Sort pandas DataFrame by Column in Python (Example)

This tutorial explains how to order a pandas DataFrame by the values in a column in the Python programming language.

The tutorial contains this information:

Sound good? Let’s dig in:

Example Data & Software Libraries

In order to use the functions of the pandas library, we first need to load pandas:

import pandas as pd                                    # Load pandas library

As a next step, let’s also construct some example data:

data = pd.DataFrame({'x1':['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'],  # Create example DataFrame
                     'x2':[7, 1, 5, 2, 3],
                     'x3':range(1, 6)})
print(data)                                           # Print example DataFrame

Have a look at the previous table. It visualizes that our exemplifying data contains five rows and the three columns “x1”, “x2”, and “x3”.

Example: Ordering Rows of pandas DataFrame Based On Values in Column

In this example, I’ll demonstrate how to sort the rows of a pandas DataFrame according to the values that are stored in one of the columns of this DataFrame.

For this task, we can use the sort_values function as shown below:

data_new = data.copy()                                # Duplicate DataFrame
data_new = data_new.sort_values('x2')                 # Order DataFrame
print(data_new)                                       # Print updated DataFrame

As shown in Table 2, we have created a new pandas DataFrame called data_new by running the previous Python code.

As you can see, the rows of this DataFrame are rearranged by the variable x2.

Video & Further Resources on this Topic

In case you need further info on the examples of this tutorial, I recommend having a look at the following video I published on my YouTube channel. I’m explaining the Python programming syntax of this article and give some extra information.

Have a look at the following video on the DataDaft YouTube channel. In the video instruction, the speaker explains in another example how to order the rows of a pandas DataFrame by a column in Python.

Furthermore, you might read the other articles on my homepage. You can find some other tutorials below.

• Sort pandas DataFrame by Date in Python
• Sort pandas DataFrame by Multiple Columns in Python
• Change Order of Columns in pandas DataFrame
• Operate on pandas DataFrames in Python
• Manipulate pandas DataFrames in Python
• pandas Library Tutorial in Python
• All Python Programming Tutorials

Summary: This post has shown how to sort the rows of a pandas DataFrame by the values in a column in the Python programming language. Please let me know in the comments, if you have further questions. Furthermore, don’t forget to subscribe to my email newsletter to get updates on the newest tutorials.