Python - pandas Avoid splitting string columns when writing to csv file

Question

This is the sample of my code when I write the dataframe into csv, 9 October 1937 and 81 years ago (1937-10-09) are coming in different columns.

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'established':['9 October 1937, 81 years ago (1937-10-09)','1996'],'location':['hyd','Delhi']})
df.to_csv('some_file.csv')

How to make 9 October 1937, 81 years ago (1937-10-09) should be coming in same column?? Thanks

Your code works as intended without any changes for me (Windows 7, Python 3.6.4, Pandas 0.22.0). — sjw
– sjw, Commented Nov 28, 2018 at 12:05
You need to look into which csv dialect you want to target - one way or another you need to escape, or quote-surround that embedded comma, or some readers will interpret it as a delimiter. Another option would be to force some alternative delimiter - but this is normally considered bad form - it's a faster alternative (if you can control the config of the downstream reader) but generally better to solve using the former mechanism. — Thomas Kimber
– Thomas Kimber, Commented Nov 28, 2018 at 12:07
Thanks @ThomasKimber, it was because some configuration in my csv reader. Its working fine now. — Rupesh Goud
– Rupesh Goud, Commented Nov 28, 2018 at 12:33

seiseman · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-28 13:31:26Z

1

This works as it should, if you open the file in a plain text reader:

,established,location
0,"9 October 1937, 81 years ago (1937-10-09)",hyd
1,1996,Delhi

You may run into trouble when reading the .csv file afterwards, depending on how your reader handles the "," after 1937. It may understand it either as a field separator and cut right after, or understand that the encompassing quotes " ... " suggest that it is a single field.

To avoid any trouble you may want to use a semi-colon separator when writing the file: df.to_csv("some_file.csv", sep=";")

answered Nov 28, 2018 at 13:31

seiseman

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