ENH: column aliases for to_csv/to_excel #921

pandas/core/frame.py

@@ -1024,7 +1024,8 @@ def to_panel(self):
 
     to_wide = deprecate('to_wide', to_panel)
 
-    def _helper_csvexcel(self, writer, na_rep=None, cols=None, header=True,
+    def _helper_csvexcel(self, writer, na_rep=None, cols=None,
+                         col_aliases=None, header=True,
                          index=True, index_label=None):
         if cols is None:
             cols = self.columns
@@ -1053,7 +1054,15 @@ def _helper_csvexcel(self, writer, na_rep=None, cols=None, header=True,
                     index_label = [index_label]
 
                 encoded_labels = list(index_label)
-                encoded_cols = list(cols)
+                if col_aliases is not None:
+                    if len(col_aliases) != len(cols):
+                        raise ValueError(('Writing %d cols but got %d aliases'
+                                          % (len(cols), len(col_aliases))))
+                    else:
+                        write_cols = col_aliases
+                else:
+                    write_cols = cols
+                encoded_cols = list(write_cols)
 
                 writer.writerow(encoded_labels + encoded_cols)
             else:
@@ -1078,8 +1087,8 @@ def _helper_csvexcel(self, writer, na_rep=None, cols=None, header=True,
             writer.writerow(row_fields)
 
     def to_csv(self, path_or_buf, sep=",", na_rep='', cols=None,
-               header=True, index=True, index_label=None, mode='w',
-               nanRep=None, encoding=None):
+               col_aliases=None, header=True, index=True, index_label=None,
+               mode='w', nanRep=None, encoding=None):
         """
         Write DataFrame to a comma-separated values (csv) file
 
@@ -1091,6 +1100,8 @@ def to_csv(self, path_or_buf, sep=",", na_rep='', cols=None,
             Missing data representation
         cols : sequence, optional
             Columns to write
+        col_aliases : sequence, default None
+            Optional column aliases to be written instead of column names
         header : boolean, default True
             Write out column names
         index : boolean, default True
@@ -1126,14 +1137,16 @@ def to_csv(self, path_or_buf, sep=",", na_rep='', cols=None,
             else:
                 csvout = csv.writer(f, lineterminator='\n', delimiter=sep)
             self._helper_csvexcel(csvout, na_rep=na_rep, cols=cols,
-                                  header=header, index=index,
-                                  index_label=index_label)
+                                  col_aliases=col_aliases, header=header,
+                                  index=index, index_label=index_label)
+
         finally:
             if close:
                 f.close()
 
     def to_excel(self, excel_writer, sheet_name='sheet1', na_rep='',
-                 cols=None, header=True, index=True, index_label=None):
+                 cols=None, col_aliases=None, header=True, index=True,
+                 index_label=None):
         """
         Write DataFrame to a excel sheet
 
@@ -1173,8 +1186,8 @@ def to_excel(self, excel_writer, sheet_name='sheet1', na_rep='',
             need_save = True
         excel_writer.cur_sheet = sheet_name
         self._helper_csvexcel(excel_writer, na_rep=na_rep, cols=cols,
-                              header=header, index=index,
-                              index_label=index_label)
+                              col_aliases=col_aliases, header=header,
+                              index=index, index_label=index_label)
         if need_save:
             excel_writer.save()
 

pandas/tests/test_frame.py

@@ -3100,6 +3100,16 @@ def test_to_csv_from_csv(self):
         result = DataFrame.from_csv(path, index_col=[0, 1, 2],
                                     parse_dates=False)
         assert_frame_equal(result, df)
+
+        # column aliases
+        col_aliases = Index(['AA', 'X', 'Y', 'Z'])
+        self.frame2.to_csv(path, header=True, col_aliases=col_aliases)
+        rs = DataFrame.from_csv(path)
+        xp = self.frame2.copy()
+        xp.columns = col_aliases
+
+        assert_frame_equal(xp, rs)
+
         os.remove(path)
 
     def test_to_csv_multiindex(self):
@@ -3284,6 +3294,15 @@ def test_to_excel_from_excel(self):
             np.testing.assert_equal('test1', reader.sheet_names[0])
             np.testing.assert_equal('test2', reader.sheet_names[1])
 
+            # column aliases
+            col_aliases = Index(['AA', 'X', 'Y', 'Z'])
+            self.frame2.to_excel(path, 'test1', header=True,
+                                 col_aliases=col_aliases)
+            reader = ExcelFile(path)
+            rs = reader.parse('test1')
+            xp = self.frame2.copy()
+            xp.columns = col_aliases
+            assert_frame_equal(xp, rs)
 
             os.remove(path)