Sort dataframe given list order Python

Question

i have a dataframe with a row containing first names of people. Now i want to sort the dataframe on name but not on alphabetical order but on a given order. So for example I want to order my dataframe on row of names in the order:

L = ['marc','paul','beck','julia','rest']

If I have a dataframe containing a row with names I want the marc's at the top and then paul's, beck's etc.

How can i do this time efficient in python?

This is just an example but the row containing the names looks like ['paul','paul','julia','marc','paul','beck','beck','julia'] — Wim Verboom, Feb 26 '19 at 11:07
If my answer was helpful, don't forget [accept](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/5235) it. Thanks. — jezrael, Feb 27 '19 at 07:25

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 26 '19 at 11:27

If need reorder data by column convert all values to ordered categoricals, so possible sort_values:

df = pd.DataFrame({'A':['paul','paul','julia','marc','paul','beck','beck','julia']})

L = ['marc','paul','beck','julia','rest']

df['A'] = pd.CategoricalIndex(df['A'], ordered=True, categories=L)

df = df.sort_values('A')
print (df)
       A
3   marc
0   paul
1   paul
4   paul
5   beck
6   beck
2  julia
7  julia

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '19 at 11:06

1

L = ['marc','paul','beck','julia','rest']
df=pd.DataFrame()
df['L']=L

This gives you:

    L
0   marc
1   paul
2   beck
3   julia
4   rest

marc paul beck, in the right order.

answered Feb 26 '19 at 11:06

zabop

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then I just assign new values to the row, but it is a dataframe that I want to order on the given names – Wim Verboom Feb 26 '19 at 11:09

Sort dataframe given list order Python

2 Answers2