You can transpose the single-row dataframe (which still results in a dataframe) and then squeeze the results into a series (the inverse of to_frame).
df = pd.DataFrame([list(range(5))], columns=["a{}".format(i) for i in range(5)])
>>> df.T.squeeze() # Or more simply, df.squeeze() for a single row dataframe.
a0 0
a1 1
a2 2
a3 3
a4 4
Name: 0, dtype: int64
Note: To accommodate the point raised by @IanS (even though it is not in the OP's question), test for the dataframe's size. I am assuming that df is a dataframe, but the edge cases are an empty dataframe, a dataframe of shape (1, 1), and a dataframe with more than one row in which case the use should implement their desired functionality.
if df.empty:
# Empty dataframe, so convert to empty Series.
result = pd.Series()
elif df.shape == (1, 1)
# DataFrame with one value, so convert to series with appropriate index.
result = pd.Series(df.iat[0, 0], index=df.columns)
elif len(df) == 1:
# Convert to series per OP's question.
result = df.T.squeeze()
else:
# Dataframe with multiple rows. Implement desired behavior.
pass
This can also be simplified along the lines of the answer provided by @themachinist.
if len(df) > 1:
# Dataframe with multiple rows. Implement desired behavior.
pass
else:
result = pd.Series() if df.empty else df.iloc[0, :]