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I'll start by saying I am a Python beginner, I did try and find an answer to this via similar questions but I'm struggling to grasp some of the solutions in order to tailor them for my own use.

If I have a Pandas dataframe as follows:

enter image description here

What code would I need in order to sort it as per the below whilst excluding the 0 value. I would ideally want to grab the value closest to zero (assuming this is possible).

enter image description here

Matt
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2 Answers2

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IIUC, you can set abs as a key parameter of pandas.DataFrame.sort_values.

Try this :

out = df.sort_values(by="Score", key=abs)

# Output :

print(out)

     Name  Score
3  maggie      0
2   sally     -5
1    jane    -10
4   peter     15
6    andy     25
0     bob    -30
5    mike     50
Timeless
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You can use df.sort_values() and pass abs as a parameter. This will sort by the absolute value but leave the values themselves unchanged:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({'Name': ['Bob', 'Jane', 'Sally', 'Maggie', 'Peter', 'Mike', 'Andy'],
                    'Score': [-30, -10, -5, 0, 15, 50, 25]})

df.sort_values('Score', key = abs)

Output:

Name Score
Maggie 0
Sally -5
Jane -10
Peter 15
Andy 25
Bob -30
Mike 50

This also works:

df.reindex(df['Score'].abs().sort_values().index)

See here for more: Sorting by absolute value without changing the data

Marty_C137
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