How to create lags and leads of a column?

Can someone be able to provide me with information on various approaches and procedures for creating lag and leads of a column? I am aware that there are multiple ways to accomplish this task, and although I have tried a method utilizing a Python dictionary, I believe there may be more effective alternatives. The method I used is provided below:

  • I use shift() function, it allows to move the values in a column up or down by a specified number of rows.
  • A positive number of rows creates a lagged version of the column, while a negative number of rows creates a lead version of the column.
  • The shift() function can be used to create time series features, among other things.
1 Like

@nimrah , you can achieve this by using diff() function. It calculates the difference between each value in a column and the previous value in the same column.

  • A positive difference indicates that the current value is higher than the previous value, while a negative difference indicates that the current value is lower than the previous value.

  • A positive argument to diff() creates a lagged version of the column, while a negative argument creates a lead version of the column.

Let’s see the example given below for a better understanding: