Remove first x number of characters from each row in a column of a Python DataFrame

Given a Pandas DataFrame, we have to remove first x number of characters from each row in a column. By Pranit Sharma Last updated : September 29, 2023

Pandas is a special tool that allows us to perform complex manipulations of data effectively and efficiently. Inside pandas, we mostly deal with a dataset in the form of DataFrame. DataFrames are 2-dimensional data structures in pandas. DataFrames consist of rows, columns, and data.

A string is a group of characters, these characters may consist of all the lower case, upper case, and special characters present on the keyboard of a computer system. A string is a data type and the number of characters in a string is known as the length of the string.

Problem statement

Suppose we have a DataFrame of bank details of a few people which contains some required columns. In the Bank account column, we have an unwanted string of 5 characters in each value, we need to remove this unwanted string from each row.

Removing first x number of characters from each row in a column of DataFrame

For this purpose, we will use the concept of string slicing along with the specified DataFrame's column using the .str[5:]. Here, 5 is the value of x. And, then update the column value with this result.

Let us understand with the help of an example,

Python program to remove first x number of characters from each row in a column of dataframe

# Importing pandas package
import pandas as pd

# Creating two dictionaries
d1 = {
    'Name':['Rohan','Mohit','Naresh','Varun'],
    'Acc_No':['xxxxx9898','xxxxx9792','xxxxx2782','xxxxx9122']
}

# Creating DataFrames
df = pd.DataFrame(d1)

# Display the DataFrames
print("Original DataFrame 1:\n",df,"\n\n")

# Removing string from each row
df['Acc_No'] = df['Acc_No'].str[5:]

# Display modified DataFrame
print("Modified DataFrame:\n",df)