Pandas (Python Module) - Searching for String in Specific Column

Question

Sorry if this is a basic question, I just started using the pandas module today. But basically I'm using it to clean up this csv file I'm working with. I'm trying to search for a specific string (or substring) in the second column and if I find it I wanted to add a new column to the dataset that will either contain a boolean value of true/false (for if I found the given string or not). Suggestions?

Answer 1

You can use Series.str.contains() method:

df['new'] = df.iloc[:, 1].str.contains(r'substring', flags=re.I)

Demo:

In [40]: import re

In [41]: df
Out[41]:
   a       b   c
0  1    Anna  10
1  2  Barton  11
2  3     Max  12

In [42]: df['new'] = df.iloc[:, 1].str.contains(r'ma', flags=re.I)

In [43]: df
Out[43]:
   a       b   c    new
0  1    Anna  10  False
1  2  Barton  11  False
2  3     Max  12   True