1 col2 col3
0 1 4 7
1 2 5 8
2 3 6 9
New DataFrame after renaming second column:
col1 Column2 col3
0 1 4 7
1 2 5 8
2 3 6 9

Sample Solution :

Python Code :

import pandas as pd
d = {'col1': [1, 2, 3], 'col2': [4, 5, 6], 'col3': [7, 8, 9]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data=d)
print("Original DataFrame")
print(df)
df=df.rename(columns = {'col2':'Column2'})
print("New DataFrame after renaming second column:")
print(df)

Sample Output:

    Original DataFrame
   col1  col2  col3
0     1     4     7
1     2     5     8
2     3     6     9
New DataFrame after renaming second column:
   col1  Column2  col3
0     1        4     7
1     2        5     8
2     3        6     9              

Explanation:

The above code first creates a dataframe ‘df’ with three columns 'col1', 'col2' and 'col3', and three rows with some values.

df=df.rename(columns = {'col2':'Column2'}): This code renames the 'col2' column to 'Column2' using the rename method of Pandas. The new dataframe ‘df’ now has columns 'col1', 'Column2' and 'col3' with the same values as before, except for the renamed column 'Column2'. The original column name 'col2' is no longer present in the dataframe.

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a Pandas program to rename a specific column using a mapping dictionary and then verify the change by printing the header.
• Write a Pandas program to rename a column by applying a lambda function to convert its name to uppercase.
• Write a Pandas program to change the name of one column and then reorder the DataFrame columns based on the new name.
• Write a Pandas program to rename a column based on a condition (if the column name contains a specific substring) and then output the updated DataFrame.

Python-Pandas Code Editor:

Have another way to solve this solution? Contribute your code (and comments) through Disqus.

Previous: Write a Pandas program to convert DataFrame column type from string to datetime.
Next: Write a Pandas program to get a list of a specified column of a DataFrame.