lst_col = 'samples' r = pd.DataFrame({ col:np.repeat(df[col].values, df[lst_col].str.len()) for col in df.columns.drop(lst_col)} ).assign(**{lst_col:np.concatenate(df[lst_col].values)})[df.columns]
Result:
In [103]: r Out[103]: samples subject trial_num 0 0.10 1 1 1 -0.20 1 1 2 0.05 1 1 3 0.25 1 2 4 1.32 1 2 5 -0.17 1 2 6 0.64 1 3 7 -0.22 1 3 8 -0.71 1 3 9 -0.03 2 1 10 -0.65 2 1 11 0.76 2 1 12 1.77 2 2 13 0.89 2 2 14 0.65 2 2 15 -0.98 2 3 16 0.65 2 3 17 -0.30 2 3
PS here you can find a little more general solution
UPDATE: some explanation: IMO, the easiest way to understand this code is to try to execute it step by step:
in the next row, we repeat the values ββin one column N times, where N is the length of the corresponding list:
In [10]: np.repeat(df['trial_num'].values, df[lst_col].str.len()) Out[10]: array([1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3], dtype=int64)
this can be generalized to all columns containing scalar values:
In [11]: pd.DataFrame({ ...: col:np.repeat(df[col].values, df[lst_col].str.len()) ...: for col in df.columns.drop(lst_col)} ...: ) Out[11]: trial_num subject 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 1 4 2 1 5 2 1 6 3 1 .. ... ... 11 1 2 12 2 2 13 2 2 14 2 2 15 3 2 16 3 2 17 3 2 [18 rows x 2 columns]
using np.concatenate() we can smooth out all the values ββin the list ( samples ) column and get a 1D vector:
In [12]: np.concatenate(df[lst_col].values) Out[12]: array([-1.04, -0.58, -1.32, 0.82, -0.59, -0.34, 0.25, 2.09, 0.12, 0.83, -0.88, 0.68, 0.55, -0.56, 0.65, -0.04, 0.36, -0.31])
put it all together:
In [13]: pd.DataFrame({ ...: col:np.repeat(df[col].values, df[lst_col].str.len()) ...: for col in df.columns.drop(lst_col)} ...: ).assign(**{lst_col:np.concatenate(df[lst_col].values)}) Out[13]: trial_num subject samples 0 1 1 -1.04 1 1 1 -0.58 2 1 1 -1.32 3 2 1 0.82 4 2 1 -0.59 5 2 1 -0.34 6 3 1 0.25 .. ... ... ... 11 1 2 0.68 12 2 2 0.55 13 2 2 -0.56 14 2 2 0.65 15 3 2 -0.04 16 3 2 0.36 17 3 2 -0.31 [18 rows x 3 columns]
using pd.DataFrame()[df.columns] ensures that we select the columns in the original order ...