to_dict() to write DataFrame data to dictionary

DataFrame.to_dict(orient='dict', into=<class 'dict'>)

orient

dict ( default ) {column -> {index -> value}}

list {column -> [values]}

series {column -> series[values]}

split {'index -> [index], 'columns' -> [columns], 'data' -> [values]}

records [{column -> value}, … , {column -> value}]

index {index -> {column -> value}}

into

class ( default dict ) Mapping subclass used for all Mappings in the return value

See all examples below.

to_dict() : DataFrame to Dictionary

Creating DataFrame

df=pd.DataFrame(data={'id': [1, 2, 3],
 'name': ['John Deo', 'Max Ruin', 'Arnold'],
 'class': ['Four', 'Three', 'Three'],
 'mark': [75, 85, 55],
 'gender': ['female', 'male', 'male']})

Using this DataFrame we can create the Dictionary by using to_dict().

my_dict=df.to_dict()
print(my_dict)

Output is here

{'id': {0: 1, 1: 2, 2: 3}, 
'name': {0: 'John Deo', 1: 'Max Ruin', 2: 'Arnold'},
 'class': {0: 'Four', 1: 'Three', 2: 'Three'}, 
 'mark': {0: 75, 1: 85, 2: 55}, 
 'gender': {0: 'female', 1: 'male', 2: 'male'}}

orient='dict' ( default )

my_dict=df.to_dict(orient='dict')

{'id': {0: 1, 1: 2, 2: 3},
 'name': {0: 'John Deo', 1: 'Max Ruin', 2: 'Arnold'},
 'class': {0: 'Four', 1: 'Three', 2: 'Three'},
 'mark': {0: 75, 1: 85, 2: 55},
 'gender': {0: 'female', 1: 'male', 2: 'male'}}

orient='list'

my_dict=df.to_dict( orient='list')

Output is here

{'id': [1, 2, 3],
 'name': ['John Deo', 'Max Ruin', 'Arnold'],
 'class': ['Four', 'Three', 'Three'],
 'mark': [75, 85, 55],
 'gender': ['female', 'male', 'male']}

orient='series'

my_dict=df.to_dict( orient='series')

Output is here

{'id': 0    1
 1    2
 2    3
 Name: id, dtype: int64, 'name': 0    John Deo
 1    Max Ruin
 2      Arnold
 Name: name, dtype: object, 'class': 0     Four
 1    Three
 2    Three
 Name: class, dtype: object, 'mark': 0    75
 1    85
 2    55
 Name: mark, dtype: int64, 'gender': 0    female
 1      male
 2      male
 Name: gender, dtype: object}

orient='split'

my_dict=df.to_dict( orient='split')

Output is here

{'index': [0, 1, 2],
 'columns': ['id', 'name', 'class', 'mark', 'gender'],
 'data': [[1, 'John Deo', 'Four', 75, 'female'],
  [2, 'Max Ruin', 'Three', 85, 'male'],
  [3, 'Arnold', 'Three', 55, 'male']]}

orient='records'

my_dict=df.to_dict( orient='records')

Output is here

[{'id': 1,
  'name': 'John Deo',
  'class': 'Four',
  'mark': 75,
  'gender': 'female'},
 {'id': 2, 'name': 'Max Ruin', 'class': 'Three', 'mark': 85, 'gender': 'male'},
 {'id': 3, 'name': 'Arnold', 'class': 'Three', 'mark': 55, 'gender': 'male'}]

orient='index'

my_dict=df.to_dict( orient='index')

Output is here

{0: {'id': 1,
  'name': 'John Deo',
  'class': 'Four',
  'mark': 75,
  'gender': 'female'},
 1: {'id': 2,
  'name': 'Max Ruin',
  'class': 'Three',
  'mark': 85,
  'gender': 'male'},
 2: {'id': 3,
  'name': 'Arnold',
  'class': 'Three',
  'mark': 55,
  'gender': 'male'}}

Most of the time we create DataFrame by using data from Dictionary, but in some situations we may create DataFrame from csv, excel or from MySQL database tables and from this DataFrame we can export the data to a dictionary.
Here is one example where the student table from MySQL database is used to create DataFRame and finally the dictionary is created by using to_dict()

DataFrame from MySQL database

We will collect records from our sample student table in MySQL database and create the DataFrame. From the DataFrame by using to_dict() we will generate the dictionary.
Collect SQL dump of sample student table below.
Read more on MySQL with SQLAlchemy connection

import pandas as pd 
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
my_conn = create_engine("mysql+mysqldb://userid:pw@localhost/my_db")
sql="SELECT * FROM student LIMIT 0, 3"
df=pd.read_sql(sql,my_conn)
my_dict=df.to_dict()
my_dict

Output is here

{'id': {0: 1, 1: 2, 2: 3},
 'name': {0: 'John Deo', 1: 'Max Ruin', 2: 'Arnold'},
 'class': {0: 'Four', 1: 'Three', 2: 'Three'},
 'mark': {0: 75, 1: 85, 2: 55},
 'gender': {0: 'female', 1: 'male', 2: 'male'}}

From Excel file to Dictionary

In above code we have created one DataFrame by taking data from a MySQL database table. We can create DataFrame by using any excel data or by using any csv (Comma Separated Value) file or from any other sources. ( check here to create a DataFrame from 8 different sources )
Once a DataFrame is created, then using that we can create dictionary output by using to_dict(). Here is one example to read one Excel file to a DataFrame and generate the string, you can explore other sources to create a DataFrame and finally generate dictionary.
We used read_excel() to read our sample student.xlsx file.

df=pd.read_excel("D:\\my_data\\student.xlsx") # Path of the file. 
df.to_dict()

We can read one csv file by using read_csv()

df=pd.read_csv("D:\\my_data\\student.csv") # change the path
df.to_dict()

Data input and output from Pandas DataFrame
Pandas read_csv() read_excel() to_excel() to_string()

Numpy arrays Python & MySQL Python- Tutorials

Subhendu Mohapatra

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Passionate about coding and teaching, I publish practical tutorials on PHP, Python, JavaScript, SQL, and web development. My goal is to make learning simple, engaging, and project‑oriented with real examples and source code.