Pandas DataFrame: Get the first 3 rows of a given DataFrame

Last update on April 03 2025 13:07:51 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

4. Selecting the First 3 Rows

Write a Pandas program to get the first 3 rows of a given DataFrame.

Sample DataFrame:
exam_data = {'name': ['Anastasia', 'Dima', 'Katherine', 'James', 'Emily', 'Michael', 'Matthew', 'Laura', 'Kevin', 'Jonas'],
'score': [12.5, 9, 16.5, np.nan, 9, 20, 14.5, np.nan, 8, 19],
'attempts': [1, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1],
'qualify': ['yes', 'no', 'yes', 'no', 'no', 'yes', 'yes', 'no', 'no', 'yes']}
labels = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']

Sample Solution :

Python Code :

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

exam_data  = {'name': ['Anastasia', 'Dima', 'Katherine', 'James', 'Emily', 'Michael', 'Matthew', 'Laura', 'Kevin', 'Jonas'],
        'score': [12.5, 9, 16.5, np.nan, 9, 20, 14.5, np.nan, 8, 19],
        'attempts': [1, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1],
        'qualify': ['yes', 'no', 'yes', 'no', 'no', 'yes', 'yes', 'no', 'no', 'yes']}
labels = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']

df = pd.DataFrame(exam_data , index=labels)
print("First three rows of the data frame:")
print(df.iloc[:3])

Sample Output:

First three rows of the data frame:                                    
   attempts       name qualify  score                                  
a         1  Anastasia     yes   12.5                                  
b         3       Dima      no    9.0                                  
c         2  Katherine     yes   16.5

Explanation:

The above code creates a Pandas DataFrame named df with columns 'name', 'score', 'attempts', and 'qualify', and a custom index 'labels'. It then selects and prints the first three rows of the DataFrame using the .iloc indexing method.

Specifically, df.iloc[:3] selects the first three rows of the DataFrame using integer-based indexing, where : indicates all rows and 3 indicates up to the third row (exclusive). This operation returns a new DataFrame containing the selected rows, which is then printed using the print() function.

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Pandas program to select the first 3 rows of a DataFrame and then output the indices in reverse order.
Write a Pandas program to select the first 3 rows and then duplicate these rows at the bottom of the DataFrame.
Write a Pandas program to select the first 3 rows and then filter out rows where a specific column’s value is NaN.
Write a Pandas program to select the first 3 rows and then convert these rows into a new DataFrame with reset index.

Python-Pandas Code Editor:

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