Skip to content
Back to top
View this page

# TableSet

The `TableSet` class collects a set of related tables in a single data structure. The most common way of creating a `TableSet` is using the `Table.group_by()` method, which is similar to SQL’s `GROUP BY` keyword. The resulting set of tables will all have identical columns structure.

`TableSet` functions as a dictionary. Individual tables in the set can be accessed by using their name as a key. If the table set was created using `Table.group_by()` then the names of the tables will be the grouping factors found in the original data.

`TableSet` replicates the majority of the features of `Table`. When methods such as `TableSet.select()`, `TableSet.where()` or `TableSet.order_by()` are used, the operation is applied to each table in the set and the result is a new `TableSet` instance made up of entirely new `Table` instances.

`TableSet` instances can also contain other TableSet’s. This means you can chain calls to `Table.group_by()` and `TableSet.group_by()` and end up with data grouped across multiple dimensions. `TableSet.aggregate()` on nested TableSets will then group across multiple dimensions.

`agate.TableSet` | An group of named tables with identical column definitions.

## Properties

`agate.TableSet.key_name` | Get the name of the key this TableSet is grouped by.
`agate.TableSet.key_type` | Get the `DataType` this TableSet is grouped by.
`agate.TableSet.column_types` | Get an ordered list of this `TableSet`'s column types.
`agate.TableSet.column_names` | Get an ordered list of this `TableSet`'s column names.

## Creating

`agate.TableSet.from_csv` | Create a new `TableSet` from a directory of CSVs.
`agate.TableSet.from_json` | Create a new `TableSet` from a directory of JSON files or a single JSON object with key value (Table key and list of row objects) pairs for each `Table`.

## Saving

`agate.TableSet.to_csv` | Write each table in this set to a separate CSV in a given directory.
`agate.TableSet.to_json` | Write `TableSet` to either a set of JSON files for each table or a single nested JSON file.

## Processing

`agate.TableSet.aggregate` | Aggregate data from the tables in this set by performing some set of column operations on the groups and coalescing the results into a new `Table`.
`agate.TableSet.having` | Create a new `TableSet` with only those tables that pass a test.
`agate.TableSet.merge` | Convert this TableSet into a single table.

## Previewing

`agate.TableSet.print_structure` | Print the keys and row counts of each table in the tableset.

## Charting

`agate.TableSet.bar_chart` | Render a lattice/grid of bar charts using `leather.Lattice`.
`agate.TableSet.column_chart` | Render a lattice/grid of column charts using `leather.Lattice`.
`agate.TableSet.line_chart` | Render a lattice/grid of line charts using `leather.Lattice`.
`agate.TableSet.scatterplot` | Render a lattice/grid of scatterplots using `leather.Lattice`.

## Table Proxy Methods

`agate.TableSet.bins` | Calls `Table.bins()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.compute` | Calls `Table.compute()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.denormalize` | Calls `Table.denormalize()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.distinct` | Calls `Table.distinct()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.exclude` | Calls `Table.exclude()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.find` | Calls `Table.find()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.group_by` | Calls `Table.group_by()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.homogenize` | Calls `Table.homogenize()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.join` | Calls `Table.join()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.limit` | Calls `Table.limit()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.normalize` | Calls `Table.normalize()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.order_by` | Calls `Table.order_by()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.pivot` | Calls `Table.pivot()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.select` | Calls `Table.select()` on each table in the TableSet.
`agate.TableSet.where` | Calls `Table.where()` on each table in the TableSet.

## Detailed list

class agate.TableSet(tables, keys, key_name='group', key_type=None, _is_fork=False)

  Bases: `MappedSequence`

  An group of named tables with identical column definitions. Supports (almost) all the same operations as `Table`. When executed on a `TableSet`, any operation that would have returned a new `Table` instead returns a new `TableSet`. Any operation that would have returned a single value instead returns a dictionary of values.

  TableSet is implemented as a subclass of `MappedSequence`

  Parameters:

    - tables – A sequence `Table` instances.

    - keys – A sequence of keys corresponding to the tables. These may be any type except `int`.

    - key_name – A name that describes the grouping properties. Used as the column header when the groups are aggregated. Defaults to the column name that was grouped on.

    - key_type – An instance some subclass of `DataType`. If not provided it will default to a :class`.Text`.

    - _is_fork – Used internally to skip certain validation steps when data is propagated from an existing tablset.

  property key_name

    Get the name of the key this TableSet is grouped by. (If created using `Table.group_by()` then this is the original column name.)

  property key_type

    Get the `DataType` this TableSet is grouped by. (If created using `Table.group_by()` then this is the original column type.)

  property column_types

    Get an ordered list of this `TableSet`’s column types.

    Returns:

      A `tuple` of `DataType` instances.

  property column_names

    Get an ordered list of this `TableSet`’s column names.

    Returns:

      A `tuple` of strings.

  aggregate(aggregations)

    Aggregate data from the tables in this set by performing some set of column operations on the groups and coalescing the results into a new `Table`.

    `aggregations` must be a sequence of tuples, where each has two parts: a `new_column_name` and a `Aggregation` instance.

    The resulting table will have the keys from this `TableSet` (and any nested TableSets) set as its `row_names`. See `Table.__init__()` for more details.

    Parameters:

      aggregations – A list of tuples in the format `(new_column_name, aggregation)`, where each `aggregation` is an instance of `Aggregation`.

    Returns:

      A new `Table`.

  bar_chart(label=0, value=1, path=None, width=None, height=None)

    Render a lattice/grid of bar charts using `leather.Lattice`.

    Parameters:

      - label – The name or index of a column to plot as the labels of the chart. Defaults to the first column in the table.

      - value – The name or index of a column to plot as the values of the chart. Defaults to the second column in the table.

      - path – If specified, the resulting SVG will be saved to this location. If `None` and running in IPython, then the SVG will be rendered inline. Otherwise, the SVG data will be returned as a string.

      - width – The width of the output SVG.

      - height – The height of the output SVG.

  bins(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.bins()` on each table in the TableSet.

  column_chart(label=0, value=1, path=None, width=None, height=None)

    Render a lattice/grid of column charts using `leather.Lattice`.

    Parameters:

      - label – The name or index of a column to plot as the labels of the chart. Defaults to the first column in the table.

      - value – The name or index of a column to plot as the values of the chart. Defaults to the second column in the table.

      - path – If specified, the resulting SVG will be saved to this location. If `None` and running in IPython, then the SVG will be rendered inline. Otherwise, the SVG data will be returned as a string.

      - width – The width of the output SVG.

      - height – The height of the output SVG.

  compute(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.compute()` on each table in the TableSet.

  count(value) → integer -- return number of occurrences of value
  denormalize(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.denormalize()` on each table in the TableSet.

  dict()

    Retrieve the contents of this sequence as an `collections.OrderedDict`.

  distinct(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.distinct()` on each table in the TableSet.

  exclude(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.exclude()` on each table in the TableSet.

  find(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.find()` on each table in the TableSet.

  classmethod from_csv(dir_path, column_names=None, column_types=None, row_names=None, header=True, **kwargs)

    Create a new `TableSet` from a directory of CSVs.

    See `Table.from_csv()` for additional details.

    Parameters:

      - dir_path – Path to a directory full of CSV files. All CSV files in this directory will be loaded.

      - column_names – See `Table.__init__()`.

      - column_types – See `Table.__init__()`.

      - row_names – See `Table.__init__()`.

      - header – See `Table.from_csv()`.

  classmethod from_json(path, column_names=None, column_types=None, keys=None, **kwargs)

    Create a new `TableSet` from a directory of JSON files or a single JSON object with key value (Table key and list of row objects) pairs for each `Table`.

    See `Table.from_json()` for additional details.

    Parameters:

      - path – Path to a directory containing JSON files or filepath/file-like object of nested JSON file.

      - keys – A list of keys of the top-level dictionaries for each file. If specified, length must be equal to number of JSON files in path.

      - column_types – See `Table.__init__()`.

  get(key, default=None)

    Equivalent to `collections.OrderedDict.get()`.

  group_by(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.group_by()` on each table in the TableSet.

  having(aggregations, test)

    Create a new `TableSet` with only those tables that pass a test.

    This works by applying a sequence of `Aggregation` instances to each table. The resulting dictionary of properties is then passed to the `test` function.

    This method does not modify the underlying tables in any way.

    Parameters:

      - aggregations – A list of tuples in the format `(name, aggregation)`, where each `aggregation` is an instance of `Aggregation`.

      - test (`function`) – A function that takes a dictionary of aggregated properties and returns `True` if it should be included in the new `TableSet`.

    Returns:

      A new `TableSet`.

  homogenize(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.homogenize()` on each table in the TableSet.

  index(value[, start[, stop]]) → integer -- return first index of value.

    Raises ValueError if the value is not present.

    Supporting start and stop arguments is optional, but recommended.

  items()

    Equivalent to `collections.OrderedDict.items()`.

  join(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.join()` on each table in the TableSet.

  keys()

    Equivalent to `collections.OrderedDict.keys()`.

  limit(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.limit()` on each table in the TableSet.

  line_chart(x=0, y=1, path=None, width=None, height=None)

    Render a lattice/grid of line charts using `leather.Lattice`.

    Parameters:

      - x – The name or index of a column to plot as the x axis of the chart. Defaults to the first column in the table.

      - y – The name or index of a column to plot as the y axis of the chart. Defaults to the second column in the table.

      - path – If specified, the resulting SVG will be saved to this location. If `None` and running in IPython, then the SVG will be rendered inline. Otherwise, the SVG data will be returned as a string.

      - width – The width of the output SVG.

      - height – The height of the output SVG.

  merge(groups=None, group_name=None, group_type=None)

    Convert this TableSet into a single table. This is the inverse of `Table.group_by()`.

    Any row_names set on the merged tables will be lost in this process.

    Parameters:

      - groups – A list of grouping factors to add to merged rows in a new column. If specified, it should have exactly one element per `Table` in the `TableSet`. If not specified or None, the grouping factor will be the name of the `Row`’s original Table.

      - group_name – This will be the column name of the grouping factors. If None, defaults to the `TableSet.key_name`.

      - group_type – This will be the column type of the grouping factors. If None, defaults to the `TableSet.key_type`.

    Returns:

      A new `Table`.

  normalize(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.normalize()` on each table in the TableSet.

  order_by(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.order_by()` on each table in the TableSet.

  pivot(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.pivot()` on each table in the TableSet.

  print_structure(max_rows=20, output=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='<stdout>' mode='w' encoding='utf-8'>)

    Print the keys and row counts of each table in the tableset.

    Parameters:

      - max_rows – The maximum number of rows to display before truncating the data. Defaults to 20.

      - output – The output used to print the structure of the `Table`.

    Returns:

      None

  scatterplot(x=0, y=1, path=None, width=None, height=None)

    Render a lattice/grid of scatterplots using `leather.Lattice`.

    Parameters:

      - x – The name or index of a column to plot as the x axis of the chart. Defaults to the first column in the table.

      - y – The name or index of a column to plot as the y axis of the chart. Defaults to the second column in the table.

      - path – If specified, the resulting SVG will be saved to this location. If `None` and running in IPython, then the SVG will be rendered inline. Otherwise, the SVG data will be returned as a string.

      - width – The width of the output SVG.

      - height – The height of the output SVG.

  select(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.select()` on each table in the TableSet.

  to_csv(dir_path, **kwargs)

    Write each table in this set to a separate CSV in a given directory.

    See `Table.to_csv()` for additional details.

    Parameters:

      dir_path – Path to the directory to write the CSV files to.

  to_json(path, nested=False, indent=None, **kwargs)

    Write `TableSet` to either a set of JSON files for each table or a single nested JSON file.

    See `Table.to_json()` for additional details.

    Parameters:

      - path – Path to the directory to write the JSON file(s) to. If nested is True, this should be a file path or file-like object to write to.

      - nested – If True, the output will be a single nested JSON file with each Table’s key paired with a list of row objects. Otherwise, the output will be a set of files for each table. Defaults to False.

      - indent – See `Table.to_json()`.

  values()

    Equivalent to `collections.OrderedDict.values()`.

  where(*args, **kwargs)

    Calls `Table.where()` on each table in the TableSet.