Select rows from a DataFrame based on values in a column in pandas

select * from table where colume_name = some_value. 

To select rows whose column value equals a scalar, some_value, use ==:

df.loc[df['column_name'] == some_value]

To select rows whose column value is in an iterable, some_values, use isin:

df.loc[df['column_name'].isin(some_values)]

Combine multiple conditions with &:

df.loc[(df['column_name'] == some_value) & df['other_column'].isin(some_values)]

To select rows whose column value does not equal some_value, use !=:

df.loc[df['column_name'] != some_value]

isin returns a boolean Series, so to select rows whose value is not in some_values, negate the boolean Series using ~:

df.loc[~df['column_name'].isin(some_values)]

For example,

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
df = pd.DataFrame({'A': 'foo bar foo bar foo bar foo foo'.split(),
                   'B': 'one one two three two two one three'.split(),
                   'C': np.arange(8), 'D': np.arange(8) * 2})
print(df)
#      A      B  C   D
# 0  foo    one  0   0
# 1  bar    one  1   2
# 2  foo    two  2   4
# 3  bar  three  3   6
# 4  foo    two  4   8
# 5  bar    two  5  10
# 6  foo    one  6  12
# 7  foo  three  7  14
print(df.loc[df['A'] == 'foo'])

yields

     A      B  C   D
0  foo    one  0   0
2  foo    two  2   4
4  foo    two  4   8
6  foo    one  6  12
7  foo  three  7  14

If you have multiple values you want to include, put them in a list (or more generally, any iterable) and use isin:

print(df.loc[df['B'].isin(['one','three'])])

yields

     A      B  C   D
0  foo    one  0   0
1  bar    one  1   2
3  bar  three  3   6
6  foo    one  6  12
7  foo  three  7  14

Note, however, that if you wish to do this many times, it is more efficient to make an index first, and then use df.loc:

df = df.set_index(['B'])
print(df.loc['one'])

yields

       A  C   D
B              
one  foo  0   0
one  bar  1   2
one  foo  6  12

or, to include multiple values from the index use df.index.isin:

df.loc[df.index.isin(['one','two'])]

yields

       A  C   D
B              
one  foo  0   0
one  bar  1   2
two  foo  2   4
two  foo  4   8
two  bar  5  10
one  foo  6  12

tl;dr

The pandas equivalent to

select * from table where column_name = some_value

is

table[table.column_name == some_value]

Multiple conditions:

table((table.column_name == some_value) | (table.column_name2 == some_value2))

or

table.query('column_name == some_value | column_name2 == some_value2')

Code example

import pandas as pd
# Create data set
d = {'foo':[100, 111, 222], 
     'bar':[333, 444, 555]}
df = pd.DataFrame(d)
# Full dataframe:
df
# Shows:
#    bar   foo 
# 0  333   100
# 1  444   111
# 2  555   222
# Output only the row(s) in df where foo is 222:
df[df.foo == 222]
# Shows:
#    bar  foo
# 2  555  222

In the above code it is the line df[df.foo == 222] that gives the rows based on the column value, 222 in this case.

Multiple conditions are also possible:

df[(df.foo == 222) | (df.bar == 444)]
#    bar  foo
# 1  444  111
# 2  555  222

But at that point I would recommend using the query function, since it's less verbose and yields the same result:

df.query('foo == 222 | bar == 444')

I find the syntax of the previous answers to be redundant and difficult to remember. Pandas introduced the query() method in v0.13 and I much prefer it. For your question, you could do df.query('col == val')

Reproduced from http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/version/0.17.0/indexing.html#indexing-query

In [167]: n = 10
In [168]: df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.rand(n, 3), columns=list('abc'))
In [169]: df
Out[169]: 
          a         b         c
0  0.687704  0.582314  0.281645
1  0.250846  0.610021  0.420121
2  0.624328  0.401816  0.932146
3  0.011763  0.022921  0.244186
4  0.590198  0.325680  0.890392
5  0.598892  0.296424  0.007312
6  0.634625  0.803069  0.123872
7  0.924168  0.325076  0.303746
8  0.116822  0.364564  0.454607
9  0.986142  0.751953  0.561512
# pure python
In [170]: df[(df.a < df.b) & (df.b < df.c)]
Out[170]: 
          a         b         c
3  0.011763  0.022921  0.244186
8  0.116822  0.364564  0.454607
# query
In [171]: df.query('(a < b) & (b < c)')
Out[171]: 
          a         b         c
3  0.011763  0.022921  0.244186
8  0.116822  0.364564  0.454607

You can also access variables in the environment by prepending an @.

exclude = ('red', 'orange')
df.query('color not in @exclude')

Here is a simple example

from pandas import DataFrame
# Create data set
d = {'Revenue':[100,111,222], 
     'Cost':[333,444,555]}
df = DataFrame(d)

# mask = Return True when the value in column "Revenue" is equal to 111
mask = df['Revenue'] == 111
print mask
# Result:
# 0    False
# 1     True
# 2    False
# Name: Revenue, dtype: bool

# Select * FROM df WHERE Revenue = 111
df[mask]
# Result:
#    Cost    Revenue
# 1  444     111

I just tried editing this, but I wasn't logged in, so I'm not sure where my edit went. I was trying to incorporate multiple selection. So I think a better answer is:

For a single value, the most straightforward (human readable) is probably:

df.loc[df['column_name'] == some_value]

For lists of values you can also use:

df.loc[df['column_name'].isin(some_values)]

For example,

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
df = pd.DataFrame({'A': 'foo bar foo bar foo bar foo foo'.split(),
               'B': 'one one two three two two one three'.split(),
               'C': np.arange(8), 'D': np.arange(8) * 2})
print(df)
#      A      B  C   D
# 0  foo    one  0   0
# 1  bar    one  1   2
# 2  foo    two  2   4
# 3  bar  three  3   6
# 4  foo    two  4   8
# 5  bar    two  5  10
# 6  foo    one  6  12
# 7  foo  three  7  14
print(df.loc[df['A'] == 'foo'])

yields

     A      B  C   D
0  foo    one  0   0
2  foo    two  2   4
4  foo    two  4   8
6  foo    one  6  12
7  foo  three  7  14

If you have multiple criteria you want to select against, you can put them in a list and use 'isin':

print(df.loc[df['B'].isin(['one','three'])])

yields

      A      B  C   D
0  foo    one  0   0
1  bar    one  1   2
3  bar  three  3   6
6  foo    one  6  12
7  foo  three  7  14

Note, however, that if you wish to do this many times, it is more efficient to make A the index first, and then use df.loc:

df = df.set_index(['A'])
print(df.loc['foo'])

yields

  A      B  C   D
foo    one  0   0
foo    two  2   4
foo    two  4   8
foo    one  6  12
foo  three  7  14

df = pd.DataFrame({'A': 'foo bar foo bar foo bar foo foo'.split(),
                   'B': 'one one two three two two one three'.split(),
                   'C': np.arange(8), 'D': np.arange(8) * 2})
df[df['A']=='foo']
OUTPUT:
   A      B  C   D
0  foo    one  0   0
2  foo    two  2   4
4  foo    two  4   8
6  foo    one  6  12
7  foo  three  7  14

If you came here looking to select rows from a dataframe by including those whose column's value is NOT any of a list of values, here's how to flip around unutbu's answer for a list of values above:

df.loc[~df['column_name'].isin(some_values)]

(To not include a single value, of course, you just use the regular not equals operator, !=.)

Example:

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'A': 'foo bar foo bar foo bar foo foo'.split(),
                   'B': 'one one two three two two one three'.split()})
print(df)

gives us

     A      B
0  foo    one
1  bar    one
2  foo    two
3  bar  three
4  foo    two
5  bar    two
6  foo    one
7  foo  three    

To subset to just those rows that AREN'T one or three in column B:

df.loc[~df['B'].isin(['one', 'three'])]

yields

     A    B
2  foo  two
4  foo  two
5  bar  two

To append to this famous question (though a bit too late): You can also do df.groupby('column_name').get_group('column_desired_value').reset_index() to make a new data frame with specified column having a particular value. E.g.

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'A': 'foo bar foo bar foo bar foo foo'.split(),
                   'B': 'one one two three two two one three'.split()})
print("Original dataframe:")
print(df)
b_is_two_dataframe = pd.DataFrame(df.groupby('B').get_group('two').reset_index()).drop('index', axis = 1) 
#NOTE: the final drop is to remove the extra index column returned by groupby object
print('Sub dataframe where B is two:')
print(b_is_two_dataframe)

Run this gives:

Original dataframe:
     A      B
0  foo    one
1  bar    one
2  foo    two
3  bar  three
4  foo    two
5  bar    two
6  foo    one
7  foo  three
Sub dataframe where B is two:
     A    B
0  foo  two
1  foo  two
2  bar  two