How do I create a new column where the values are selected based on an existing column?

How do I add a color column to the following dataframe so that color='green' if Set == 'Z', and color='red' otherwise?

   Type  Set
1     A    Z
2     B    Z           
3     B    X
4     C    Y

If you only have two choices to select from then use np.where:

df['color'] = np.where(df['Set']=='Z', 'green', 'red')

For example,

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

df = pd.DataFrame({'Type':list('ABBC'), 'Set':list('ZZXY')})
df['color'] = np.where(df['Set']=='Z', 'green', 'red')
print(df)

yields

  Set Type  color
0   Z    A  green
1   Z    B  green
2   X    B    red
3   Y    C    red

If you have more than two conditions then use np.select. For example, if you want color to be

• yellow when (df['Set'] == 'Z') & (df['Type'] == 'A')
• otherwise blue when (df['Set'] == 'Z') & (df['Type'] == 'B')
• otherwise purple when (df['Type'] == 'B')
• otherwise black,

then use

df = pd.DataFrame({'Type':list('ABBC'), 'Set':list('ZZXY')})
conditions = [
    (df['Set'] == 'Z') & (df['Type'] == 'A'),
    (df['Set'] == 'Z') & (df['Type'] == 'B'),
    (df['Type'] == 'B')]
choices = ['yellow', 'blue', 'purple']
df['color'] = np.select(conditions, choices, default='black')
print(df)

which yields

  Set Type   color
0   Z    A  yellow
1   Z    B    blue
2   X    B  purple
3   Y    C   black