Sorting arrays in NumPy by column

Question

How can I sort an array in NumPy by the nth column?

For example,

a = array([[9, 2, 3],
           [4, 5, 6],
           [7, 0, 5]])

I'd like to sort rows by the second column, such that I get back:

array([[7, 0, 5],
       [9, 2, 3],
       [4, 5, 6]])

Answer 1

You can sort on multiple columns as per Steve Tjoa's method by using a stable sort like mergesort and sorting the indices from the least significant to the most significant columns:

a = a[a[:,2].argsort()] # First sort doesn't need to be stable.
a = a[a[:,1].argsort(kind='mergesort')]
a = a[a[:,0].argsort(kind='mergesort')]

This sorts by column 0, then 1, then 2.

Answer 2

I suppose this works: a[a[:,1].argsort()]

This indicates the second column of a and sort it based on it accordingly.

Answer 3

From the NumPy mailing list, here's another solution:

>>> a
array([[1, 2],
       [0, 0],
       [1, 0],
       [0, 2],
       [2, 1],
       [1, 0],
       [1, 0],
       [0, 0],
       [1, 0],
      [2, 2]])
>>> a[np.lexsort(np.fliplr(a).T)]
array([[0, 0],
       [0, 0],
       [0, 2],
       [1, 0],
       [1, 0],
       [1, 0],
       [1, 0],
       [1, 2],
       [2, 1],
       [2, 2]])