How can convert string to date which only contains year number? - pandas

Question

Create a dataframe whose first column is a text.
import pandas as pd
values = {'dates': ['2019','2020','2021'],
'price': [11,12,13]
}
df = pd.DataFrame(values, columns = ['dates','price'])
Check the dtypes:
df.dtypes
dates object
price int64
dtype: object
Convert type in the column dates to type dates.
df['dates'] = pd.to_datetime(df['dates'], format='%Y')
df
dates price
0 2019-01-01 11
1 2020-01-01 12
2 2021-01-01 13
I want to convert the type in dates column to date and the dates in the following format----contains only year number:
dates price
0 2019 11
1 2020 12
2 2021 13
How can achieve the target?

Answer 1

If you choose to have the datetime format for your columns, it is likely to benefit from it. What you see in the column ("2019-01-01") is a representation of the datetime object. The realquestion here is, why do you need to have a datetime object?
Actually, I don't care about datetime type:
Use a string ('2019'), or preferentially an integer (2019) which will enable you to perform sorting, calculations, etc.
I need the datetime type but I really want to see only the year:
Use style to format your column while retaining the underlying type:
df.style.format({'dates': lambda t: t.strftime('%Y')})
This will allow you to keep the type while having a clean visual format