Pandas read_csv get rid of enclosing double quotes

Question

Here is my example:

I first create dataframe and save it to file

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'col_1':[['a','b','s'], 23423]})
df.to_csv(r'C:\test.csv')

Then df.col_1[0] returns ['a','b','s'] a list

Later I read it from file:

df_1 = pd.read_csv(r'C:\test.csv', quoting = 3, quotechar = '"')

Now df_1['col_1'][0] returns "['a' 's']" a string.

I would like to get list back. I am experimenting with different read_csv settings, but so far no luck

Answer 1

You're not going to get the list back without a bit of work

Use literal_eval to convert the lists

import ast

conv = dict(col_1=ast.literal_eval)
pd.read_csv(r'C:\test.csv', index_col=0, converters=conv).loc[0, 'col_1']

['a', 'b', 'c']