Efficiently sorting a numpy array in descending order?

Question

temp[::-1].sort() sorts the array in place, whereas np.sort(temp)[::-1] creates a new array.

In [25]: temp = np.random.randint(1,10, 10)

In [26]: temp
Out[26]: array([5, 2, 7, 4, 4, 2, 8, 6, 4, 4])

In [27]: id(temp)
Out[27]: 139962713524944

In [28]: temp[::-1].sort()

In [29]: temp
Out[29]: array([8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2])

In [30]: id(temp)
Out[30]: 139962713524944

>>> a=np.array([5, 2, 7, 4, 4, 2, 8, 6, 4, 4])

>>> np.sort(a)
array([2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8])

>>> -np.sort(-a)
array([8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2])

For short arrays I suggest using np.argsort() by finding the indices of the sorted negatived array, which is slightly faster than reversing the sorted array:

In [37]: temp = np.random.randint(1,10, 10)

In [38]: %timeit np.sort(temp)[::-1]
100000 loops, best of 3: 4.65 µs per loop

In [39]: %timeit temp[np.argsort(-temp)]
100000 loops, best of 3: 3.91 µs per loop

Be careful with dimensions.

Let

x  # initial numpy array
I = np.argsort(x) or I = x.argsort() 
y = np.sort(x)    or y = x.sort()
z  # reverse sorted array

Full Reverse

z = x[I[::-1]]
z = -np.sort(-x)
z = np.flip(y)

• flip changed in 1.15, previous versions 1.14 required axis. Solution: pip install --upgrade numpy.

First Dimension Reversed

z = y[::-1]
z = np.flipud(y)
z = np.flip(y, axis=0)

Second Dimension Reversed

z = y[::-1, :]
z = np.fliplr(y)
z = np.flip(y, axis=1)

Testing

Testing on a 100×10×10 array 1000 times.

Method       | Time (ms)
-------------+----------
y[::-1]      | 0.126659  # only in first dimension
-np.sort(-x) | 0.133152
np.flip(y)   | 0.121711
x[I[::-1]]   | 4.611778

x.sort()     | 0.024961
x.argsort()  | 0.041830
np.flip(x)   | 0.002026

This is mainly due to reindexing rather than argsort.

# Timing code
import time
import numpy as np


def timeit(fun, xs):
    t = time.time()
    for i in range(len(xs)):  # inline and map gave much worse results for x[-I], 5*t
        fun(xs[i])
    t = time.time() - t
    print(np.round(t,6))

I, N = 1000, (100, 10, 10)
xs = np.random.rand(I,*N)
timeit(lambda x: np.sort(x)[::-1], xs)
timeit(lambda x: -np.sort(-x), xs)
timeit(lambda x: np.flip(x.sort()), xs)
timeit(lambda x: x[x.argsort()[::-1]], xs)
timeit(lambda x: x.sort(), xs)
timeit(lambda x: x.argsort(), xs)
timeit(lambda x: np.flip(x), xs)

Unfortunately when you have a complex array, only np.sort(temp)[::-1] works properly. The two other methods mentioned here are not effective.

Hello I was searching for a solution to reverse sorting a two dimensional numpy array, and I couldn't find anything that worked, but I think I have stumbled on a solution which I am uploading just in case anyone is in the same boat.

x=np.sort(array)
y=np.fliplr(x)

np.sort sorts ascending which is not what you want, but the command fliplr flips the rows left to right! Seems to work!

Hope it helps you out!

I guess it's similar to the suggest about -np.sort(-a) above but I was put off going for that by comment that it doesn't always work. Perhaps my solution won't always work either however I have tested it with a few arrays and seems to be OK.