Python Pandas – Find the Difference between two Dataframes

To find the difference between two DataFrame, you need to check for its equality. Also, check the equality of columns.

Let us create DataFrame1 with two columns −

dataFrame1 = pd.DataFrame(
   {
      "Car": ['BMW', 'Lexus', 'Audi', 'Mustang', 'Bentley', 'Jaguar'],
      "Units": [100, 150, 110, 80, 110, 90] }
)

Create DataFrame2 with two columns −

dataFrame2 = pd.DataFrame(
   {
      "Car": ['BMW', 'Lexus', 'Audi', 'Mustang', 'Bentley', 'Jaguar'],
      "Units": [100, 150, 110, 80, 110, 90]
   }
)

Check for the equality of a specific column “Units” −

dataFrame2['Units'].equals(dataFrame1['Units'])

Check for equality of both the DataFrames −

Are both the DataFrames equal?",dataFrame1.equals(dataFrame2)

Example

Following is the code −

import pandas as pd

# Create DataFrame1
dataFrame1 = pd.DataFrame(
   {
      "Car": ['BMW', 'Lexus', 'Audi', 'Mustang', 'Bentley', 'Jaguar'],
      "Units": [100, 150, 110, 80, 110, 90] }
)

print"DataFrame1 ...\n",dataFrame1

# Create DataFrame2
dataFrame2 = pd.DataFrame(
   {
      "Car": ['BMW', 'Lexus', 'Audi', 'Mustang', 'Bentley', 'Jaguar'],
      "Units": [100, 150, 110, 80, 110, 90]
   }
)

print"\nDataFrame2 ...\n",dataFrame2


# check for specific column Units equality
print"\nBoth the DataFrames have similar Units column? ",dataFrame2['Units'].equals(dataFrame1['Units'])

# check for equality
print"\nAre both the DataFrames equal? ",dataFrame1.equals(dataFrame2)

Output

This will produce the following output −

DataFrame1 ...
       Car   Units
0      BMW     100
1    Lexus     150
2     Audi     110
3  Mustang      80
4  Bentley     110
5   Jaguar      90

DataFrame2 ...
       Car   Units
0      BMW     100
1    Lexus     150
2     Audi     110
3  Mustang      80
4  Bentley     110
5   Jaguar      90

Both the DataFrames have similar Units column? True

Are both the DataFrames equal? True