Sorting
Pandas Basics
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Published Sep 29 2025, updated Oct 24 2025
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PandasPython
Sorting allows you to reorder rows based on column values.
Sample data for the examples:
import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({
"Name": ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie", "David"],
"Age": [25, 30, 35, 40],
"Salary": [50000, 60000, 75000, 80000]
})
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Sort by Single Column
# Sort by Age ascending (default)
df.sort_values("Age", inplace=True)
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Sort Descending
df.sort_values("Salary", ascending=False, inplace=True)
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Sort by Multiple Columns
# Sort by Age ascending, then Salary descending
df.sort_values(["Age", "Salary"], ascending=[True, False], inplace=True)
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Resetting Index after Sorting
After filtering or sorting, the index may be non-sequential:
filtered_df = df.sort_values(["Age", "Salary"], ascending=[True, False],).reset_index(drop=True)
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drop=True removes the old index.
Limit the sorted results
.head(n)shows the first n rows (default 5)..tail(n)shows the last n rows.
df.sort_values("Salary", ascending=False, inplace=True).head(2)
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Sorts salary descending and returns just the top 2 rows.
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