python - Pandas: create dataframe without auto ordering column names alphabetically

Question

I am creating an initial pandas dataframe to store results generated from other codes: e.g.

result = pd.DataFrame({'date': datelist, 'total': [0]*len(datelist), 
                       'TT': [0]*len(datelist)})

with datelist a predefined list. Then other codes will output some number for total and TT for each date, which I will store in the result dataframe.

So I want the first column to be date, second total and third TT. However, pandas will automatically reorder it alphabetically to TT, date, total at creation. While I can manually reorder this again afterwards, I wonder if there is an easier way to achieve this in one step.

I figured I can also do

result = pd.DataFrame(np.transpose([datelist, [0]*l, [0]*l]),
                      columns = ['date', 'total', 'TT'])

but it somehow also looks tedious. Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

You can pass the (correctly ordered) list of column as parameter to the constructor or use an OrderedDict:

# option 1:
result = pd.DataFrame({'date': datelist, 'total': [0]*len(datelist), 
                   'TT': [0]*len(datelist)}, columns=['date', 'total', 'TT'])

# option 2:
od = collections.OrderedDict()
od['date'] = datelist
od['total'] = [0]*len(datelist)
od['TT'] = [0]*len(datelist)
result = pd.DataFrame(od)