Syntax of the inputs for LightGBM binary build (without python API)

Question

I built the LightGBM binaries from https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM. The build was successful, but the python API did not work for me. I am using the light gbm binary directly to run for time being.

I tested the binaries on LightGBM/examples/regression. The train and predict work fine using

lightgbm config=train.conf
lightgbm config=predict.conf

The outputs are _model.txt and _predict_result.txt

The problem I am facing is I cannot make out which in the input file regression.train is the target variable.

Also, I am looking for some documentation that explains how to run LightGBM without python API.

Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

The first column in the input file is considered to be the target variable. I found this by trial and error.

EDIT

There is a parameter called label_column which can take an integer value from 0 to N, to specify which column is the target variable. (source: https://lightgbm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Parameters.html)