Pandas DataFrame to_latex() Method – Be on the Right Side of Change

Preparation

Before any data manipulation can occur, four (4) new libraries will require installation.

The Pandas library enables access to/from a DataFrame.
The Tabulate library enables formatted output.
The Tables library allows formatted output (table format).
The lxml library enables writing to an XML file.

To install these libraries, navigate to an IDE terminal. At the command prompt ($), execute the code below. For the terminal used in this example, the command prompt is a dollar sign ($). Your terminal prompt may be different.

$ pip install pandas

Hit the <Enter> key on the keyboard to start the installation process.

$ pip install tabulate

Hit the <Enter> key on the keyboard to start the installation process.

$ pip install tables

Hit the <Enter> key on the keyboard to start the installation process.

$ pip install lxml

Hit the <Enter> key on the keyboard to start the installation process.

If the installations were successful, a message displays in the terminal indicating the same.

Feel free to view the PyCharm installation guide for the required libraries.

Add the following code to the top of each code snippet. This snippet will allow the code in this article to run error-free.

import pandas as pd
import tabulate
import tables
import lxml

DataFrame.to_latex()

The to_latex() method converts a DataFrame into a formatted LaTeX document. This document can then save as a separate file.

The syntax for this method is as follows:

DataFrame.to_latex(buf=None, columns=None, col_space=None, header=True, index=True, na_rep='NaN', formatters=None, float_format=None, sparsify=None, index_names=True, bold_rows=False, column_format=None, longtable=None, escape=None, encoding=None, decimal='.', multicolumn=None, multicolumn_format=None, multirow=None, caption=None, label=None, position=None)

Parameter	Description
`buf`	This parameter is the file path/buffer to write. If empty, a string returns.
`columns`	This parameter is the sub-set of columns to write. If empty, all columns write.
`col_space`	This depicts the length of each column.
`header`	This parameter writes out the column names.
`index`	This parameter writes out the row (index) names.
`na_rep`	This parameter represents the string value for missing data.
`formatters`	This parameter is a formatter function to apply to elements by position/name.
`float_format`	This parameter is a formatter for floating-point numbers.
`sparsify`	If True and MultiIndex, display the key for each row.
`index_names`	This parameter displays the index names.
`bold_rows`	This parameter displays the row names in bold.
`column_format`	This parameter is the column format as outlined in the LaTeX table format
`longtable`	The value of this parameter is read from the `pandas config` module. If `True`, use a `longtable` format instead of tabular.
`escape`	The value of this parameter is read from the pandas `config` module. If `False`, prevent escaping LaTeX special characters in column names.
`encoding`	A string representation of encoding. By default, UTF-8 is used.
`decimal`	This parameter is the decimal separator, comma (`,`) in Europe.
`multicolumn`	If `True`, use multi-column to enhance MultiIndex columns.
`multicolumn_format`	This parameter is the alignment for multi-columns.
`multirow`	If `True`, use multi-row to enhance MultiIndex rows.
`caption`	This parameter is a tuple containing the caption.
`label`	This parameter is the LaTeX label inside `\label{}` in the output.
`position`	This parameter is the table position. This option is placed after `\begin{}` in the output.

The owner of Finxters has decided to add some additional details for their users: their favorite color in RGB format. At present, this is just a test.

Run the code to create a LaTeX document (.tex) file containing sample users.

cols = ('Name', 'Username', 'Fav Color'); 
df = pd.DataFrame ((('Pete',  '1998_pete2', (139, 0, 139)),
                    ('Leon',  'Gar_man',    (143, 188, 143)),
                    ('Isla',  'Isla2021',   (173, 216, 230)),
                    ('Blake', 'kirbster',   (147, 112, 219))), 
                    columns=cols)

print(df)
df.to_latex('finxters.tex', index=False, caption='User Details')

Line [1] creates column names and saves them to the cols list.
Line [2] creates a DataFrame with user data and sets the columns to the cols variable created above.
Line [3] outputs the DataFrame to the terminal.
Line [4] saves the DataFrame to a LaTeX file (finxters.tex).

Output

df

	Name	Username	Fav Color
0	Pete	1998_pete2	(139, 0, 139)
1	Leon	Gar_man	(143, 188, 143)
2	Isla	Isla2021	(173, 216, 230)
3	Blake	kirbster	(147, 112, 219)

finxters.tex file

💡 Note: You can also use an online converter to convert a tex file to a pdf.

More Pandas DataFrame Methods

Feel free to learn more about the previous and next pandas DataFrame methods (alphabetically) here:

👈 df.to_json()

df.to_markdown() 👉

Also, check out the full cheat sheet overview of all Pandas DataFrame methods.