python - Merging dataframes on index with pandas

Question

I have two dataframes and each one has two index columns. I would like to merge them. For example, the first dataframe is the following:

                   V1

A      1/1/2012    12
       2/1/2012    14
B      1/1/2012    15
       2/1/2012    8
C      1/1/2012    17
       2/1/2012    9

The second dataframe is the following:

                   V2

A      1/1/2012    15
       3/1/2012    21             
B      1/1/2012    24
       2/1/2012    9
D      1/1/2012    7
       2/1/2012    16

and as result I would like to get the following:

                   V1   V2

A      1/1/2012    12   15
       2/1/2012    14   N/A
       3/1/2012    N/A  21           
B      1/1/2012    15   24
       2/1/2012    8    9
C      1/1/2012    7    N/A
       2/1/2012    16   N/A
D      1/1/2012    N/A  7
       2/1/2012    N/A  16

I have tried a few versions using the pd.merge and .join methods, but nothing seems to work. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer 1

You should be able to use join, which joins on the index as default. Given your desired result, you must use outer as the join type.

>>> df1.join(df2, how='outer')
            V1  V2
A 1/1/2012  12  15
  2/1/2012  14 NaN
  3/1/2012 NaN  21
B 1/1/2012  15  24
  2/1/2012   8   9
C 1/1/2012  17 NaN
  2/1/2012   9 NaN
D 1/1/2012 NaN   7
  2/1/2012 NaN  16

Signature: _.join(other, on=None, how='left', lsuffix='', rsuffix='', sort=False) Docstring: Join columns with other DataFrame either on index or on a key column. Efficiently Join multiple DataFrame objects by index at once by passing a list.