python - How to convert columns into one datetime column in pandas?

Question

I have a dataframe where the first 3 columns are 'MONTH', 'DAY', 'YEAR'

In each column there is an integer. Is there a Pythonic way to convert all three columns into datetimes while there are in the dataframe?

From:

M    D    Y    Apples   Oranges
5    6  1990      12        3
5    7  1990      14        4
5    8  1990      15       34
5    9  1990      23       21

into:

Datetimes    Apples   Oranges
1990-6-5        12        3
1990-7-5        14        4
1990-8-5        15       34
1990-9-5        23       21

Answer 1

In version 0.18.1 you can use to_datetime, but:

• The names of the columns have to be year, month, day, hour, minute and second:
• Minimal columns are year, month and day

Sample:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({'year': [2015, 2016],
                   'month': [2, 3],
                    'day': [4, 5],
                    'hour': [2, 3],
                    'minute': [10, 30],
                    'second': [21,25]})

print df
   day  hour  minute  month  second  year
0    4     2      10      2      21  2015
1    5     3      30      3      25  2016

print pd.to_datetime(df[['year', 'month', 'day']])
0   2015-02-04
1   2016-03-05
dtype: datetime64[ns]

print pd.to_datetime(df[['year', 'month', 'day', 'hour']])
0   2015-02-04 02:00:00
1   2016-03-05 03:00:00
dtype: datetime64[ns]

print pd.to_datetime(df[['year', 'month', 'day', 'hour', 'minute']])
0   2015-02-04 02:10:00
1   2016-03-05 03:30:00
dtype: datetime64[ns]

print pd.to_datetime(df)
0   2015-02-04 02:10:21
1   2016-03-05 03:30:25
dtype: datetime64[ns]

Another solution is convert to dictionary:

print df
   M  D     Y  Apples  Oranges
0  5  6  1990      12        3
1  5  7  1990      14        4
2  5  8  1990      15       34
3  5  9  1990      23       21

print pd.to_datetime(dict(year=df.Y, month=df.M, day=df.D))
0   1990-05-06
1   1990-05-07
2   1990-05-08
3   1990-05-09
dtype: datetime64[ns]