Adding two pandas dataframes

Question

I have two dataframes, both indexed by timeseries. I need to add the elements together to form a new dataframe, but only if the index and column are the same. If the item does not exist in one of the  dataframes then it should be treated as a zero.

I've tried using .add but this sums regardless of index and column. Also tried a simple combined_data = dataframe1 + dataframe2 but this give a NaN if both dataframes don't have the element.

Can anyone help me with any suggestions?

Answer 1

you can try the following:

x.add(y, fill_value=0)

import pandas as pd

df1 = pd.DataFrame([(1,2),(3,4),(5,6)], columns=['a','b'])
Out:
   a  b
0  1  2
1  3  4
2  5  6

df2 = pd.DataFrame([(100,200),(300,400),(500,600)], columns=['a','b'])
Out:
     a    b
0  100  200
1  300  400
2  500  600

df_add = df1.add(df2, fill_value=0)
Out:
     a    b
0  101  202
1  303  404
2  505  606