how to split column of tuples in pandas dataframe?

You can do this by doing pd.DataFrame(col.tolist()) on that column:

In [2]: df = pd.DataFrame({'a':[1,2], 'b':[(1,2), (3,4)]})                                                                                                                      

In [3]: df                                                                                                                                                                      
Out[3]: 
   a       b
0  1  (1, 2)
1  2  (3, 4)

In [4]: df['b'].tolist()                                                                                                                                                        
Out[4]: [(1, 2), (3, 4)]

In [5]: pd.DataFrame(df['b'].tolist(), index=df.index)                                                                                                                                          
Out[5]: 
   0  1
0  1  2
1  3  4

In [6]: df[['b1', 'b2']] = pd.DataFrame(df['b'].tolist(), index=df.index)                                                                                                                       

In [7]: df                                                                                                                                                                      
Out[7]: 
   a       b  b1  b2
0  1  (1, 2)   1   2
1  2  (3, 4)   3   4

Note: in an earlier version, this answer recommended to use df['b'].apply(pd.Series) instead of pd.DataFrame(df['b'].tolist(), index=df.index). That works as well (because it makes of each tuple a Series, which is then seen as a row of a dataframe), but is slower / uses more memory than the tolist version, as noted by the other answers here (thanks to @denfromufa).
I updated this answer to make sure the most visible answer has the best solution.


On much larger datasets, I found that .apply() is few orders slower than pd.DataFrame(df['b'].values.tolist(), index=df.index)

This performance issue was closed in GitHub, although I do not agree with this decision:

https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/issues/11615

EDIT: based on this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/44196843/2230844


The str accessor that is available to pandas.Series objects of dtype == object is actually an iterable.

Assume a pandas.DataFrame df:

df = pd.DataFrame(dict(col=[*zip('abcdefghij', range(10, 101, 10))]))

df

        col
0   (a, 10)
1   (b, 20)
2   (c, 30)
3   (d, 40)
4   (e, 50)
5   (f, 60)
6   (g, 70)
7   (h, 80)
8   (i, 90)
9  (j, 100)

We can test if it is an iterable

from collections import Iterable

isinstance(df.col.str, Iterable)

True

We can then assign from it like we do other iterables:

var0, var1 = 'xy'
print(var0, var1)

x y

Simplest solution

So in one line we can assign both columns

df['a'], df['b'] = df.col.str

df

        col  a    b
0   (a, 10)  a   10
1   (b, 20)  b   20
2   (c, 30)  c   30
3   (d, 40)  d   40
4   (e, 50)  e   50
5   (f, 60)  f   60
6   (g, 70)  g   70
7   (h, 80)  h   80
8   (i, 90)  i   90
9  (j, 100)  j  100

Faster solution

Only slightly more complicate, we can use zip to create a similar iterable

df['c'], df['d'] = zip(*df.col)

df

        col  a    b  c    d
0   (a, 10)  a   10  a   10
1   (b, 20)  b   20  b   20
2   (c, 30)  c   30  c   30
3   (d, 40)  d   40  d   40
4   (e, 50)  e   50  e   50
5   (f, 60)  f   60  f   60
6   (g, 70)  g   70  g   70
7   (h, 80)  h   80  h   80
8   (i, 90)  i   90  i   90
9  (j, 100)  j  100  j  100

Inline

Meaning, don't mutate existing df
This works because assign takes keyword arguments where the keywords are the new(or existing) column names and the values will be the values of the new column. You can use a dictionary and unpack it with ** and have it act as the keyword arguments. So this is a clever way of assigning a new column named 'g' that is the first item in the df.col.str iterable and 'h' that is the second item in the df.col.str iterable.

df.assign(**dict(zip('gh', df.col.str)))

        col  g    h
0   (a, 10)  a   10
1   (b, 20)  b   20
2   (c, 30)  c   30
3   (d, 40)  d   40
4   (e, 50)  e   50
5   (f, 60)  f   60
6   (g, 70)  g   70
7   (h, 80)  h   80
8   (i, 90)  i   90
9  (j, 100)  j  100

My version of the list approach

With modern list comprehension and variable unpacking.
Note: also inline using join

df.join(pd.DataFrame([*df.col], df.index, [*'ef']))

        col  g    h
0   (a, 10)  a   10
1   (b, 20)  b   20
2   (c, 30)  c   30
3   (d, 40)  d   40
4   (e, 50)  e   50
5   (f, 60)  f   60
6   (g, 70)  g   70
7   (h, 80)  h   80
8   (i, 90)  i   90
9  (j, 100)  j  100

The mutating version would be

df[['e', 'f']] = pd.DataFrame([*df.col], df.index)

Naive Time Test

Short DataFrame

Use one defined above

%timeit df.assign(**dict(zip('gh', df.col.str)))
%timeit df.assign(**dict(zip('gh', zip(*df.col))))
%timeit df.join(pd.DataFrame([*df.col], df.index, [*'gh']))

1.16 ms ± 21.5 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1000 loops each)
635 µs ± 18.7 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1000 loops each)
795 µs ± 42.5 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 1000 loops each)
Long DataFrame

10^3 times bigger

df = pd.concat([df] * 1000, ignore_index=True)

%timeit df.assign(**dict(zip('gh', df.col.str)))
%timeit df.assign(**dict(zip('gh', zip(*df.col))))
%timeit df.join(pd.DataFrame([*df.col], df.index, [*'gh']))

11.4 ms ± 1.53 ms per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 100 loops each)
2.1 ms ± 41.4 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 100 loops each)
2.33 ms ± 35.1 µs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 100 loops each)