Sort dataframe by multiple columns

Question

I need to sort(in a descending order) a dataframe according to multiple columns using the following piece of code:

df = df.sort_values(measures, ascending = (False,False,False,False,False))

where 'measures' is a list of columns names. As a result I only get the dataframe sorted by the first column (ms1) in 'measures' list.

a snippet of the dataframe before sorting:

     Features      ms1    ...            ms4           ms5
0        age       0.188  ...            0.025         0.994
1        sex       0.556  ...            0.040         8.080
2         cp       0.437  ...            0.054         20.121
3   trestbps       0.199  ...            0.015         0.512
4       chol       0.194  ...            0.002         0.085
5        fbs       0.622  ...            0.030         0.055

And after sorting:

     Features      ms1    ...            ms4           ms5
5        fbs       0.622  ...            0.030         0.055
8      exang       0.593  ...            0.023         36.842
1        sex       0.556  ...            0.040         8.080
12      thal       0.527  ...            0.007         1.902
6    restecg       0.488  ...            0.067         1.219

does anyone know why it is not working properly

What you are passing to the ascending parameter is a tuple when a list is required. Might be worth it to read up on the differences which should help understand why you will generally see that parameters will require lists vs tuples. Here is a good post on the topic: stackoverflow.com/questions/1708510/… — Timbolt
– Timbolt, Commented May 28, 2021 at 10:10
@Timbolt I actually did use a list instead of a tuple but had the same output! — houda benhar
– houda benhar, Commented May 28, 2021 at 10:18

SunilG · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-28 09:58:00Z

1

'ascending' parameter takes a bool or list of bool as per documentation. So, try this instead -

df.sort_values(measures, ascending = [False,False,False,False,False])

answered May 28, 2021 at 9:58

SunilG

3451 gold badge4 silver badges10 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Ramsey · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-28 10:02:04Z

1

When you sorted by the first column(ms1) the another columns is following the ms1.But if there are same value in ms1 then the same values rows will sorted values by the second column.And so on...

answered May 28, 2021 at 10:02

Ramsey

1111 silver badge7 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Sort dataframe by multiple columns

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related