pandas.DataFrame.head

DataFrame.head(n=5)[source]

Return the first n rows.

This function returns the first n rows for the object based on position. It is useful for quickly testing if your object has the right type of data in it.

For negative values of n, this function returns all rows except the last |n| rows, equivalent to df[:n].

If n is larger than the number of rows, this function returns all rows.

Parameters
nint, default 5

Number of rows to select.

Returns
same type as caller

The first n rows of the caller object.

See also

DataFrame.tail

Returns the last n rows.

Examples

>>> df = pd.DataFrame({'animal': ['alligator', 'bee', 'falcon', 'lion',
...                    'monkey', 'parrot', 'shark', 'whale', 'zebra']})
>>> df
      animal
0  alligator
1        bee
2     falcon
3       lion
4     monkey
5     parrot
6      shark
7      whale
8      zebra

Viewing the first 5 lines

>>> df.head()
      animal
0  alligator
1        bee
2     falcon
3       lion
4     monkey

Viewing the first n lines (three in this case)

>>> df.head(3)
      animal
0  alligator
1        bee
2     falcon

For negative values of n

>>> df.head(-3)
      animal
0  alligator
1        bee
2     falcon
3       lion
4     monkey
5     parrot