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implementing MultiIndex DataFrame Column Renaming and Data Loss in Pandas 1.5.3

👀 Views: 258 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-13
pandas dataframe multiindex Python

I'm migrating some code and I'm experimenting with I'm maintaining legacy code that I'm having trouble with I've been struggling with this for a few days now and could really use some help..... I'm stuck on something that should probably be simple. I'm currently working with a scenario with renaming columns in a MultiIndex DataFrame using Pandas version 1.5.3. I have a DataFrame structured like this: ```python import pandas as pd arrays = [["A", "A", "B", "B"], ["one", "two", "one", "two"]] index = pd.MultiIndex.from_arrays(arrays, names=("letters", "numbers")) df = pd.DataFrame({"value": [1, 2, 3, 4]}, index=index) print(df) ``` This produces the following output: ``` value letters numbers A one 1 two 2 B one 3 two 4 ``` I want to rename the inner index from `one` to `first` and `two` to `second`. I used the following code: ```python df.rename(index={('A', 'one'): ('A', 'first'), ('A', 'two'): ('A', 'second')}, level=[0, 1], inplace=True) ``` However, when I run this, I get a `KeyError` indicating that the keys I provided for renaming do not exist. I did verify that the keys are indeed present in the DataFrame. Additionally, I noticed that after attempting the rename, some of the data seems to be lost; accessing `df.loc['A']` returns a DataFrame without any entries. Is there a more reliable way of renaming the levels of a MultiIndex and ensuring that data integrity is maintained? I've tried using `set_names` as well, but it did not yield the expected results. Any guidance would be appreciated! For context: I'm using Python on Windows. Am I missing something obvious? How would you solve this? Thanks, I really appreciate it! The stack includes Python and several other technologies. I appreciate any insights! Has anyone dealt with something similar? What would be the recommended way to handle this?