column names of pandas dataframe change when the columns of another dataframe created from it are changed

Question

the following piece of code exemplifies my 'problem' or rather wierd behavior of DataFrames:

display(df)
df_copy=df
df_copy.columns=['C','D']
display(df)

this outputs:

Why do the column names change for df, when I only changed them in df_copy?

this will help https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27673231/why-should-i-make-a-copy-of-a-data-frame-in-pandas — deadshot, Jul 31 '20 at 19:19
@TommerArgaman it's an important fundamental concept to use `.copy()`, so a good one to always remember! — David Erickson, Jul 31 '20 at 19:25

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 31 '20 at 19:20

0

Use .copy() instead:

df_copy = df.copy()

answered Jul 31 '20 at 19:20

Gustav Rasmussen

1 Answers1