How can I sort DataFrame by date in Python?

Question

I try to sort dataframe shown below by date using df.sort_values(by=\'date\') however it doesn\'t work. Any ideas how can I do this to be sure that it is sorted

Answer 1

If you have a dataframe like this below:

df = pd.DataFrame({'col1' : ['A', 'A', 'B', np.nan, 'D', 'C'],
'col2' : [2, 1, 9, 8, 7, 4],
'col3': [0, 1, 9, 4, 2, 3], })

This is how you sort it:

df = df.sort_values(by=['col1'])

Similar problem with solution on stackoverflow: how to sort pandas dataframe from one column Panda reference : http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/version/0.19.2/generated/pandas.DataFrame.sort.html

Answer 2

df.sort_values() returns sorted DF, but it doesn't sort in place.

So either use:

df = df.sort_values(by='date') 

or

df.sort_values(by='date', inplace=True)

Answer 3

Try

df['Date']=pd.to_datetime(df.Date)
df.sort_values(['Date'])