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Sorting a multi-index DataFrame in Pandas

schedule Aug 11, 2023
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To sort a multi-index DataFrame, use the DataFrame's sort_index(~) method.

Examples

Consider the following DataFrame:

index = [("B", "bob"), ("B", "cathy"),("A", "david"),("A","alice")]
multi_index = pd.MultiIndex.from_tuples(index)
df = pd.DataFrame({"age":[2,3,4,5],"height":[6,7,8,9]}, index=multi_index)
df
age height
B bob 2 6
cathy 3 7
A david 4 8
alice 5 9

Sorting all levels

To sort all levels:

age height
A alice 5 9
david 4 8
B bob 2 6
cathy 3 7

Notice how levels are sorted starting from the first level.

Specifying levels to sort

To sort just the outermost level:

df.sort_index(level=0)
age height
A alice 5 9
david 4 8
B bob 2 6
cathy 3 7

Although not mentioned in the official documentation, values at higher levels get sorted as well, as can be seen from alice now appearing before david.

To sort level 1 instead:

df.sort_index(level=1)
age height
A alice 5 9
B bob 2 6
cathy 3 7
A david 4 8
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Published by Isshin Inada
Edited by 0 others
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