--- title: The Rule Everyone Misses: How to Stop Confusing loc and... description: Pandas offers two methods for data extraction: loc (label-based) and iloc (position-based). loc uses row/column labels and includes the end value in slicing,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-rule-everyone-misses-how-to-stop-confusing-loc-and-iloc-in-pandas-b0ovczgmp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Rule Everyone Misses: How to Stop Confusing loc and iloc in Pandas | daily.dev og:description: Pandas offers two methods for data extraction: loc (label-based) and iloc (position-based). loc uses row/column labels and includes the end value in slicing,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-rule-everyone-misses-how-to-stop-confusing-loc-and-iloc-in-pandas-b0ovczgmp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/B0OvCzgmp.png og:image:alt: The Rule Everyone Misses: How to Stop Confusing loc and iloc in Pandas og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Rule Everyone Misses: How to Stop Confusing loc and iloc in Pandas **[Towards Data Science](https://daily.dev/sources/tds)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Pandas offers two methods for data extraction: loc (label-based) and iloc (position-based). loc uses row/column labels and includes the end value in slicing, making it intuitive for labeled datasets. iloc uses integer positions (starting at 0) and excludes the end value in slicing, similar to Python lists. Use loc for readable code with meaningful labels and Boolean filtering. Use iloc when working with position-based operations, unlabeled data, or when labels are messy. The article demonstrates both methods through practical examples including single/multiple row extraction, slicing, column selection, and filtering. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [7 Pandas Performance Tricks Every Data Scientist Should Know](https://daily.dev/posts/7-pandas-performance-tricks-every-data-scientist-should-know-n2quap4i5) · Towards Data Science · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why You Should Stop Writing Loops in Pandas](https://daily.dev/posts/why-you-should-stop-writing-loops-in-pandas-ctjim7q77) · Towards Data Science · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Stop Writing Messy Boolean Masks: 10 Elegant Ways to Filter Pandas DataFrames](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-writing-messy-boolean-masks-10-elegant-ways-to-filter-pandas-dataframes-qpfu08tcs) · Towards Data Science · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Introduction to pandas – Real Python](https://daily.dev/posts/introduction-to-pandas-real-python-p72scgzgm) · Real Python · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python), [#data-science](https://daily.dev/tags/data-science), [#data-analysis](https://daily.dev/tags/data-analysis), [#pandas](https://daily.dev/tags/pandas) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-rule-everyone-misses-how-to-stop-confusing-loc-and-iloc-in-pandas-b0ovczgmp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Rule Everyone Misses: How to Stop Confusing loc and iloc in Pandas","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-rule-everyone-misses-how-to-stop-confusing-loc-and-iloc-in-pandas-b0ovczgmp","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-rule-everyone-misses-how-to-stop-confusing-loc-and-iloc-in-pandas-b0ovczgmp"},"datePublished":"2026-02-05T12:26:19.017Z","dateModified":"2026-02-05T12:26:41.747Z","description":"Pandas offers two methods for data extraction: loc (label-based) and iloc (position-based). loc uses row/column labels and includes the end value in slicing,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/64336f9317a658fbddef7b5f1890e94b?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/64336f9317a658fbddef7b5f1890e94b?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Towards Data Science","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Towards Data Science","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tds","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tds"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-rule-everyone-misses-how-to-stop-confusing-loc-and-iloc-in-pandas-b0ovczgmp","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"python,data-science,data-analysis,pandas","timeRequired":"PT9M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Towards Data Science","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Rule Everyone Misses: How to Stop Confusing loc and iloc in Pandas"}]} ```