How to change the order of DataFrame columns?

Question

I have the following DataFrame (df):

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(10, 5))

I add more column(s) by assignment:

df['mean'] = df.mean(1)

How can I move the column mean to the front, i.e. set it as first column leaving the order of the other columns untouched?

Answer

One easy way would be to reassign the dataframe with a list of the columns, rearranged as needed.

This is what you have now:

In [6]: df
Out[6]:
          0         1         2         3         4      mean
0  0.445598  0.173835  0.343415  0.682252  0.582616  0.445543
1  0.881592  0.696942  0.702232  0.696724  0.373551  0.670208
2  0.662527  0.955193  0.131016  0.609548  0.804694  0.632596
3  0.260919  0.783467  0.593433  0.033426  0.512019  0.436653
4  0.131842  0.799367  0.182828  0.683330  0.019485  0.363371
5  0.498784  0.873495  0.383811  0.699289  0.480447  0.587165
6  0.388771  0.395757  0.745237  0.628406  0.784473  0.588529
7  0.147986  0.459451  0.310961  0.706435  0.100914  0.345149
8  0.394947  0.863494  0.585030  0.565944  0.356561  0.553195
9  0.689260  0.865243  0.136481  0.386582  0.730399  0.561593

In [7]: cols = df.columns.tolist()

In [8]: cols Out[8]: [0L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 4L, ‘mean’]

Rearrange cols in any way you want. This is how I moved the last element to the first position:

In [12]: cols = cols[-1:] + cols[:-1]

In [13]: cols Out[13]: [‘mean’, 0L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 4L]

Then reorder the dataframe like this:

In [16]: df = df[cols]  #    OR    df = df.ix[:, cols]

In [17]: df Out[17]: mean 0 1 2 3 4 0 0.445543 0.445598 0.173835 0.343415 0.682252 0.582616 1 0.670208 0.881592 0.696942 0.702232 0.696724 0.373551 2 0.632596 0.662527 0.955193 0.131016 0.609548 0.804694 3 0.436653 0.260919 0.783467 0.593433 0.033426 0.512019 4 0.363371 0.131842 0.799367 0.182828 0.683330 0.019485 5 0.587165 0.498784 0.873495 0.383811 0.699289 0.480447 6 0.588529 0.388771 0.395757 0.745237 0.628406 0.784473 7 0.345149 0.147986 0.459451 0.310961 0.706435 0.100914 8 0.553195 0.394947 0.863494 0.585030 0.565944 0.356561 9 0.561593 0.689260 0.865243 0.136481 0.386582 0.730399

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