How to Fix – NameError: name ‘pandas’ is not defined

If you are working with Python and trying to use the pandas library, you may encounter the “NameError: name ‘pandas’ is not defined” error. In this tutorial, we will explore why this error occurs and the steps required to fix it such that your Python code can successfully run without errors.

We will cover common causes of the error and provide solutions to help you get your code up and running quickly. So, let’s get started!

Why does the NameError: name 'pandas' is not defined error occur?

This error occurs when you try to use the pandas library in your Python code, but Python cannot find the pandas module in its namespace. The following are some of the scenarios in which this error usually occurs.

1. You have not imported the pandas module.
2. You have imported the pandas module using a different name.

How to fix the NameError: name 'pandas' is not defined error?

Before we proceed with the above scenario and their solutions, make sure that you have the pandas module installed. If pandas is not installed and you try to import it, you’ll get a ModuleNotFoundError. Alternatively, you can check if you have pandas installed by running pip list in your terminal or command prompt. If pandas is not listed, install it by running pip install pandas.

If you are using a virtual environment or a different Python environment, make sure pandas is installed in that environment. You can activate the environment and run pip list to check if pandas is installed.

Let’s now look at the above scenarios in detail.

The pandas module is not imported

It can happen that you are trying to use the pandas module without even importing it. In that case, you’ll get a NameError. This is because Python does not recognize the pandas library and its functions until it is imported into the code.

For example, let’s try to use pandas without importing it and see what we get.

# note that pandas is not imported
# create a dataframe
df = pandas.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
    'Age': [25, 26, 28]
})
# display the dataframe
print(df.head())

Output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[1], line 3
      1 # note that pandas is not imported
      2 # create a dataframe
----> 3 df = pandas.DataFrame({
      4     'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
      5     'Age': [25, 26, 28]
      6 })
      7 # display the dataframe
      8 print(df.head())

NameError: name 'pandas' is not defined

We get a NameError stating that the name pandas is not defined. To use pandas, you need to import it first.

import pandas

# create a dataframe
df = pandas.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
    'Age': [25, 26, 28]
})
# display the dataframe
print(df.head())

Output:

     Name  Age
0     Jim   25
1     Pam   26
2  Dwight   28

Here, we are importing the pandas module first and then using it. You can see that we did not get any errors here.
Note that generally people use the import pandas as pd statement to import the pandas module with the alias pd and then use pd instead of pandas.

The pandas module is imported using a different name

If you import the pandas module using a different name, for example import pandas as pd, and then try to use the name “pandas” to use it, you will get a NameError because the name “pandas” is not defined in your current namespace.

Let’s look at an example.

import pandas as pd

# create a dataframe
df = pandas.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
    'Age': [25, 26, 28]
})
# display the dataframe
print(df.head())

Output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)

Cell In[1], line 4
      1 import pandas as pd
      3 # create a dataframe
----> 4 df = pandas.DataFrame({
      5     'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
      6     'Age': [25, 26, 28]
      7 })
      8 # display the dataframe
      9 print(df.head())

NameError: name 'pandas' is not defined

We get a NameError: name 'pandas' is not defined. This is because we have imported the pandas module with the name pd but we’re trying to use it using the name pandas.

To fix this error, you can either access pandas using the name that you have used in the import statement or import pandas without an alias.

import pandas as pd

# create a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
    'Age': [25, 26, 28]
})
# display the dataframe
print(df.head())

Output:

     Name  Age
0     Jim   25
1     Pam   26
2  Dwight   28

In the above example, we are importing pandas as pd and then using pd to access the pandas module’s methods.

Alternatively, as seen in the example in the previous section, you can import pandas without any aliases and simply use pandas to avoid the NameError.

How to fix the NameError: name 'pd' is not defined error?

You can similarly get the NameError: name 'pd' is not defined if you’ve not used pd as the name for pandas while importing it. For example.

import pandas

# create a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
    'Age': [25, 26, 28]
})
# display the dataframe
print(df.head())

Output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[1], line 4
      1 import pandas
      3 # create a dataframe
----> 4 df = pd.DataFrame({
      5     'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
      6     'Age': [25, 26, 28]
      7 })
      8 # display the dataframe
      9 print(df.head())

NameError: name 'pd' is not defined

We get this error because the name pd does not exit in the namespace. To fix this error, use the import statement import pandas as pd.

import pandas as pd

# create a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Jim', 'Pam', 'Dwight'],
    'Age': [25, 26, 28]
})
# display the dataframe
print(df.head())

Output:

     Name  Age
0     Jim   25
1     Pam   26
2  Dwight   28

We don’t get an error now.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the “NameError: name ‘pandas’ is not defined” error can occur due to two scenarios – pandas is not imported or pandas is imported with a different name. If pandas is not imported, you can simply import it using the command import pandas. On the other hand, if pandas is imported with a different name, you can use the command import pandas as pd to import it with the name “pd”. By following these steps, you can easily fix the “NameError: name ‘pandas’ is not defined” error and continue with your data analysis tasks using pandas.

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