Pandas: How to Remove Specific Characters from Strings

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You can use the following methods to remove specific characters from strings in a column in a pandas DataFrame:

Method 1: Remove Specific Characters from Strings

df['my_column'] = df['my_column'].str.replace('this_string', '')

Method 2: Remove All Letters from Strings

df['my_column'] = df['my_column'].str.replace('D', '', regex=True)

Method 3: Remove All Numbers from Strings

df['my_column'] = df['my_column'].str.replace('d+', '', regex=True)

The following examples show how to use each method in practice with the following pandas DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

#create DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame({'team' : ['Mavs2', 'Nets44', 'Kings33', 'Cavs90', 'Heat576'],
                   'points' : [12, 15, 22, 29, 24]})

#view DataFrame
print(df)

      team  points
0    Mavs2      12
1   Nets44      15
2  Kings33      22
3   Cavs90      29
4  Heat576      24

Example 1: Remove Specific Characters from Strings

We can use the following syntax to remove ‘avs’ from each string in the team column:

#remove 'avs' from strings in team column
df['team'] = df['team'].str.replace('avs', '')

#view updated DataFrame
print(df)

      team  points
0       M2      12
1   Nets44      15
2  Kings33      22
3      C90      29
4  Heat576      24

Notice that ‘avs’ was removed from the rows that contained ‘Mavs’ and ‘Cavs’ in the team column.

Example 2: Remove All Letters from Strings

We can use the following syntax to remove all letters from each string in the team column:

#remove letters from strings in team column
df['team'] = df['team'].str.replace('D', '', regex=True)

#view updated DataFrame
print(df)

  team  points
0    2      12
1   44      15
2   33      22
3   90      29
4  576      24

Notice that all letters have been removed from each string in the team column.

Only the numerical values remain.

Example 3: Remove All Numbers from Strings

We can use the following syntax to remove all numbers from each string in the team column:

#remove numbers from strings in team column
df['team'] = df['team'].str.replace('d+', '', regex=True)

#view updated DataFrame
print(df)

    team  points
0   Mavs      12
1   Nets      15
2  Kings      22
3   Cavs      29
4   Heat      24

Notice that all numbers have been removed from each string in the team column.

Only the letters remain.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in pandas:

How to Replace NaN Values with Zeros in Pandas
How to Replace Empty Strings with NaN in Pandas
How to Replace Values in Column Based on Condition in Pandas