table2column

Table2column is a Python library designed to transform data structured in a tabular format into a columnar representation. Its primary function is to facilitate the conversion of rows into separate columns, often used for reshaping data for analysis or visualization purposes. The library typically operates on data structures like pandas DataFrames.

The core concept behind table2column involves taking elements that are organized horizontally across rows and rearranging them vertically into distinct columns. This can be particularly useful when dealing with data where certain attributes are repeated within rows and need to be segregated for easier processing or when preparing data for machine learning models that expect features in separate columns.

Implementation details vary, but the library generally provides functions that accept a DataFrame and specify the columns to be transformed. It handles the logic of unpivoting or melting the data, creating new column headers based on the original row values or specified keys. The output is a new DataFrame with a more elongated structure, where each original row's information is spread across multiple rows in the transformed output. This process is often a precursor to other data manipulation tasks.