How to remove specific column of Python string list?

Question

These are my Python codes to extract specific string from string list.

def readHdFile(filename):
    with hdfs.open_input_file(filename) as inf:
        read_data = inf.read().decode('utf-8').splitlines()
     
        print("output #1 {}".format(read_data))
        
        return read_data


list_data = readHdFile('test.csv')
for data in list_data:
    print("output #2 {}".format(data))

The codes work correctly without errors.

output #1 ['date,values,realtime_start,realtime_end,state,id,title,frequency_short,units_short,seasonal_adjustment_short', '2007-01-01,6.3,2021-02-16,2021-02-16,Alaska,LAUST020000000000003A,Unemployment Rate in Alaska,A,%,NSA', '2008-01-01,6.7,2021-02-16,2021-02-16,Alaska,LAUST020000000000003A,Unemployment Rate in Alaska,A,%,NSA']

output #2 date,values,realtime_start,realtime_end,state,id,title,frequency_short,units_short,seasonal_adjustment_short
output #2 2007-01-01,6.3,2021-02-16,2021-02-16,Alaska,LAUST020000000000003A,Unemployment Rate in Alaska,A,%,NSA
output #2 2008-01-01,6.7,2021-02-16,2021-02-16,Alaska,LAUST020000000000003A,Unemployment Rate in Alaska,A,%,NSA

But I have to remove some specific columns, realtime_start and realtime_end from the read_data object. In output #1 the read_data list string is separated with "," character. But I have no idea how to remove specific column of data string, realtime_start and realtime_end .

Answer 1

I am not 100% sure of the data format you are using, but you could try this on your last 2 lines of code:

for line in list_data:
    outline = line.split(',')
    new_line = ','.join(outline[:2]) + ',' + ','.join(outline[4:])
    print("output #2 {}".format(new_line))

real_time_start and real_time_end are the 3rd and 4th column of your csv, so you can just print a new line without those fields.

Of course this is the quick and dirty solution, using Pandas may be cleaner and more robust to new datasets,