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How to read multiple data files into Pandas?

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In this article, we are going to see how to read multiple data files into pandas, data files are of multiple types, here are a few ways to read multiple files by using the pandas package in python.

The demonstrative files can be download from here

Method 1: Reading CSV files

If our data files are in CSV format then the read_csv() method must be used. read_csv takes a file path as an argument. it reads the content of the CSV. To read multiple CSV files we can just use a simple for loop and iterate over all the files. 

Example: Reading Multiple CSV files using Pandas

In this example we make a list of our data files or file path and then iterate through the file paths using a for loop, a for loop is used to iterate through iterables like list, tuples, strings, etc. And then create a data frame using pd.DataFrame(), concatenate each dataframe into a main dataframe using pd.concat(), then convert the final main dataframe into a CSV file using to_csv() method which takes the name of the new CSV file we want to create as an argument.

Python3




# importing pandas
import pandas as pd
  
file_list=['a.csv','b.csv','c.csv']
  
main_dataframe = pd.DataFrame(pd.read_csv(file_list[0]))
  
for i in range(1,len(file_list)):
    data = pd.read_csv(file_list[i])
    df = pd.DataFrame(data)
    main_dataframe = pd.concat([main_dataframe,df],axis=1)
print(main_dataframe)


Output:

Method 2: Using the glob package

The glob module in python is used to retrieve files or pathnames matching a specified pattern. 

This program is similar to the above program but the only difference is instead of keeping track of file names using a list we use the glob package to retrieve files matching a specified pattern.

Example: Reading multiple CSV files using Pandas and glob.

Python3




# importing packages
import pandas as pd
import glob
  
folder_path = 'Path_of_file/csv_files'
file_list = glob.glob(folder_path + "/*.csv")
main_dataframe = pd.DataFrame(pd.read_csv(file_list[0]))
for i in range(1,len(file_list)):
    data = pd.read_csv(file_list[i])
    df = pd.DataFrame(data)
    main_dataframe = pd.concat([main_dataframe,df],axis=1)
print(main_dataframe)


Output:

Method 3: Reading text files using Pandas:

To read text files, the panda’s method read_table() must be used.

Example: Reading text file using pandas and glob.

Using glob package to retrieve files or pathnames and then iterate through the file paths using a for loop. Create a data frame of the contents of each file after reading it using pd.read_table() method which takes the file path as an argument. Concatenate each dataframe into a main dataframe using pd.concat(), then convert the final main dataframe into a CSV file using to_csv() method which takes the name of the new CSV file we want to create as an argument.

Python3




# importing packages
import pandas as pd
import glob
  
folder_path = 'Path_/files'
file_list = glob.glob(folder_path + "/*.txt")
main_dataframe = pd.DataFrame(pd.read_table(file_list[0]))
  
for i in range(1,len(file_list)):
    data = pd.read_table(file_list[i])
    df = pd.DataFrame(data)
    main_dataframe = pd.concat([main_dataframe, df], axis = 1)
  
print(main_dataframe)
  
# creating a new csv file with
# the dataframe we created
main_dataframe.to_csv('new_csv1.csv')


Output:



Last Updated : 23 Aug, 2021
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