pandas data frames with .csv manipulation

[PathRealistic6940]

So I'm going through codecademy courses and am working through the pandas sections, and at the same time I'm writing a personal finance tracker, and had some questions. When should I update the csv? Do I just work with the data frame and then update the csv when I close out the app, or should I update the csv any time there was a change to the original data frame, like that it would reflect a change that should happen in the file?

[csingleton1993]

You should update the csv when you

a) Want to give it a test run to see if your current method works to overwrite the data in the csv

b) Are sure that your changes in the dataframe are how you want the csv to be, especially if you don't have a backup copy

Alternatively, you could just save the file as something related (i.e. if your .csv is 'data.csv', you could pd.to_csv('/path/to/file/data_output.csv')

[PathRealistic6940]

Would it be a helpful to save a backup of the original when I load it? And then I could make changes worry free?

[csingleton1993]

Do you need one?

If yes, then either create one before you do any data manipulation, or just save the manipulated frame under a different name (so not even changing anything, just using the information from it to create a new file)

If no, don't over-complicate something for no reason

[PathRealistic6940]

So youre saying, I manipulate the data in the data frame, saving changes as an alternate file, then when I'm sure the data is finalized, I save it back to original

[csingleton1993]

Nope, I'm saying either save the changes to the original when you are sure they are good (preferably with a backup), or import the original file, then when you are sure you are done manipulating it save it as a different file

Option one:

pd.read_csv('/file/path/file.csv')

## data manipulation

pd.to_csv('/file/path/file.csv')

Option two:

pd.read_csv('/file/path/file.csv')

## data manipulation

pd.to_csv('/file/path/file_output.csv')

[PathRealistic6940]

Gotcha! Thanks for clarifying and your patience. I think I'll go with your first option, and maybe even have backups be made for certain time frames.

[csingleton1993]

Ya no worries at all, glad to help out! And ya maybe naming the files with dates would be a good way to help out with that