pandas.DataFrame.set_index

DataFrame.set_index(keys, drop=True, append=False, inplace=False, verify_integrity=False)

Set the DataFrame index (row labels) using one or more existing columns. By default yields a new object.

Parameters:

keys : column label or list of column labels / arrays

drop : boolean, default True

Delete columns to be used as the new index

append : boolean, default False

Whether to append columns to existing index

inplace : boolean, default False

Modify the DataFrame in place (do not create a new object)

verify_integrity : boolean, default False

Check the new index for duplicates. Otherwise defer the check until necessary. Setting to False will improve the performance of this method

Returns:

dataframe : DataFrame

Examples

>>> indexed_df = df.set_index(['A', 'B'])
>>> indexed_df2 = df.set_index(['A', [0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2]])
>>> indexed_df3 = df.set_index([[0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2]])