How to remove rows with characters in Python

Question

I have a dataframe with a bunch of floats and numeric values but there are some rows with characters mixed inbetween that I'm trying to remove. I've converted my entire dataframe to strings with data = data.astype(str) and I've tried using X = X[X.var1.isalpha()] but it gives me an error 'Series' object has no attribute 'isalpha'. Thanks.

please share source data and expected output. It will help address the problem — Joe Ferndz
– Joe Ferndz, Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 2:15

Pablo C · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-03 02:25:47Z

1

IIUC this is what you want:

df = pd.DataFrame({'a':['1','x',2,7], 'b':[2,3,'y',8]})

#   a  b
#0  1  2
#1  x  3
#2  2  y
#3  7  8

df.apply(pd.to_numeric, errors = "coerce").dropna()
#     a    b
#0  1.0  2.0
#3  7.0  8.0

answered Mar 3, 2021 at 2:25

Pablo C

4,7692 gold badges10 silver badges26 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

opticwiznub Over a year ago

Yes something like that is good, I should've put an input and output but I'm very new to stackoverflow and not sure how to write it.

delimiter · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-03 02:16:43Z

1

Based on this you need to call .str on the series you want to check, i.e.

X.var1.str.isalpha()

answered Mar 3, 2021 at 2:16

delimiter

8156 silver badges13 bronze badges

Comments

fsl · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-03 02:16:50Z

1

You can use pd.Series.str.replace, which accepts regex, i.e.:

new = df.astype(str).apply(lambda x: x.str.replace('[a-zA-Z]+', '')).astype(float)

answered Mar 3, 2021 at 2:16

fsl

3,2801 gold badge12 silver badges21 bronze badges

3 Comments

Pablo C Over a year ago

I'm pretty sure this doesn't work (the astype part). Also, OP is asking to remove rows, not chars

fsl Over a year ago

What's wrong with astype? Good point on the rows though.

Pablo C Over a year ago

You'll have some empty string ('') which will give an error while casting to float. It would be something like float('')

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to remove rows with characters in Python

3 Answers 3

1 Comment

Comments

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

1 Comment

Comments

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related