I have a column in python pandas
DataFrame that has boolean True
/False
values, but for further calculations I need 1
/0
representation. Is there a quick pandas
/numpy
way to do that?

- 14,900
- 3
- 16
- 46

- 4,538
- 6
- 26
- 33
-
2What further calculations are required? – Jon Clements Jun 29 '13 at 17:58
-
1To parrot @JonClements, why do you need to convert bool to int to use in calculation? bool works with arithmetic directly (since it is internally an int). – cs95 Jul 14 '20 at 02:09
-
2@cs95 - Pandas uses numpy bools internally, and they can behave a little differently. In plain Python, True + True = 2, but in Pandas, numpy.bool_(True) + numpy.bool_(True) = True, which may not be the desired behavior on your particular calculation. – sql_knievel Jan 19 '22 at 19:57
-
1I needed it because statsmodels would not allow boolean data for logistic regression. – Peter B Aug 18 '22 at 02:12
13 Answers
A succinct way to convert a single column of boolean values to a column of integers 1 or 0:
df["somecolumn"] = df["somecolumn"].astype(int)
-
36The corner case is if there are NaN values in `somecolumn`. Using `astype(int)` will then fail. Another approach, which converts `True` to 1.0 and `False` to 0.0 (floats) while preserving NaN-values is to do: `df.somecolumn = df.somecolumn.replace({True: 1, False: 0})` – DustByte Jan 10 '20 at 11:29
-
-
1
-
if the value is text and a lowercase "true" or "false" then first do a astype(bool].astype(int) and the conversion will work. Sas outputs is bools as lowercase true and false. – Golden Lion Sep 29 '20 at 11:03
-
-
Thank you. Should I do this to all columns or there is a command without specifying column name? – Avv Jul 03 '21 at 03:04
-
You can also consider nullable integer types instead of `int`, like `"Int64"` or `"Int8"` (note the uppercase) – C. Yduqoli Jul 10 '23 at 08:15
Just multiply your Dataframe by 1 (int)
[1]: data = pd.DataFrame([[True, False, True], [False, False, True]])
[2]: print data
0 1 2
0 True False True
1 False False True
[3]: print data*1
0 1 2
0 1 0 1
1 0 0 1

- 1,391
- 10
- 17
-
1
-
7
-
2@AMC if your dataframe has `float` types beside booleans this method won't ruin them, `df.astype(int)` does. And since it's hacky it's probably a good idea to make intention clear with comment like `# bool -> int`. – Dmitriy Work Feb 17 '21 at 18:42
-
2There is an advantage of using `data * 1` against `data + 0` with mixed types – it works on strings as well, where `data + 0` throws an error. Equivalent performance-wise. – Dmitriy Work Feb 17 '21 at 18:56
-
True
is 1
in Python, and likewise False
is 0
*:
>>> True == 1
True
>>> False == 0
True
You should be able to perform any operations you want on them by just treating them as though they were numbers, as they are numbers:
>>> issubclass(bool, int)
True
>>> True * 5
5
So to answer your question, no work necessary - you already have what you are looking for.
* Note I use is as an English word, not the Python keyword is
- True
will not be the same object as any random 1
.

- 86,389
- 17
- 178
- 183
-
2Just be careful with data types if doing floating point math: `np.sin(True).dtype` is float16 for me. – jorgeca Jun 29 '13 at 18:09
-
9I've got a dataframe with a boolean column, and I can call `df.my_column.mean()` just fine (as you imply), but when I try: `df.groupby("some_other_column").agg({"my_column":"mean"})` I get `DataError: No numeric types to aggregate`, so it appears they are **NOT** always the same. Just FYI. – dwanderson Dec 15 '16 at 21:10
-
In pandas version 24 (and maybe earlier) you can aggregate `bool` columns just fine. – BallpointBen Feb 11 '19 at 22:09
-
1It looks like numpy also throws errors with boolean types: `TypeError: numpy boolean subtract, the `-` operator, is deprecated, use the bitwise_xor, the `^` operator, or the logical_xor function instead.` Using @User's answer fixes this. – Amadou Kone Mar 13 '19 at 16:01
-
1Another reason it's not the same: df.col1 + df.col2 + df.col3 doesn't work for `bool` columns as it does for `int` columns – colorlace May 24 '19 at 21:55
This question specifically mentions a single column, so the currently accepted answer works. However, it doesn't generalize to multiple columns. For those interested in a general solution, use the following:
df.replace({False: 0, True: 1}, inplace=True)
This works for a DataFrame that contains columns of many different types, regardless of how many are boolean.

- 546
- 4
- 6
You also can do this directly on Frames
In [104]: df = DataFrame(dict(A = True, B = False),index=range(3))
In [105]: df
Out[105]:
A B
0 True False
1 True False
2 True False
In [106]: df.dtypes
Out[106]:
A bool
B bool
dtype: object
In [107]: df.astype(int)
Out[107]:
A B
0 1 0
1 1 0
2 1 0
In [108]: df.astype(int).dtypes
Out[108]:
A int64
B int64
dtype: object

- 125,376
- 21
- 220
- 187
You can use a transformation for your data frame:
df = pd.DataFrame(my_data condition)
transforming True/False in 1/0
df = df*1

- 37
- 2
-
1This is identical to [this solution](https://stackoverflow.com/a/37647160/11301900), posted 3 years earlier. – AMC Apr 27 '20 at 23:59
I had to map FAKE/REAL to 0/1 but couldn't find proper answer.
Please find below how to map column name 'type' which has values FAKE/REAL to 0/1
(Note: similar can be applied to any column name and values)
df.loc[df['type'] == 'FAKE', 'type'] = 0
df.loc[df['type'] == 'REAL', 'type'] = 1

- 59
- 1
- 5
-
2Much simpler: `df['type'] = df['type'].map({'REAL': 1, 'FAKE': 0})`. In any case, I'm not sure it's too relevant to this question. – AMC Nov 18 '20 at 01:29
-
Thanks for providing simpler solution. As I mentioned in answer, I was trying to find solution for slightly different question, and only similar questions like this were available. Hope my answer and your solution will help someone in future. – kaishu Nov 26 '20 at 15:59
-
There are other questions which already cover that, though, like https://stackoverflow.com/q/20250771. – AMC Nov 26 '20 at 21:27
Tried and tested:
df[col] = df[col].map({'True': 1,'False' :0 })
If there are more than one columns with True/False, use the following.
for col in bool_cols:
df[col] = df[col].map({'True': 1,'False' :0 })
@AMC wrote this in a comment

- 1,638
- 15
- 20
If the column is of the type object, and for example you want to convert it to integer:
df["somecolumn"] = df["somecolumn"].astype(bool).astype(int)
This is a reproducible example based on some of the existing answers:
import pandas as pd
def bool_to_int(s: pd.Series) -> pd.Series:
"""Convert the boolean to binary representation, maintain NaN values."""
return s.replace({True: 1, False: 0})
# generate a random dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({"a": range(10), "b": range(10, 0, -1)}).assign(
a_bool=lambda df: df["a"] > 5,
b_bool=lambda df: df["b"] % 2 == 0,
)
# select all bool columns (or specify which cols to use)
bool_cols = [c for c, d in df.dtypes.items() if d == "bool"]
# apply the new coding to a new dataframe (or can replace the existing one)
df_new = df.assign(**{c: lambda df: df[c].pipe(bool_to_int) for c in bool_cols})

- 14,900
- 3
- 16
- 46
Most efficient way to convert True/False values to 1/0 in a Pandas DataFrame is to use the pd.Series.view() method. This method creates a new NumPy array that shares the memory with the original DataFrame column, but with a different data type. Here's an example:
import pandas as pd
# create a sample DataFrame with True/False values
df = pd.DataFrame({'A': [True, False, True], 'B': [False, True, False]})
# convert True/False values to 1/0 using view()
df['A'] = df['A'].view('i1')
df['B'] = df['B'].view('i1')
# print the resulting DataFrame
print(df)

- 68
- 6
True % (an odd number) = 1 False % (an odd number) = 0

- 1
-
Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Aug 24 '23 at 14:42