Reading CSV files (read_csv) in Data Analysis Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Reading CSV files (read_csv)

📖 Scenario: You work in a small bookstore. You have a CSV file listing books with their titles, authors, and prices. You want to read this file to see the data inside.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use pandas.read_csv() to load a CSV file into a DataFrame and display its contents.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use the pandas library to read CSV files

Create a CSV file named books.csv with given data

Read the CSV file into a DataFrame called books_df

Print the DataFrame to see the data

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Reading CSV files is a common task to load data from spreadsheets or exported reports into Python for analysis.

💼 Career

Data analysts and scientists often start by reading CSV files to explore and clean data before deeper analysis.

1

Create the CSV file books.csv

Create a CSV file named books.csv with these exact contents including the header line:
Title,Author,Price
The Alchemist,Paulo Coelho,10.99
1984,George Orwell,8.99
Python Basics,John Doe,15.50

Data Analysis Python

# Create the CSV file 'books.csv' with the exact content
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Python's open function with mode 'w' to write text to a file.

2

Import pandas library

Write a line to import the pandas library using the alias pd.

Data Analysis Python

import pandas as pd

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use import pandas as pd to import the pandas library with the common alias.

3

Read the CSV file into a DataFrame

Use pd.read_csv() to read the file books.csv into a variable called books_df.

Data Analysis Python

import pandas as pd

csv_content = '''Title,Author,Price
The Alchemist,Paulo Coelho,10.99
1984,George Orwell,8.99
Python Basics,John Doe,15.50
'''

with open('books.csv', 'w') as file:
    file.write(csv_content)

# Use pd.read_csv() to read 'books.csv' into books_df
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use books_df = pd.read_csv('books.csv') to load the CSV file into a DataFrame.

4

Print the DataFrame books_df

Write a line to print the DataFrame books_df to see the data.

Data Analysis Python

import pandas as pd

csv_content = '''Title,Author,Price
The Alchemist,Paulo Coelho,10.99
1984,George Orwell,8.99
Python Basics,John Doe,15.50
'''

with open('books.csv', 'w') as file:
    file.write(csv_content)

books_df = pd.read_csv('books.csv')

# Print the DataFrame books_df
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(books_df) to display the DataFrame.