Padding with ljust(),rjust() and center() function in python pandas

left padding  and right padding of the string is accomplished using ljust(),rjust() and center() function in python pandas. if we want to accomplish both left pad and right pad of the string in python then we will be using center() function which does padding on both the sides. ljust() and rjust() function is also used to add space, leading and trailing zeros to the column of the dataframe in pandas.

  • ljust()  function in python returns the string with padding done on the right end of the string to the specified length
  • rjust()  function in python returns the string with padding done on the left end of the string to the specified length. rjust() is opposite of ljust() function
  • center()  function in python returns the string with padding done on the either end of the string to the specified length
  • ljust() and rjust() example of adding leading and trailing spaces and zeros in pandas.
  • center() function in pandas with example.

 

syntax of ljust(),rjust() and center() function in python:

  1. str.ljust(width, fillchar)
  2. str.rjust(width, fillchar)
  3. str.center(width, fillchar)
  • width— This is string length in total after padding.
  • fillchar— This is filler character used for padding, default is a space.

 

Example of ljust() Function in python:

ljust() function in python pads the string in the end with fillchar

# ljust() function in python 

str = "Salute to the mother earth";
print str.ljust(50, '^')

we are using cap symbol to pad the string and we need 50 character string as a result so the output will be

Salute to the mother earth^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

for more details kindly refer here

 

Example of rjust() Function in python:

rjust() function is opposite to ljust() function in python which pads the string in the start with fillchar

# rjust() function in python 

str = "Salute to the mother earth";
print str.rjust(50, '^')

we are using cap symbol to pad the string and we need 50 character string as a result so the output will be

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Salute to the mother earth

 

 

Example of center() Function in python:

center() function in python pads the string on either end equally with fillchar

# center() function in python

str = "Salute to the mother earth";

print str.center(50, '^')

we are using cap symbol to pad the string and we need 50 character string as a result so the output will be

^^^^^^^^^^^^Salute to the mother earth^^^^^^^^^^^^

Padding the columns of dataframe in python can be referred here

 

Add leading and trailing zeros using rjust() and ljust() function:

ljust() rjust() and center() in pandas python 1

ljust() function is used to add trailing zeros after decimal places . rjust() function is used to add leading zeros to the value till the desired number of digits obtained. Let’s see an example of each.

 
#### rjust() for adding leading zeros 

number1="345" 
number1.rjust(7, '0')



###### Add trailing zeros ljust

number3="345.2" 
number3.ljust(7, '0')

In the first example we are using rjust() function to add leading zeros to the string to the total length of 7. In the second example we are using ljust() function to add trailing zeros after the decimal until we get the total length of 7 digit. so the result will be

‘0000345’
‘345.200’

 

ljust(),rjust() and center() function in python pandas:

padding using ljust() rjust() and center() function in Pandas python 11

we will be using following dataframe to depict example on ljust(),rjust() and center() function in python. Lets first create the dataframe.

 
#### Create dataframe 

data = {'State':['Arizona AZ','Georgia GG', 'Newyork NY','Indiana IN','Florida FL'],
'Score':[62,47,55,74,31]}

df1=pd.DataFrame(data, columns=['State','Score'])
df1

so the resultant dataframe will be

ljust() rjust() and center() in pandas python 2

 

rjust() function in pandas : rjust() function is used to add space or padding to the left side of the specific column in pandas.

 
#### add leading pads

df1['State_space']=df1['State'].str.rjust(13, "_")
df1

so the resultant dataframe with padding on the left side will be

ljust() rjust() and center() in pandas python 3

 

ljust() function in pandas : ljust() function is used to add space or padding to the right side of the specific column in pandas.

 
#### add trailing pads

df1['State_space']=df1['State'].str.ljust(13, "_")
df1

so the resultant dataframe with padding on the right side will be

ljust() rjust() and center() in pandas python 4

 

center() function in pandas : center() function is used to add space or padding to both left and right side of the specific column in pandas.

 
#### padding on both the sides

df1['State_space']=df1['State'].str.center(16, "_")
df1

so the resultant dataframe with padding on either side will be

ljust() rjust() and center() in pandas python 5


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Author

  • Sridhar Venkatachalam

    With close to 10 years on Experience in data science and machine learning Have extensively worked on programming languages like R, Python (Pandas), SAS, Pyspark.