Adding column to empty DataFrames via a loop - python-3.x

Question

I have the following code:
for key in temp_dict:
temp_dict[key][0][0] = temp_dict[key][0][0].insert(0, "Date", None)
where temp_dict is:
{'0.5SingFuel': [[Empty DataFrame
Columns: [Month, Trades, -0.25, -0.2, -0.15, -0.1, -0.05, 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, Total]
Index: []]], 'Sing180': [[Empty DataFrame
Columns: [Month, Trades, -0.25, -0.2, -0.15, -0.1, -0.05, 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, Total]
Index: []]], 'Sing380': [[Empty DataFrame
Columns: [Month, Trades, -0.25, -0.2, -0.15, -0.1, -0.05, 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, Total]
Index: []]]}
What I would like to have is:
{'0.5SingFuel': [[Empty DataFrame
Columns: [Date, Month, Trades, -0.25, -0.2, -0.15, -0.1, -0.05, 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, Total]
Index: []]], 'Sing180': [[Empty DataFrame
Columns: [Date, Month, Trades, -0.25, -0.2, -0.15, -0.1, -0.05, 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, Total]
Index: []]], 'Sing380': [[Empty DataFrame
Columns: [Date, Month, Trades, -0.25, -0.2, -0.15, -0.1, -0.05, 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, Total]
Index: []]]}
My code produces the following error:
ValueError: cannot insert Date, already exists
I would have thought that I was looping from one dict key to the next, but I was going through the debugger and it looks like:
Code does what it is supposed to
Moves onto next key and the previous key becomes empty
The new key already has "Date" in the columns and then the code tries to add it, which of course it can't
This probably makes no sense, hence why I need some help - I am confused.
I think I am mis-assigning the variables, but not completely sure how.

Answer 1

One problem is that insert is kind of an inplace operation, so you don't need to reassign. The second problem is if the column exists, then insert does not work as you said, so you need to check if it is in the columns already, and maybe reorder to put this column as first.
# dummy dictionary, same structure
d = {0:[[pd.DataFrame(columns=['a','b'])]],
1:[[pd.DataFrame(columns=['a','c'])]]}
# name of the column to insert
col='c'
for key in d.keys():
df_ = d[key][0][0] # easier to define a variable
if col not in df_.columns:
df_.insert(0,col,None)
else: # reorder and reassign in this case, remove the else if you don't need
d[key][0][0] = df_[[col] + df_.columns.difference([col]).tolist()]
print(d)
# {0: [[Empty DataFrame
# Columns: [c, a, b] # c added as column
# Index: []]], 1: [[Empty DataFrame
# Columns: [c, a] # c in first position now
# Index: []]]}