Hierarchical indexing or multiple indexing in python pandas

Let’s see how to create Hierarchical indexing or multiple indexing in python pandas dataframe. We will be converting a normal dataframe to hierarchical dataframe. Lets see with an example

Create Dataframe:

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

#Create a DataFrame
d = {
    'Name':['Alisa','Bobby','Cathrine','Alisa','Bobby','Cathrine',
            'Alisa','Bobby','Cathrine','Alisa','Bobby','Cathrine'],
    'Exam':['Semester 1','Semester 1','Semester 1','Semester 1','Semester 1','Semester 1',
            'Semester 2','Semester 2','Semester 2','Semester 2','Semester 2','Semester 2'],
    
    'Subject':['Mathematics','Mathematics','Mathematics','Science','Science','Science',
               'Mathematics','Mathematics','Mathematics','Science','Science','Science'],
   'Score':[62,47,55,74,31,77,85,63,42,67,89,81]}

df = pd.DataFrame(d,columns=['Name','Exam','Subject','Score'])
df

so the resultant dataframe will be

Hierarchical indexing or multiple indexing in python pandas:

# multiple indexing or hierarchical indexing

df1=df.set_index(['Exam', 'Subject'])
df1

set_index() Function is used for indexing , First the data is indexed on Exam and then on Subject column

So the resultant dataframe will be a hierarchical dataframe as shown below

View Index:

One can view the details of index as shown below

# View index
df1.index

So the result will be

Swap the column in the hierarchical index:

Now let’s swap the “Subject” and “Exam” columns in the above hierarchical dataframe as shown below

# Swap the column  in multiple index
df1.swaplevel('Subject','Exam')

So the resultant swapped hierarchical dataframe will be

Hierarchical indexing or multiple indexing in python pandas without dropping:

Now lets create a hierarchical dataframe by multiple indexing without dropping those columns

So all those columns will again appear

# multiple indexing or hierarchical indexing with drop=False

df1=df.set_index(['Exam', 'Subject'],drop=False)
df1